Posted by samantha on Apr 11, 2014 in What I've Done
As her tennis shoes pound the pavement, Paula Thomas contemplates her meal menu, her lesson plan and the world’s problems.
With each exhale, she releases the week’s tensions and focuses on what is ahead and what the next step is for accomplishing her goals. And with each step, she comes closer to reaching the completion of her bucket list: running a half marathon in all 50 states.
“I was the unathletic one growing up,” Thomas says with a smile. “My sister was the athlete.”
First steps
During her time in graduate school at Middle Tennessee State University, Thomas signed up for an aerobics class hoping to work out her tension from her full class load, work, and, well, life. The first morning of the class the professor informed the students that aerobics was running.
“Guy Penny was my professor. He taught me how to run,” Thomas recalls. “We ran 3 miles three times a week.”
Thomas finished her master’s degree, got married, moved to attend a doctorate program, and had children. All the while she continued to run 3 miles three times a week.
After returning to Middle Tennessee, Thomas says she received a flyer about running a half marathon for Special Kids, a faith-based pediatric nursing care and rehabilitation facility. She was wary of going from3 miles to 13.1 — the distance of a half marathon — and was concerned with taking time from her growing family and its responsibilities.
“I just couldn’t throw it away,” Thomas said of the mailer. “And then my son came to me one night and he said he had heard me talking to his father about it. He said, ‘Mom, you and dad always tell us we can do anything we want to do. Go for it.'”
She was inspired by her son’s words. Until he followed them up with, “And you might as well do it before you get too old.”
That was 2001.
Today the MTSU accounting professor lacks only six races to cross off all 50 states and the nation’s capital. She has completed the Country Music Half Marathon, the Cincinnati Flying Pig, and many others, all within about five years.
“It’s sooner than I expected,” Thomas admits, saying she had hoped to complete the list by the time she was age 60. “I’m not that old yet.”
50 before 50
Gayle Jordan made the decision just after her 49th birthday to do 50 things she had never done before she turned 50.
Her proudest accomplishment was completing an Iron Man competition, even if it took two tries.
“I don’t do anything in small measures,” Jordan says. “That was my biggest accomplishment.”
Finishing an Iron Man — which requires the participant to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run a marathon distance of 26.2 miles — requires a great deal of training, stamina and mental focus. The same could be said of Jordan’s current pursuit — her law degree.
“It isn’t simply about education. It is about a dream,” she says.
Jordan also did simpler tasks. She got a tattoo that had a very special meaning to her. And she drank an authentic British lime gimlet, made with Rose’s Lime Juice and gin, with her daughter’s British friend.
“I said that if you made the suggestion for my list, you had to do it with me,” recalls Jordan, who also climbed a 14,000-foot mountain in Colorado with her son, at his suggestion.
Jordan, like Thomas, finds great joy in crossing off another accomplishment from her bucket list.
“The list is still there. I want to see the Tour de France, and I have lots of hiking on the list,” Jordan says. “I have to gauge what is more urgent versus what I can do later.”
All about the journey
Jordan says it’s about the experiences you have and hopefully inspiring others.
Thomas loves telling stories about the places she has visited while traveling for races or sights she has seen during her runs. She has completed the Goofy Challenge at Disney World, which requires athletes to complete a half marathon one day and a full marathon the following day. This was one of her favorite races. She also counts running across the Golden Gate Bridge in 2005 a highlight.
“It’s hard to compare with shutting down of a big city street to run, but I also love running in the red sands of the desert,” Thomas says. “I’ve been to Arizona multiple times.”
By her birthday in September, Thomas will complete the final races of her bucket list, including Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, Nebraska and Hawaii, finishing her last race in Chicago.
She is still unsure what she will do after completing her list, but she is looking for “some fun fall runs.”
“Completing the bucket list is not the point,” Jordan says. “You can’t be greedy. You just try something new and enjoy the experience.”
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Posted by samantha on Apr 11, 2014 in What I've Done
Sign spinning is serious business.
Not only do local businesses and franchises benefit from the eye-catching, flipping and flying hand-held advertisements, but some talented young people are making a nice income while gaining a fandom reserved for B-list celebrities.
And if listening to an iPod playlist while acting like a goofball weren’t enough incentive for most teens and young adults looking for part-time jobs, the possibility of notoriety as “World’s Best” sign spinner — and a $20 an hour pay raise — has its perks.
Colton Kinslow, 20, an Oakland graduate, has been spinning signs for six years. He currently holds the title as state champion for his sign spinning abilities, which include the Scissor Catch, where he throws the sign and catches it with his legs while in a handstand, and the Helicopter Tip Toe that requires he catch a horizontally spinning sign on his feet in a handstand.
“This is not just a job. We are a team, and we see ourselves as a sport,” said Kinslow who returned Monday from Las Vegas where he competed in the National Sign Spinning Championships.
The state winner placed 44th out of more than 3,600 competitors.
Kinslow is an instructor, and he’s the Nashville manager for the AArrow Ads advertising company. He teaches his skills to other new spinners hired by AArrow Ads to help them be more effective for the businesses who hire the spinners.
The rookies — and veteran spinners — who work for the advertising firm do not just get to take a sign and go wave it. In fact they undergo rigorous training that includes stamina and strength drills.
“We practice two to four times a week,” Kinslow explained, as he supervised three sign spinners Thursday doing “suicide” running exercises.
The group also does pushups, weight-lifting and cardio to help build endurance for more technical spinning skills.
While the boys practiced Thursday several hoots and cheers come from passing cars on Old Fort Parkway and Thompson Lane.
“We are all trained to be professional advertisers,” Kinslow said.
Some of the sign spinners, such as Chris Wensink, is using his attention-getting techniques to put himself through college. Others use the paycheck to do what anyone else their age would do — go out to eat, buy video games and pay for gas.
Kinslow will make a trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., next month to start a group out there for AArrow Ads. He plans to make a career out of his advertising skills. However, he admits he will finish school and get his bachelor’s degree in biology, “you know, as a fallback.”
“I’m putting myself through school,” Wensink said. “I’ve had other jobs before, as a store clerk, in restaurants. This is great because I get to act goofy and entertain. I mean, that is part of the job description, act like a goofball.”
Wensink has found his niche after spinning for only a month or so. Bryant Donovan has become a sign spinning guru with more than a year under his belt.
“I just do what feels right,” he said. “I love my job. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing right now.”
Both Wensink and Donovan enjoy putting on a show and playing to the crowd, which may be why they have fans who honk and cheer them on when they spin on local corners.
“People can be really encouraging,” Wensink said.
They also plan to compete in next year’s sign spinning competitions on the state level, and hopefully the national level as well. Kinslow will also return to the competition.
“I was shooting for top 20. I will be ready for next year,” he said.
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Posted by samantha on Apr 11, 2014 in What I've Done
MURFREESBORO — Some local teens are leaping off buildings — and jumping over railings, flipping off walls and scaling poles or scaffolding.
The high-flying, tumbling youth are part of the newest craze in urban exercise — parkour.
“Parkour is a method of getting from point A to point B in the quickest and most efficient way possible,” explained Ethan Gailey, 17.
Well, sort of.
That is the simple explanation, but there is so much more to the world of parkour, which has made its way to Murfreesboro. Practiced in Europe for many years before gaining popularity in the US, now there are tournaments from the neighborhood level all the way up to national championships.
According to AmericanParkour.com, “Parkour is the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment.”
In letting you choose how to get past obstacles, parkour frees you from unnecessary limits, like sidewalks and railings, by letting you choose for yourself the path you wish to take. How practitioners of parkour achieve getting past these obstacles can range from a simple leap over the object to “urban acrobatics,” with flips, rolls, wall scaling and gymnastic-like barwork.
Unlike other extreme sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding or biking, no helmets, pads or other protection is used.
“It’s all about seeing how far your body can go,” said Christian Gonzalez, 17, who has practiced Parkour for more than two years.
Gonzalez heard about parkour from a friend, Nathan Nix, who has been working on the discipline for about four years. The two of them, along with a few others, created the Middle Tennessee Parkour Team.
They don’t necessarily compete — yet — and there aren’t any uniforms or team dues, but the group does get together to practice and share experiences and moves.
The team is comprised of high school and college students. There are about 10 altogether.
“It’s a way to expend energy positively,” said Nix. “We aren’t destroying or damaging anything. In fact, we need the obstacles. If we break them, then we wouldn’t have anything to work with.”
Mostly the group meets at MTSU’s campus due to the varied types of obstacles from 10-foot staircases, 4-foot railings, retaining walls and other structures that are sturdy enough to be jumped, flipped or rolled on.
“I love practicing parkour. What really appeals to me is seeing what the human body is fully capable of,” Gonzalez said. “The way I train for parkour expresses ‘me,’ and teaches me how to overcome anything.”
Is it safe?
The team emphasized that the members are not looking to harm anyone or anything.
They do not trespass on private property, and they encourage others to join as a way to burn excess energy, stay in shape and “stay off the streets.”
“With parkour you are free to move how you want, when you want and where you want. Of course, as it’s within the limits of the law,” Gonzalez said. “We do not trespass, always ask for permission and are very careful where we train.”
The group also made rules about not using memorials and anything possibly breakable that could be damaged or changed in their practice to keep their environment exactly as it was when they arrived.
Despite being careful and being aware of when your own body and mind are ready to tackle a particular trick, move or obstacle, injuries can happen. Nix is a testament to that.
“I just pushed myself. I knew it was too soon, but I did it anyway,” he said, lamenting the fact that if he had listened to his intuition, he would not be hopping around campus with his friends, lagging behind because of crutches and his foot in a compression boot.
When asked what his mom thought of his injury, and parkour, he answered: “I think she understands why I do this. And if I hadn’t broken it this way, well, I would have done it some other way.”
Beyond parkour
“People often ask me why do I do parkour, and I say, ‘Why did you stop?’ We all did it when we were younger as kids, climbing, walking and jumping across things,” Gonzalez said.
In essence, as children, individuals test their boundaries set by parents and the elements. As they grow older, they learn what can and cannot be done.
For the Middle Tennessee Parkour Team, the practice of the discipline lets them re-examine what they know of their own abilities and grow beyond their predetermined limits.
“I feel others should try it because it helps show how there is more than one way to solve a problem, which is just like how there is more than one way to get over an obstacle,” Gailey said.
“I’ve learned that if I put my mind to it, I can do it,” Gonzalez added. “Fear is just a mental obstacle that holds everyone back. I’ve learned to push past that and to never let it control me. I’ve also learned just what I can do with my body.”
That makes the practice of parkour not just a physical training exercise, but a mental one as well, and one that encourages creativity, confidence and critical thinking skills.
It’s also free, as participants need only comfortable clothing and a pair of tennis shoes to start.
Anyone interested in learning more about parkour, its history, or wishing to join in the fun and activity may e-mail the local parkour team at middletennesseepk2@gmail.com.
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Posted by samantha on Mar 10, 2014 in What I've Done
Objective
To obtain a position which will allow me to showcase my communication skills, share innovative ideas, and work in an environment that is fast-paced, enjoyable and engaging.
Professional Experience
Freelance writer June 2013-present
• City Tile
Writing design, home improvement and inspiration blogs for City Tile’s new and improved interactive website. Entries included planning and execution of home projects, education of new trends and offering insight into flooring options.
• Uncle Dave Macon Days
Acting as publicity chair for the festival, helping to set up coverage with local media, write press releases, managing and operating daily festival ticket giveaway, and creating content for the festival website.
The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro, Tenn. October 2006-June 2013
Digital
• Boroparty.com, editor
Social nightlife website geared to young professionals and college students. Created content, including stories, columns, photo galleries and video, maintenance of the website, promotion and marketing of the brand through events and appearances, and driving web traffic through social media.
• Taste
Local dining niche website, launched using my weekly Dining Out feature. Maintained site’s content through written, photo and video posts and promoting readership through print and social media.
Special publications
• Rutherford Weekend
Weekly entertainment tabloid, created as outlet to expand my expertise and writing skills. Planned and created content while driving the marketability of the publication through focal stories, weekly column, Dining Out feature, and calendars of area events. Dining Out was later moved out of the publication to be showcased separately on the food page.
• Living Well
Living Well, weekly women’s tabloid initiated from success of Rutherford Weekend. Developed stories focused on women’s issues, including family topics, trends in fashion, business and wellness and profiles of local leading women.
Social media
Excel at social media formats such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and blogging. Utilized social media to gain feedback, develop story ideas, and develop community presence.
Additional experience
• Cultivated working relationships in the community with business owners, civic and political leaders, and local residents for a variety of news-related beats, including public safety, shopping, business, and families with children.
• Worked to plan, create and finalize multi-faceted projects from initial concepts to well-developed packages of print and digital content, art and photography, and related data
• Adapted to learning new skills including photography, video editing and basic graphic design to complete assignments
Education
MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn. August 2001-May 2006
Bachelor of Science, Mass Communications
Skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, iMovie video editing, Adobe Photoshop
• Strong with proofreading and attention to details
• Adept at working on deadlines and multi-tasking
• Well-developed communication and interpersonal skills
• Self-motivated, independent worker, but also comfortable in team environment
Accolades & Accomplishments
• MENSA qualifier
• Three-time Tennessee Press Association award winner
Community Involvement
• Co-chair, Backstage Bash fundraiser for Center for the Art October 2012-March 2013
Organized and presented an evening of entertainment, dining and dancing for hundreds of people, promoted the event through digital and print marketing and publicity, and assisted with fundraising through cold calls, table sales and sponsorships.
• Instructor, Color guard and marching techniques July 2006-present
Choreograph multiple routines to music and provide instruction through teaching fundamental skills and routines to high school students in area marching bands.
• Community speaker, local organizations September 2011-April 2013
Addressed various groups including Boy Scout troops, elementary school classes and Kiwanis Club on the importance of literacy, the First Amendment, and community involvement.
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