Yup.

I was published a total of 46 times in my first year of Creative Communications:

- 26 times by the Manitoba Bisons, writing sports journalism and game recaps. Each of these 26 stories taking up around 4-5 hours of my night. I'll do the math for you, it's 104-130 hours.
- 13 times by The Winnipeg Free Press, the city's most credible and highly regarded newspaper. Some opportunities I asked for, others were offered to me.
- 5 times in various industry magazines: Local Fare, The Manitoba Mining Review, The Ontario Mineral Exploration Review, The Saskatchewan Oil Report, and the Official Publication of the School Plant Officials Society of Alberta (SPOSA).
- 2 times in The Projector.

As an aspiring journalist, I knew that just as important as my school work, was doing everything that I could to get my name out there, and I think I successfully managed to do both. As those who have been through the program know, CreComm itself is hard enough on its own, when you're not working at three journalism-related jobs, have two learning disabilities, are trying to plan your wedding and pay bills for two on a single income.

Unfortunately, talking, even when you don't have anything to say, is apparently far more important in determining your success than anything else.

I was recently informed that I would not be able to select the major of my choice (Journalism, if you haven't been paying attention) because of a low Professionalism grade that has resulted in me landing a mere 4% short of the required grade. I was also informed that this is because I didn't speak enough in class, didn't freelance as much in second semester (I actually freelanced more but hey, what do I know), and just generally lost interest in journalism.

Interesting, especially since I started work this past Monday (the first week of our summer break, my choice) at a magazine publisher, as an intern editor, where I will be working for the entire summer, and will likely be published another 50 times. Meanwhile, I've really enjoyed reading vacation updates from other J majors who are enjoying a nice relaxing summer break. There's truly nothing wrong with that.

But I think there is something wrong with all of these undeniable facts proving my strong interest and hard work in journalism not being enough to add four marks to a section labeled "Professionalism", because, as far as I know, I have taken journalism a lot more seriously and professionally than most other students have. My latest story:

BREAKING NEWS: Some people are just quiet. Look a little deeper.