My First Blog as a College Graduate!

Hi Bloggy Friends,

It's been a long, tedious road, but I can finally call myself a college graduate. I snatched my diploma last Thursday at a ceremony for students graduating from the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University. Going back to college was one of the most rewarding decisions I've ever made. I learned so much, made many new friends and racked up a few thousand memories to last me the rest of my days. What an experience. I feel tremendously proud and accomplished.

Thankfully, my parents and Alan were there to share the momentous occasion with me. My mom drove up from Kentucky on Wednesday night, followed by my dad and brother on Thursday morning. The graduation ceremony was meaningful, but my favorite part of the week was spending time with my family. We got our munch on in a few restaurants, took an afternoon trip to Manayunk and chilled at home playing word games and picking on one another as usual. It was heartwarming.

Now that I'm finished with college, the time has come for me to focus on what's next. For now, I'll be freelancing for Philadelphia City Paper, but I'll start looking for stabler opportunities when we return from our two-week excursion to Europe. If you're interested, I'll be updating my blog, Facebook and Twitter with photos and videos of the trip. I hope you'll share this experience with me just as you've shared so many others. Many of you (Bill, Rick, Casey) have been here since I began school in San Francisco. I hope you know what a source of motivation you've been for me to keep pushing on. You're the best.

Have a great night. I'll chat with you very soon.

Yours Truly,

Josh

Facebook click HERE to see the videos!

A New Semester

Hi Bloggy Friends,

Well, things are heating up in the Sugar household now that school is back in session. I can't believe I'm down to my final semester. It will feel great to walk away with a diploma in May, but there is a lot of work to be done before then. Here's a quick rundown of some of the classes I have this time around:

Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab (MURL): This is the big one that all seniors must take before getting a degree. Journalism students from every focus - broadcasting, magazine, photo, etc. - are lumped into one class, teamed up and asked to cover news in their assigned Philadelphia neighborhood. I've been paired with a sweet girl named Megan (a magazine student), who thankfully seems willing to work hard. We're going to cover the Germantown / Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia, which, in my opinion, is one of the most exciting neighborhoods outside the city. Mt. Airy has a burgeoning gay family community and the artistic scene is thriving as well. I'm excited about it. We'll be working for the Germantown Chronicle and Mt. Airy Independent, as well as our class blog, Philadelphia Neighborhoods. This class should prove to be very time consuming, but I will hopefully walk away with a good number of clips to add to my resume.

Broadcast Performance: In this class I will hopefully have my broadcast performance skills perfected through a host of assignments that include creating a varying array of radio and tv packages and recording actual news segments in the state-of-the-art Temple Update studio. I'm looking forward to it, but the workload may be a little heavier than I anticipated.

TV Broadcast Production: My classmates and I will be paired with students taking TV News Reporting and taught to produce three different news segments throughout the semester. Our responsibilities will include picking news stories for the reporters to cover, perfecting their scripts, deciding what stories to air and creating a rundown for the actual news block. This will be a very hands on type of class. I'm excited for it. I've considered producing as a possible job choice, so this will be a great way to test out the waters.

Internship: Last semester I interned at City Paper for the experience, but this semester I opted to stay around for credit. Taking an internship is optional in the journalism sequence, but I love working there and thought it would be a great way to earn credits without having to pile on another class. I think I hit the jackpot as far as internships are concerned. They allow me the opportunity to generate as much work as I want, and the people who work there are awesome. I love it.

Shew! I'm going to have my hands full, huh? It may be a hectic schedule, but I think it will help me adjust to the fact that I'll be heading out into the "real world" again after being in school for the past four years. It's going to be a big change, but I'm ready for it.

I hope you all have a great weekend. What does your schedule look like over the next few months? Have any exciting plans? I'd love to hear them!

I'll chat with you soon,

Josh

Weekend Fun!

Hello.Hey, Bloggy Friends!

How are ya today? I hope you've had a great weekend. It has been very sunny and nice in Philadelphia over the past week. I love this warm weather. It was nice when this weekend finally rolled around, because things at school are really starting to pick up for the last time before classes end on May 5. I have a ton of papers and assignments due in a short period of time, so don't be surprised if you don't hear much from me over the coming weeks. Just imagine me knee deep in text books and send a special blessing my way!

We had a fantastic weekend. On Saturday Alan and I met up with his aunt Jude to see the current play at the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Third by Wendy Wasserstein. It was such a wonderfully written, sweet show. This is actually the last play ever written by Wasserstein, she passed away less than two years ago after a long battle with breast cancer. You may recognize the names of some of her other plays, such as An American Daughter and The Heidi Chronicles. We all loved it very much. If you have a chance to see this show, or another by Wendy Wasserstein, I highly suggest you get a ticket.

After the show the three of us strolled around Center City for a while before we went back to Jude's home for dinner. Waiting for us there was her always humorous husband, Lou. Throughout the course of the evening we chatted over wine and snacked on hors devours before finally enjoying one of the very best meals I have had in Philadelphia thus far. Jude is a fantastic cook, and I'm not just saying that because she may be reading! She confesses that cooking is one of her favorite pastimes. I can tell that she sees it as a form of artistic expression because the presentation was magnificent and the blending of tastes was out of this world delicious! She served us a whole fish (trout seasoned with rosemary, parsley, lemon and garlic), steamed asparagus, new potatoes and a scrumptious side salad of mixed greens. We were then served delicious tarts, from a local bakery, for dessert. Bloggy Friends, it was all so good. I hope you have someone in your lives who can cook like this for you from time to time. Thanks, Jude! There's nothing like a homecooked meal.

Today we haven't done much but take care of a few errands like shopping for groceries and taking out the garbage. It has been nice to lay around and relax before we start our weeks over again tomorrow. Alan worked a little in the backyard. He has been pulling weeds and cleaning it up to get ready for the summer. It is so nice to have a porch and a yard to lounge in! Perhaps we'll plant a bush or some flowers to admire during the warm months. I did watch about an hour of the Papal Mass today. I found it fascinating. I'm just amazed at the amount of grandeur and ceremony that goes into such an occasion. I am not Catholic so I don't really understand the importance of having the Pope visit America. There must be something huge about it, though, there were over 50,000 people packed into Yankee stadium. I was just intrigued by the mixture of spirituality and apparent celebrity that goes along with being the Pope. He's a diva!

Well, I guess I'll run for now. I hope you guys have a fantastic start to the new week. Luckily I'll be off of work over the next few weeks because this weekend was the closing for Third. I'll start back again when the next show begins. It's a blessing to have this time off during the last few weeks of school and finals. I'll talk to you soon!

Love you,

Josh

Back To School!

Hey, Bloggy Friends!

Sorry it's been a minute since I updated my blog. I started school Tuesday and am taking a full load. The first week is always crazy, so it has kept me pretty busy. I've been running back and forth to the bookstore and exploring the campus — all the while working four hours every night. I have a great feeling about my first semester at Temple. My teachers are awesome and I'm taking a whole slew of classes that I look forward to progressing in — such as African-American literature, sociolgy, journalism for society, world religion, etc ...

So wish me luck as I begin a new semester in a new school — I'm on the road to victory, ya'll!

One more little note before I close. Today my sociology teacher left us with three bits of information that he swears are guaranteed tips for success. I found them interesting and thought I would share them with you. They are as follows:

1. Study abroad, or if you aren't in school spend time in a foreign country that doesn't speak English!

2. Read the New York Times, or an equivalent, on a regular basis. Stay informed!

3. Have someone take a picture of you in the buff. He says we will never look as good as we do when we're young, so we'll want to look back and remember it.

I thought they were funny little tidbits. I hope you enjoy them, too!

Today's video is a quick one I shot as I was running out the door on my first day of school on Tuesday. It's random, but hopefully you'll get some enjoyment out of it!

I love you, Bloggy Friends!

Josh