At 25, I'd like to think of myself as fairly mature and ready for the next, grown-up chapters of my life. I've been on my own since I was basically 17 and have had at least some form of a job since I was around 13-years-old. "Bills" was a word I became familiar with at a fairly young age. After getting my first part-time job at 15, I began regularly paying my cell phone bill and have done so ever since...

I'm about a month and a half into my first professional job as the schools and county reporter. So far, it's going pretty well. Structure works well for me and I love having something to do every single day, especially writing. I like to think I'm good at my job and I enjoy doing it. I've hung out with elementary kids, attended school board meetings and even visited a nuclear power plant. I get to take pictures and have a lot of freedom in what I do, which I love...

Editors note: This is a blog that I wrote for my personal blog site, I am republishing it at the owner's permission (mine). The explosive power of social media has brought one viral video to more than 70 million pairs of eyes across the globe. For those of you who have yet to click on the link that has been popping up in your news and twitter feeds for the past two weeks, I am going to make a small attempt to explain the newest trending topic and the criticism while also expressing my thoughts on the matter.. ...

I don't know what the rest of you did today, but I celebrated reading with more than 400 students at Winfield Scott Elementary school. It was an assignment for The Tribune but deep, down inside.... I really enjoyed it because it was about getting youngsters excited about words...

You have to start somewhere, according to my mentor and former journalism professor. As I couldn't agree with him more, I am glad Fort Scott is where I will start. I joined The Tribune staff on Feb. 13 as a general assignment reporter and pretty much jumped right into the position...