Harrison Barnes

So in case you hadn't heard, the top high school basketball recruit in the nation plays here in Ames - a 6'6" hotshot named Harrison Barnes. On Friday, he held a ceremony in the Ames High School gymnasium to announce to the world where he would be attending college next fall.

Now, let's be clear - I have never seen Harrison play before. I have never been to an Ames High basketball game before. But as a journalist, I take note when something newsworthy is going down in my neighborhood, so me and my buddy Justan Spaid took part of our Friday off to go wallow in the hype.

We filed into the gym with hundreds of other fans, our hearts racing as Harrison led up to his announcement. He had it narrowed down to six schools: five NCAA basketball powerhouses (Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA, Oklahoma) and one agricultural powerhouse (ISU). The odds were stacked against us, but I definitely wasn't the only one sporting cardinal and gold, ready to take it off and spin it like a helicopter just in case a miracle happened.

It didn't. Turns out Petey Pab was right - this one really was for North Carolina.

And it was the right call - I mean, seriously, when Michael Jordan meets you in person and tells you where to play ball, that's where you play ball, right? And for those who would say Harrison "betrayed" us - come on, you can't help but root for this kid. I've read a lot of articles about him during the recruiting process, and almost every one of them mentions his excellent character on and off the court. He also goes to my church, and the pastors there have said he's a classy young man who is trying to live his life for God (click here to see him dunking on college pastor Mark Arant).

So, it looks I'll root for the Tar Heels for awhile, and who knows - maybe in a couple years Harrison will even inspire me to turn on an NBA game now and then.

Personally, I'm just waiting for his breakout role as MJ's quippy sidekick in Space Jam 2...

Mr. Pusey, tear down this wall

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was 3 years old when it all went down, so I don't really remember it, and I'd say most of today's college students are in the same boat. So what better way to celebrate an event that we don't remember than by reliving it for ourselves?

Some of you may have seen a large cardboard wall standing in front of Parks Library yesterday. The ISU German Club put it there to represent the Berlin Wall, and they encouraged students to spraypaint their own messages of freedom onto it. I covered the event for the Tribune, so I approached a few students who were painstakingly putting the finishing touches on their designs.

"So, what message are you trying to get across with your painting?" I asked.

One of them, looked at me, shrugged and continued to paint. "We're just trying to get our names out there, you know? Just trying to give ISU a little taste of New York."

"Oh, you're from New York?"

"Nah, man."

As inspired as some of the graffiti was, the best part of the event was at 4:00 p.m. when it came time to tear down the wall. About 30 people crowded around that makeshift bulwark of communism, and a self-proclaimed female Ronald Reagan impersonator announced, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear off this -er- tear down this wall!"

The crowd proceeded to pummel the crap out of the cardboard with two red wiffle bats. Now as a reporter, I know it's my job to strictly observe...but when they're handing out free swings at the Berlin Wall with a wiffle bat, I'm gonna take my chances every time.

Kay, I'm back

Looks like it's time to play catch-up again, so here's a quick rundown of September and October!

• I'm still working for the Ames Tribune. Sometimes I love it - I'll get an interesting story that's really fun to tell, like this. Sometimes it's not so hot - on slow news days I find myself writing stuff like this.
• Since the Ames Tribune is a newspaper, they don't have a lot of money - this means I only get to work 30 hours a week. This sounds like a bummer, but I'm actually pretty thankful for it. This allows me to keep on doing the things I love at Cornerstone Church, such as acting for D6, playing music for weekend services and Salt Co. and playing keys for Anthem. (By the way, Anthem has some great new songs in the works - mark your calendars for December 4, you won't want to miss it!)
• "James & James" is still going strong with the release of a new EP and a critically-acclaimed Halloween show, featuring a tribute to Simon & Garfunkel:
  

James and I have a ton of fun together, both on stage and off. James is a solid guy, and we've had some great times of encouraging and challenging each other in faith this semester. If you want to keep track of upcoming shows and other goings-on, join our facebook group or check out our blog, which gets updated almost as often as this one.

Looking back, I'm seeing all the ways that God has blessed me since I came back from India. It's been a tough stretch in a lot of ways - everything was so different when I came back that I really had a hard time finding "home." I struggled to find my identity as I started a new job, got over a broken relationship and experienced some pretty confusing culture shock (e.g. "Hey, why are all of these cows fenced in? Shouldn't they be standing in the middle of intersections and taking up space on the sidewalk?").

But God is faithful - He has come through for me in so many ways in the last couple of months. I've got great friends, and some wise mentors who are teaching me what it means to be an independent, hard-working, disciplined-but-still-fun-loving follower of Christ. I've got no idea where I'll be in five years, but for now I'll trust in the One who's got it figured out. I'll write stories about Iowa State's garbage to the best of my ability, continue to pursue the things I'm passionate about and have a lot of laughs along the way.

And who knows - maybe I'll even blog about it every once in awhile.