My name is Amanda and I am an East Carolina University graduate. Go Pirates!! I majored in English, minored in Journalism and ended up in the journalism world. Now, I’m hooked and have been working for smaller, weekly newspapers every since. That can be construed as both a good and bad thing, depending on which way you look at it!

Ever since landing my first job at a small newspaper, I’ve come to realize just how different, and special, smaller papers are. We call ourselves true community newspapers. We’re the papers you’ll see your 100-year-old grandma in. We’re the ones sitting in community organization meetings, not to report, but to participate. We not only report on our communities but live in them too!

I’m currently finishing up some graduate level classes at UNC-CH (Go Tarheels!!) where I hope to eventually receive a certificate in Technology and Communication. So far, I’ve managed to get through 2 classes with dial-up Internet. I’m proud to report I only lost my temper once. I’m very proud of myself!! It seems like a never-ending battle but I’m determined to win it, high-speed or no high-speed.

This blog is an assignment for one of my classes. I’m very new to blogs and am trying a new understanding of the ‘blogging world’ and hopefully develop an intelligent blog on how blogging is affecting newspapers. I’m going to try to make it as informative as I can but it may take me awhile to get a grasp on WordPress. So far, we aren’t getting along. But alas, all things come to those who wait…or something like that.