News makers need journalists now more than ever

With the recent downtown bank robbery at Bank of America I started thinking about how the word got out and the impact between the growing rivalry between social media and journalism.

We can make the argument all day long on whether people on twitter "breaking the news" technically turn themselves into journalists simply by reporting the news or we can hang on to the idea journalists are still journalists and people on twitter/social media outlets are still just regular people on social media outlets. I'm not sure which side I'd argue for yet but I have developed my own verdict on one thing: When a news event happens, "true journalists" are needed on the scene now more than ever.

As stories are now able to break in real time thanks to mobile devices connected to the internet which can transmit a "breaking" story in a matter of seconds, it is quite easy to see why it took our OKC media outlets longer than expected/desired to report the robbery story...they can't be everywhere at once. What can happen, however, is for a Bank of America representative, the police or whoever is in charge to go find the journalist. I know it kind of sounds backwards but with today's technology it must happen in order for rumors not to spread like wildfire.

It is more important now than ever for true journalists to be given priority on a news event. Don't shut them out, don't tell them to wait, get the facts to them so that they can tell the public what is really going on instead of it spreading across the internet with true/not true information.

Now, I'm strictly speaking of "breaking news" and not investigative or anticipated stories.

Hope all this makes sense...it does in my head at least. What do you think?

Let's gaze into my crystal ball

Steve Lackmeyer asked me to write a bit about "What should downtown Oklahoma City look like in 2020, and how can this vision be best achieved?"

After rereading the question a couple times I began to notice a gap in the word "should" to the word I wanted to use..."could."

Downtown Oklahoma City will undoubtedly look different; especially by bringing a more impressive skyline with Devon's 54-story skyscraper and leveling the offensive crosstown bridge and shipping it off to a resting place not to be missed.

I could go on all day long on what I want downtown to look like in 2020 and could dream-up some ideas on what it could be...but let's stick to the question, "What should downtown Oklahoma City look like..." Not sure if I'm the right person to ask, but I'll at least give you a glimpse on what I should be doing in Downtown OKC in 2020.

As I gaze into my polished crystal ball I see myself hoping off the cable car at the stop off Sheridan between Harvey and Hudson and starring up at the iconic skyscraper and shielding my eyes from its glass reflection. Watching the cable car scoot on down Sheridian I scurry across the street into the Myriad Gardens immediately noticing how shiny the Crystal Bridge has become...the scrubbing and cleansing the outside has received over the past decade really helped in getting rid of all the gunk due to all the neglect from the two decades previous; which left it anything but "crystal."

Heading farther south through 'The Gardens' my dog, "Reina" starts to bark at all the squirrels and geese that have started to plant themselves in the area due to the Core to Shore initiative passed roughly 10 years beforehand. Pulling on the leash and retracting Reina from his jubilee we trot on through the park, passing the street musicians and kiosk stands selling fruit and souvenior hats with "405" across the front and the occasional "I (heart) OKC" shirts.

After the quick mile jog we get down to the river and I let Reina loose in the dog park off the river front and sit on the bank gazing off over the river at the 100,000-light ferris wheel and reflect over how anxious I was to find out more info about this Santa Monica Ferris Wheel once I read about its purchase online back in the summer of 2008 at a friend's apartment in Edmond (can't believe I chose to live in Edmond).

Whistling over to Reina and putting the leash back on him we head on back over the Skydance Bridge towards the rustling and bustling roar of a downtown finally stretching its legs from over a 100 years of pent-up excitement. We stop for a snack while I dangle my legs over the edge and scratch Reina's tummy as cars travel underneath us sending wind gusts up to cool us down from the hot Oklahoma summer sun. Peering off to the East I start to notice all the trees that have started to finally reach the rooftops of all the recently occupied residential complexes.

Pedestrians keep walking by us on their way down to the river and some are headed the opposite direction to downtown to start a night rememberence while stopping to pet Reina as they often do...he has become an exuberently friendly face to those urbanites I've come to know over the years.

I take a second to think to myself, "The once dirt river and abandoned buildings has now turned into all this??? My kid's will never believe me."

OKC and me

After an exhausting 5-week hiatus away from Oklahoma City (aren’t vacations supposed to be relaxing?) I am back here where I belong. I love it here.

With two more states (Utah and Hawaii) left to visit to cross all 50 off my list and also having traveled to 16 countries outside of the United States, I can safely say that Oklahoma City is where I should be. This place is great. I love it when people ask where I’m from and the door is open for me to spill all the positive superlatives of Oklahoma City leaving them penciling in OKC on their next road trip. Currently, I have a few friends that I met in Spain that are now in Oklahoma City visiting…on their first trip to the United States.

I know, I know…I hear adults (adults to me is anyone that can recall living in the 80’s) say all the time that I don’t know exactly how special OKC is because I wasn’t aware of OKC’s downtown before the 1st MAPS. True, I was only nine years old as the first MAPS vote passed but now I stand at 26 years old hoping to be “that” adult 17 years from now telling people how lucky they are because I remember OKC before Core to Shore took place. Before the Thunder rode into town carrying the young Kevin Durant. I was here for that. I was also here for the ribbon cutting of the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library and I attended the first baseball game at the Bricktown Ballpark. I was at the opening game for the Blazers and remember the shock upon hearing their departure. I remember like it was yesterday the shaking of my middle school and being told an explosion happened downtown and not quite grasping the weight of situation.

I remember seeing the theatre play, “Will Rogers” in the civic center before the renovations. I remember the downtown canal’s opening night and not being able to ride on the ferry because I didn’t want to wait in the line that would inevitably take two or more hours (secretly I still have not taken a ride). I remember “the hill” at the old 89ers stadium and how sad I was when I had to park my car (a couple years ago) on what was home plate while at the State Fair.

But, living in the past is a terrible waste of time. I am here and witnessing (right now) the reconstruction of I-44. The reemergence of Deep Deuce and Midtown. The additions to the Ford Center and I’m glad I have photos of myself outside the current facade to show my kids someday. I walked around, recently, the site of the proposed core-to-shore and looked at everything that will be gone and replaced with a beautiful 20-acre (roughly) park to shape this city for the next generation.

Oh, what a joy to be in this city.

I walked in the parking lot soon to be covered by Devon’s new 54-story corporate headquarters. I have photos of that area of me while visiting the Arts Festival.

You don’t have to have witnessed Oklahoma City pre-MAPS to appreciate it.

Yes, I may not remember the collapse of the Penn Square Bank (I wasn’t born yet), but I have witnessed some pretty monumental historical events in OKC leaving me very proud to say that OKC is my heritage, my home and where my heart will always be.

Day 28 and more; Home

Well, the trip is over. I'm home.

I arrived at the Madrid airport way later than I should have (only an hour and 15 min before my flight) so I was a little nervous about missing my flight but I arrived to find out my flight had been delayed. Hooray. 2 hour and 50 min after my flight was scheduled to take off we finally hit the skies. So, because we left so late I ended up missing my connection in Dallas. I catch the next flight in Dallas and arrive into beautiful OKC at 9:15 with the sun finally going down.

I was welcomed at the airport by my mom, dad, brother and another friend Aimee (the one that originally traveled with me). They showed up with "welcome home" signs... :) big smile.

bed time and jet lag soon to hit.

UPDATE:

Ok, this is now my third day back home and jetlag didn't hit me as hard as last time and I actually slept in today to a respectable hour instead of waking up at 6 a.m. for no reason the past couple of days. Now, I'm just uploading videos and photos to youtube (http://www.youtube.com/user/caseycornett) and Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/30796964@N02/) and hope to have it all done by Monday morning.

Enjoy celebrating THIS country's birthday this weekend!

Day 27; Madrid

Today is my last day in Europe...

Oh man, what an adventure. I loved it all. Madrid, Segovia, Toledo, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Milan, Lugano, back to Milan, Dublin, back to London, Barcelona and finishing at Madrid...all in 29 days.

This trip has shown me the ultimate ends of my patience to the ultimate highs and thrills only imagined. I've been overwhelmed, underwhelmed, up, down, confused, enthused, tired and rejuvinated. This trip has made me see it all, all of me.

Spending my last full day here in Madrid is very fitting as would not rather spend it anywhere else and as I write this it is now 2:10 a.m. and I've been sitting on this balcony near Plaza Espana over looking Gran Via for about three hours now. Watching the halfmoon go from straight up all the way out and set past the Western horizon. great night, great day.

I did sport my USA Olympic jersey into a couple different bars for the USA vs. Brazil soccer game and watched them lose by a goal in the final 10 min...but that's ok. I watched it in Europe...that's what I'll remember. I will write my last blog post for this trip either tomorrow or the day following, depending on my strength to even get back home. For now I listen to this (http://blip.fm/profile/DJDMNATR/blip/15204354) and hope that all of you at some point do this (http://blip.fm/profile/DJDMNATR/blip/15204507)

Day 26; Barcelona/Madrid

I'm trying to stay up late and wake up really late to try and get ahead of the jet lag that is sure to doom me upon my arrival to OKC on Monday evening. This morning had me up at 9:30 a.m. and that is after I went back to sleep numerous times. Strange, but ok because I had to catch the 11:00 a.m. speed train to Madrid which set sail only 3 metro stops North of the hotel.

After I had all my things packed (and what an explodingly full backpack it is) I headed to the rooftop of the hotel to shoot some 360 degree footage of Barcelona. What a great view. As much fun and sterotypical as the skinny and winding streets are to walk in across Europe, it is definitely another experience to see the city from above....looks like mad chaos.

So, after the stunning 360 view spanning from the mountains to the Mediterrainean Sea, I headed on to the speed train to enjoy the 300 KMPH train on across Spain to Madrid. Man, we were hauling across the desert.

After wiping away the goosebumps from my arms which appeared after stepping off this train into the historic Atocha train station, I headed to the metro to find line 2 which will lead me back to Angela's apartment (one of my couchsurfing buddies from my first stint in Madrid).

It is Saturday and after expressing my desire to go shopping (I really only shop about once a year but European clothes are lots of fun and quite cheap as well) I headed out to the stores of H&M (http://www.hm.com/us/#/startns/), Zara (http://www.zara.com/#/en_GB/top_zara/man/) and Sfera (http://www.sfera.eu/) all which are quite popular in Spain/Europe and actually a few H&M stores across the United States (just not in Oklahoma).

So, I got quite lucky because I happened to be in Madrid during the annual "Rebajas" (http://media.www.thesimpsonian.com/media/storage/paper1080/news/2008/01/24/Perspectives/Sales.And.Snoozing.For.Spains.Latest.Import.rebajas.Welcome.Change.Siestas.Take-3164016.shtml) which is an annual city-wide sale where all clothing is near 50% off to clear warehouses to get ready for the next line of fashion. Still good for me because Europe's "old" line of fashion is still 2-3 lines ahead of where America (particuliarly Oklahoma) is....so I'm set for another year but I really hope the bag is not overweight (Yes, I have an extra "empty" suitcase that I left at Angela's this whole trip to bring back clothes from shopping).

So, after a couple hours of shopping (really an hour and a half of walking and 30 min of shopping) I'm set for apacking and getting ready for my 10.5 hour flight back to the United Stated in 36 hours. ugggh. I hate that flight. The flight to Europe is done over night and sleeping is a must because you land in the morning...the flight over to the 'States is from noon to the evening and it's bedtime when you land so you're not "supposed" to sleep on that flight. It's annoying. 10.5 hours is so much longer than it sounds on a plane (for those that have never done a flight of that length).

Ok, back to my first love, Madrid.

So much truth in the stereotypes of the "skinny and winding streets" of Europe and especially in Spain. Just winding down randomly throughout streets off Gran Via and Plaza Espana. I almost want to/should just stop blogging right now in these final days because words aren't going to fully show the things i'm doing/feeling.

Tapas, mahou, Paco's, Corrientes 348, time alone, packing and thinking about OKC. What a great day.

Day 25; Barcelona

Today was definitely a good day. I am starting to become a believer in my original plan to finish off this trip with a couple of days in Barcelona (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcelona).

Considering all 12 cities I visited on this summer gallivant, Barcelona, by far, is the most tourist friendly and I'm not talking about the tourist shops and dumb little decals/souvenirs, I'm talking about placing someone who has no idea about the city yet can easily get around and manage (with as little of hassle as possible) to see all the sites. The streets are all properly marked and names easy to find, subway is very efficient and very recognizable, bi/trilingual signs everywhere and smaller detailed maps surrounding popular corners throughout the city. I don't know why it was so difficult for many of the European cities to come on board to the fact that tourism is a major economic factor and it doesn't take a lot to make the city more enjoyable for travelers.

The weather got up to around 85 degrees today making a trip to the beach (reachable by subway in under 20 minutes pretty much everywhere in the city) a perfect way to relax this already beaten and bruised body. Even in this most "touristy" spot I was able to get a pitcher of Sangria and a bag of olive oil chips for around $9. I love Spain. With a towel down and the 55 SPF evenly smoothed out across my casper-like skin I napped while the waves hit the sandbank 15 feet in front of me. Perfect day.

I was there for a few hours before heading to grab some paella (http://tinyurl.com/c4zqy8) from the local menu del dia at a nearby restaurant just a 10 min walk off the tourist trail.

Also while in Barcelona I was able to see Gaudi's Garden (http://tinyurl.com/ph9ha8) and his Sagrada Familia (http://tinyurl.com/ahzt6k). The city is currently doing a major preservation on most of his buildings throughout Barcelona but that doesn't keep the jaw from dropping and shutters from capturing moments sure to be reviewed in the following years in frames throughout my house.

I also purchased my final form of transportaion for tomorrow's journey over to Madrid for the weekend. The last time I was in Barcelona (January 2007) the only ground transportation available was a bus that took 8 hours...but now Spaniards (and tourists) can take the speed train making that trip a meager 2 hours and 50 minutes as the train hits speeds a tad over 185 MPH (it's like sitting shotgun in a Nascar), I love Spain.

Many people throughout this trip have asked me my favorite place so far (quite a valid question) and of course I can list off the most famous cities we all grew up reading about (London, Paris, etc.) but I'm starting to realize that those places are mostly in my head because of certain artifacts or events throughout history and I love to see those things and make them priorities in my first few hours in any city...but I don't think artifacts should make the city, it should be the people and customs (completely realizing my bias in this statement) I choose Spain everytime. It's such a special place. Every city I've been to in Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Segovia, Granada and Sevilla) I always notice the genuine people first.

The people in those cities are proud of their culture. They are proud to live where they live. The people want to show off the things few tourists know about...the great local spots. They want to teach you their culture. They want you to leave their city wanting to come back. They want you to spread the word of how great their country and heritage is...and I do.

Spain will always be my favorite country outside the United States and whenever anyone asks me where they should travel if they have 7-10 days of vacation time...Spain. Head down South to see the Alhambra in Granada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra), bus over to Sevilla and marvel at their Guinness Book of World Records cathedral http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Cathedral and see the tomb of Columbus (real name is Cristobol Colon), head to the center of Madrid for the afternoon siesta and Museo del Prado, Retiro and Reina Sofia (and of course Paco's and countless botellines of Mahou cinco estrella), take the 30 min speed train to Segovia and stare at the 5th century Roman Aqueduct http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_of_Segovia and the fairy-tale castle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcázar_of_Segovia. Grab another speed train on over to Toledo and cross the bridge and moat in the hill-top city and over look the rivers and finish off by heading Northeast to Barcelona and grab some Sangria and Paella while sitting on the world-famous beaches http://www.barcelonaweekendbreak.net/images/barcelona-beach.jpg.

You may not see the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa or the Colesseum but those stories only go so far. Remembering conversations made in Spanish bars and cafes can be remembered with laughter and fond memories and replayed in your head over and over...until you make yourself go back the next year.