journalismcrystal-blog

[journalismcrystal-blog]

eliasgoeseast:

@journalismcrystal

“The main entrance is to the left and around the side of the building there,” Lena said to some lost freshman she didn’t know. She hadn’t been paying attention as she slowly backed up right into someone. 

She turned around to face a girl she’d never seen before, “oh, sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” 

Why the hell was it so hard to get signal here? Crystal was pretty sure it usually didn’t take this long to go load her Instagram, but perhaps she was wrong, and so she stood in place, waiting.

Well, she waited until some girl she didn’t know bumped into me. “Hey! Watch it!” Crystal wasn’t exactly pissed right now, but she was a bit angry. Couldn’t she pay attention?

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How often do you work out?

Every day, probably. I do practice for tennis a lot.

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"Yeah, I hope for that too." Crystal shrugged, glancing at the poster. The line was getting quite long. "I mean, I didn't really know Professor Whyte, but we should probably all be hoping for her to come back safe. But yeah, the semester hasn't exactly been great."

@journalismcrystal

     “I hope she’s not dead,” James said quietly, noticing the flyer for Melanie Whyte’s disappearance hanging on a post as he stood in line for a coffee. “Shit, this semester’s going to be—”

[journalismcrystal-blog]

Tours R’ Us || Crystal and Asher

@the-ashkes

Well, this day couldn’t have been shittier. Of course, Crystal was just minding her business when she gets called to admissions or whatever, is asked if she could just dedicate “a bit of her time” to showing this new student around, and so of course, like an idiot she agreed. She desperately needed some kind of extra credit, and if this was gonna help out her GPA for the year, she was all ears. Still though, she wondered why she was chosen to help lead one of these new kids around the campus anyways. Crystal’s resting bitch-face and near instant glares weren’t exactly seen as approachable by most people, and she preferred to keep it that way. Still, she reasoned that perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, maybe she’d find out they had something in common, or she’d at least have someone to study with in her classes. She wasn’t exactly optimistic, but having that hope was nice. Very nice.

And so, that was she found herself clad in a jacket, t-shirt, jeans, boots, and a headwrap, standing outside of the admissions office waiting for Asher or whatever his name was to finally get his ass over here. Checking her phone, Crystal  frowned. It couldn’t take that long to get here, could it? Yes, CCU was kinda big, especially for a university in New England, she guessed, but she was pretty sure that whoever this dude was, he was running late. Fine, maybe punctuality wasn’t something Crystal was great at either, but she could try to improve herself, right? School was just hard though, it really was.

As she continued to muse on her positive qualities, she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. She hoped it was Asher. If not, she kind of couldn’t bear waiting here anymore. She needed to catch up on Elementary, and just sitting around here wasn’t exactly getting her back to her room sooner. This promised extra credit or whatever better be worth it. Then, a sudden notification startled her, and with that, her phone flew into the air, landing on the ground. “Shit.”, she muttered under her breath. Well, this day had started off great. 

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What's one thing you wish more people knew about you?

The one thing I wished more people knew about me is that I am an avid tennis player. I live for the court.

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Favorite kind of cuisine?

Indian! Love some spice in my life.

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Do you have any celebrity idols?

I have many! Terri Sewell, Gwen Ifill (RIP), Kerry Washington, Madonna, the list goes on. 

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Dancing, singing, art, or cooking?

Cooking, duh. I’ve been trying to learn how to make curry recently.

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Favorite song of all time?

Hmm, probably “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child. TELL ‘EM BEYONCE.

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Everyone’s Suspect (Prompt)

Earlier that morning, Crystal had a smile on her face, excited to be back at school in god knows how long. While she wasn’t usually one to have be smiling in public, finally being able to be away from her parents for a while, get back to school, and just learn for a bit, felt like a bit of a godsend. Walking around campus with her bag, just about to go to her dorm, she was interrupted when she saw a campus cop or something calling out her name. She rolled her eyes.

Ugh.

Walking into the cold interview room, Crystal considered herself lucky that she was wearing her jacket beforehand. The room was cold, in an eerie sort of way. She remembered watching Law and Order with her mother, seeing the suspects being interrogated in those rooms with the mirrors, and now she found it ironic that she was now in a similar situation. Nevertheless, she sat down, and began to answer the questions posed to her.

 1) Could you please tell us your name, age, and how many years you have spent at Cabot Creek University thus far?

“I’m Crystal Gauthier, and I’m 19, almost 20. I’m a sophomore at CCU, so this is my second year here.” She grumbled this seemingly bored, twirling a lock of her hair.

2) When was the last time that you can recall seeing Melanie Whyte? Did you talk to her? How did she seem to you?

Crystal blinked repeatedly, trying to recall any memories of Professor Whyte. “Umm, hmm, probably a month before freshman year ended. I just saw her around the campus, and nothing seemed particularly off about her, I guess. But I don’t know her, sooo...” She shrugged, eyebrows raised.

3) What was your relationship with Melanie Whyte?

At this question, she scrunched her face. “We didn’t really have one. I didn’t take any of her classes, and so I only saw her around the campus.” 

4) Where were you between 5pm and 7pm on the 18th November, 2015, the day before Thanksgiving break?

”Day before Thanksgiving break? In my room, packing my luggage. It’s a pretty long flight from here back to Arizona, so I tried to finish up everything then.” She answered, with a bit of a questioning tone.

5) In your opinion, was Melanie Whyte someone who was well liked around campus?

Again, she shrugged, seemingly more confused. “Probably. A lot of people were really sad about her disappearance, and while I didn’t know her, she seemed like a really good person, based on how everyone reacted.”

6) Do you think Melanie Whyte could possibly have any enemies?

”Yes? I mean, I think going through life without having anyone dislike you is quite hard, and maybe one of the professors or something was jealous. I don’t know though.”

7) In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, did you notice any strangers on or around campus?

”Strangers around campus? Not anymore than the usual, I guess.” 9) What do you think happened to her?

”Well, I mean I tend to assume the worst, but if I had to guess, probably six feet under. She gulped. “But, I hope she’s still alive out somewhere. But who knows?”

10) Do you have an other pieces of information that might help us with our investigation?

“Sorry, but nuh uh. I really have no idea what happened.”

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Crystal’s Schedule for the Fall Semester 2017

JRN 203 - Writing News MTh 3:00-4:00

JRN 204 - Laws for Journalists WThF 12:00-2:00

JRN 209 - Media, Society and International Crises WF 11:00-12:00PM

JRN 210 - Media, Politics and Publics TF 3:00-5:00PM

JRN 320 - Journalism and Design T 6:00-7:45PM