Sports Talk: Find your photos on Facebook

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Aug. 7, 2013. 

I have a confession to make… What I am writing about this week is only semi-sports related, so I apologize in advance to any avid sports fans.

I wanted to use this space this week to make a little announcement. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed attending different events throughout the summer and keeping up with the out of season sports and other fun going in our community. I’ve always loved taking photos, but a photojournalism class at Bellarmine is when I really learned how photos can do so much to tell a story. I also learned how you can never take too many photos in attempt to capture the perfect one that captures a story.

My friends and family have come to know me as the picture taker of the group. I used to be made fun of for the number of pictures my friends had tagged of themselves on Facebook that belonged to me. You see, in addition to loving to take lots of photos, I love to share them. I don’t just take them for myself. I take them for friends, family and for anyone else wanting to capture a moment or tell a story for future generations.

With all of the photos I’ve taken this summer, so many of the photos are of people I do not personally know. I always have a tough time selecting which photos to submit for print and, thank goodness, I usually am not the one who has to pick which one(s) actually do get printed. I talk to many of you at these events and often times you know I’m taking photos of you or your children and then they get left on my computer for no one’s enjoyment since the paper can only fit a select number on any given week.

So I’ve recently decided to upload these photos to a Facebook page specifically for sharing with the community. I find genuine value in photos and I believe many others do too. Rather than leaving the multitude of photos I take on a hard drive somewhere for only me to rarely flip through, they are now there for you to enjoy.

Photos can be found at www.facebook.com/ritapeatapictures. If you’ve seen me or talked to me at an event this summer or think I may have gotten photos of you or someone you know, take a look for it. They won’t all be perfect and I can’t guarantee editing on all of them. Also, don’t expect photos to be posted to this page immediately after being taken but you will probably be able to find that after the issue of the Casey News is released they were taken for.

Enjoy!

Sports Talk: Local Sports Rivalry Facebook Page - Bring on the Smack Talk!

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published July 10, 2013. 

If you’re an area sports fan, you are likely to have a preference to either the color red or blue. No matter your level of love/hate for the Kentucky Wildcats or Louisville Cardinals, as a sports lover, you have an opinion. Recently some local fans have created a great online space for sharing these opinions on all of the latest and greatest news concerning the state’s great sports teams.

Josh Richardson, an avid blue-bleeding Wildcat fan, created The Kentucky Sports Rivalry Page on Facebook less than a month ago as a place for “Kentucky sports fans to debate/argue over current/old sports news and topics.” (And, of course, by “Kentucky” it means our great commonwealth, not the university.)

Shortly after creating and promoting the page, Richardson decided it was only right to keep the page’s administration as unbiased as possible. He appointed University of Louisville graduate and Cardinal fan Chris Edwards as a fellow administrator of the page.

If you spend any time on Facebook, you know it’s pretty common to find a debate of sorts ensuing on a friend’s wall over a comment made, link shared or photo posted. I have found most of these debates to stem from either politics, movies and tv shows, or sports. Living in the state of Kentucky, though, it seems sports is the most common hot topic found on my news feed.

Usually the banter is friendly enough, but sometimes it gets heated. Any sports fan has the right to be passionate about their team, right? However, the idea of having a centralized place is great if you ask this sports fan.

The beauty of this new Facebook page led by two Casey County natives is its straight forward purpose: to serve as a debate ground. Cards and Cats are going to debate the big games and big announcements. In fact, I think it’s part of what we love about being a fan.

The other aspect I love about this page is that its roots are local. Because of this, it is more than likely you will know a lot of those in the great debate. Arguing with perfect strangers, in my opinion, has little value and usually goes nowhere. (If it’s in person, such as at a game, that’s a little more understandable.) Debating with people you know a little better tends to keep things lighter. You can throw in a low blow to a close friend, because you know at the end of the day you’re just two die-hard fans.

The Kentucky Sports Rivalry Page already has over 100 followers with regular posts and announcements about both universities being made. The debate has already begun and I encourage any Cardinal or Wildcat fan who loves to keep up with the debate to join the page and join the ongoing rivalry. The fact this page already has regular comments and posts with college sports in their off-season due to summer says a lot. Just wait until September rolls around and I can only imagine what the upcoming basketball season has in store!

A birdseye view of Valentine's Day

Jon and I kind of let Valentine's day just arrive this year with neither of us thinking too much about it. That's sort of just the way we work. Not to sound "above" it, but in general we don't acknowledge holidays and such in big sorts of ways. Birthdays are definitely acknowledged, usually with a gift. Christmas the same. I'm sure we'll make a point to doing special things for our anniversary. We have never really acknowledge the anniversary of when we first began dating (maybe because neither of us knew when that would technically be). And Valentine's Day has never been a big ordeal. 

I attribute that to the fact Jon goes out of his way regularly to do things to make me feel and never doubt his love. He'll stop on his way home from work to bring me a peppermint mocha latte--not because I've asked. He'll do the dishes for me after dinner without a prompt. He'll help me clean (so that I can go on walks with him later.) He'll send me a picture of a flower or something pretty when he sees it and thinks of me. He'll tell me I'm beautiful when he sees me in the kitchen with my hair pulled back and my apron in action. He'll heat up the bathroom for me when he knows I'll be showering soon. 

I kind of wrote Valentine's Day off this year since I've come to see everyday as a day to celebrate our love, but Facebook made me change my mind. Jon and I still kept it simple. I found post it notes hidden in different corners of the house throughout the day while working from home with special messages from Jon. What I loved about Facebook, though, was the continuous posts through the day of the sweet acts of love happening around the globe. 

Pictures on end of beautiful surprise flowers. Exciting posts of a surprise dinner out. Champagne after night class. A new puppy, tickets, cute cards... A talk on the phone with a deployed loved one.  A home cooked dinner. Valentine's from the kids at school.

We call it all "cheesey" and maybe we do love each other all year round and maybe we do little things all year round to show that love. But Valentine's Day gives us that one day of the year to be as proud of our love and cheesey about it as we please with no shame.  A day when people everywhere are going out of their way to make someone else feel special.

A Hallmark holiday? Maybe, but this Valentine's Day I didn't just get to enjoy my husband's love... Facebook may clue me in on more drama and ridiculousness than I care to know about on most days, but on Feb. 14 it allowed me to see the love so many others share. In some weird way, it made me feel more loved.

Nothing can ever rival a love letter from My Wonderful
(and him still asking me to marry him with a Ring Pop.)