I had the opportunity to attend a presentation in which Seth Mnookin shared insights into how to turn complex topics into compelling stories. Here is one of the things I wrote down:

Seth says to think of what you write as a detective story. Tension and drama is not what happens, but how you get there.

I was shocked to learn this morning on Twitter how Mnookin became intricately tied to the events unfolding at MIT and Watertown, Mass., late Thursday/early Friday involving the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

I was so intrigued by Mnookin’s adventure on Twitter that I wanted to capture it. You can read it here (via Storify):

The post Seth Mnookin: From Health Journalism 2013 to the Alleged Boston Marathon Bombers appeared first on The Z Section.

I finally decided to take a look at this emotional video that choked up a lot of people and drove others to tears. The link I clicked took me to Mashable.com, and you can check out the video here. On the site, Sam Laird wrote:

Before the game, noted belter Rene Rancourt took center ice to sing the national anthem. Then, a few seconds in, an amazing thing happened: the TD Garden crowd heartily took over, singing the lyrics as one and drowning Rancourt out completely.

After watching the video, I did not get the impression the crowd drowned out Rancourt. Rather, I walked away believing Rancourt recognized what was happening and quit singing through the microphone.

A little while later, I talked to my sister who lives in the Boston area. She told me her daughter (my niece, who plays hockey and can be seen in the foreground of the photo above) was at the Bruins game on Wednesday night. I had to talk to her.

I wanted to know if the crowd recognized something special was going on at the time, and my niece said that it was something special. I asked her if it was an emotional time, and she said it was. “I cried, and about half of the people at the game cried,” she told me. “People were screaming ‘Boston Strong’ and ‘We are Boston.’”

What amazed her mother and me was that she had no fear going into Boston a couple of days after the bombing. That tells you something about Bostonians and the resiliency of the American people.

As President George W. Bush said in a joint session of Congress following the 9/11 attacks, “My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of our Union — and it is strong.” Indeed it is.

Update: I checked out another version of the video from the Bruins game; this time from the Bruins’ website. In the video below, the public address announcer encourages the crowd to loud and sing along with Rene Rancourt. And, you can also see how Rancourt seizes the moment and goes from singing the National Anthem to leading the crowd in signing it.

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I had no appointments scheduled, so that meant I would have a day where I could sit down and just write stories. I had conducted some interviews and attended some meetings and needed some uninterrupted time to get those stories done. Tuesday would be that day, or so I thought.

One of my coworkers, Abby Armbruster, received a call from Paul Cebul of Reach Trade Co. informing her some coffee farmers from Peru would be stopping by the coffee shop. Abby asked me if I would be interested in doing a story, and I said yes. I was out of the door in minutes. I spent time with Jose Jorge Durmand and his wife, Marleny Jorge Ingaruca, and Selena Contreras (in the top photo).

I had the opportunity to talk with the coffee farmers and learn about the challenges they faced, whether it was weather or terrorists or middlemen trying to skim off some of their beans or thieves stealing their beans. I spent nearly a couple of hours with them, Cebul and Dan Hildebrandt.

On Monday, I had tried to get in touch with Kathryn Gabriele (she is on the left in the bottom photo), a Wooster native who was living in the Boston area who ran in the Boston Marathon. I left a message for her father, but I never heard back from him.

I noticed Gabriele and I had a few Facebook friends in common, so on Tuesday, after returning from speaking with the coffee farmers, I sent a friend request. I was surprised to see she accepted it within a relatively short period of time. We exchanged messages and arranged for a time to talk.

One of the things that struck me during my conversation with Gabriele was how she said of one of the explosions she could see it, hear it and smell it.

My job allows me to talk to people who shape the news, make the news and are part of historic events. And, on Tuesday, I went from the Amazon jungle in Peru to a half of a mile away from the finish line in the Boston Marathon. I am blessed.

As a side note, my wife, Wendi and I, were in Copley Square, the site of the finish line for the marathon, last August. I heard the bomb went off at 671 Boyleston St. You can see the address on the left side of the photo below.

The post How I traveled from Peru to the Boston Marathon in About 3 Hours appeared first on The Z Section.

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Bobby Warren performing a Torn and Restored Newspaper effect at Wooster Jam 2013. Photo by Dick Beery / 3 Oaks Enhancements.

I do not have a problem with it, because I am performing entertainment. When we go to the movies, we are actually watching a series of still photographs shown in rapid succession that gives the appearance of movement. It is magic. Any way, …

This past week provided ample opportunity to perform magic. I had four performances over a three-day span with three of them coming on the same day.

The first show was for an event for the Northeast Ohio Division of the Salvation Army, and it was in Ashland on Thursday. The other three performances were Saturday: Two were in conjunction with the Wooster Jam and the final one as a private show.

Needless to say, I was kept busy … very busy.

Each show provided interesting opportunities.

• The Salvation Army show allowed me the opportunity to weave a Christian message into the effects I was performing.
• The Wooster Jam performances were done to music, and they allowed me to create a sense of awe and wonder without saying a word.
• The private show was for a group of girls ages 8–16, and a few adults, so I had to put together a show that would connect for young kids, teenagers and adults.

Each show, also had its challenges, but the goal was always to provide the best show I am capable of performing for each different situation and each different audience. In other words, I had to set aside my interests and focus on the interests of my clients.

When I perform, I do not always perform my favorite effects, and I don’t always perform my most stunning and amazing effects. Why? Because my audiences dictate my shows. If I were to perform my favorite effects, it would be a combination of rope magic and mindreading.

• In creating the Salvation Army show, the challenge was to find effects that would provide a variety of different things, yet, I could still share a Christian message with it.
• The Wooster Jam performances required me to put together effects that would be visually stunning and stand on their own. This required me to perform classics of magic, like the Linking Rings, something I have performed, but do not perform regularly.
• The challenge of the private show was to find effects that little kids and adults would enjoy. I performed everything from a coloring book trick to a mindreading trick at the end.

So, what do magic and Christianity have in common? Well, it is all about serving others.

Leland Pennington, my magic mentor, taught me a long time ago that when performing shows, the goal is not to design a show that will fool other magicians or create a series of effects in which they would approve. No, you perform effects the audience likes. Your shows are about your audiences, not you.

Leland is an amazing magician who has studied so many areas of magic. So much so, that he is perhaps best known for his silk magic and metal bending, perhaps two aspects of magic people would not normally link together.

What Leland and I do might not suit other magicians, but that is OK, because it suits our audiences. (Do I need to mention we both get repeat bookings?)

The post What do Magic and Christianity Have in Common? appeared first on The Z Section.

This is the third annual Wooster Jam, and it marks the third time I will be performing magic at the event. It is a neat event because it brings together a variety of artists, from visual to performing to musical. Whether its dancing, singing, film, art or poetry, the Wooster Jam has always brought together a diverse group.

Speaking of diversity, for the second year, the Wooster Jam, which runs from noon to 11 p.m., will be held in conjunction with the Wooster Ethnic Fair, so come out to the fairgrounds this Saturday and experience a variety of cultures, foods and arts.

To learn more about the Wooster Jam, please click here. For directions to the fairgrounds, click here. Visit the WE Fair Facebook page here.

The post Wooster Jam: Be There or Be Square This Saturday appeared first on The Z Section.

This is classic. I say print it out and frame it. This is one for the ages.

Let me see if I understand this correctly: A scientist with a theoretical particle named after him claims there is no God, therefore, do not call his theoretical particle, that I assume does not exist, after a God he believes does not exist.

File this under the heading: You can’t make this stuff up.

I might need to break open one of those big city dictionary’s, but am I right in thinking “theoretical” does not mean “actual.” Wait a second, let me check the interwebs.

The truth of the matter, even though I have faith that God exists, and even though I believe there is strong evidence that points to a transcendent Creator, both Prof. Higgs and I are two sides of the same coin: We both accept our views in faith.

Even Richard Dawkins, a staunch atheist who vigorously attacks Christianity and world religions, holds out the remotest possibility, though, admittedly not much, there might be a God.

Look, I am not a scientist, and I don’t play one on television (though I did play Doc Burton in a high school production of “Cheaper by the Dozen”), but there are questions science has yet to answer for me, and most likely others.

How did sexual reproduction start? How in the world did an organism who never engaged in sexual reproduction and had absolutely no history with it realize it could happen?

If the odds were astronomical that nonlife could become life, how is it that it happened repeatedly and how was it that there ended up being a male and a female organism in the same proximity that this type of union could happen?

Then, there is always the fact no one was around to observe how the universe or life began, so that makes us all speculators at best.

Then, there is this: The fool says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalm 14:1, NIV).

The post A True Classic from the Halls of Atheism, You Won’t Believe This appeared first on The Z Section.

Depending upon whom you are reading, there might be four or five stops along this road. Generally, this is how the Romans Road to Salvation proceeds:

The Romans Road to Salvation

There is a good overview of the Romans Road on About.com in the Christianity section. You can read the full post here, but here is a brief description:

1. Everyone needs salvation because we have all sinned. Romans 3:23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (all Scripture from the New International Version).
2. The price (or consequence) of sin is death. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
3. Jesus Christ died for our sins. He paid the price for our death. Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
4. We receive salvation and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. {10} For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
5. Salvation through Jesus Christ brings us into a relationship of peace with God. Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Romans 8:1,”Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:38–39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Is that the end of the Romans Road?

I would maintain there needs to be an additional stop on this path: Baptism.

This is what Paul writes in Romans 6:3–4, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? {4} We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

This passage suggests to me those who have been baptized (immersed) were connected with the death of Christ (v. 3). Why were we baptized? So we may have new life (v. 4).

Today, Joe Rubino, our community outreach minister at Parkview Christian Church in Wooster, Ohio, said baptism is important, which is why it is part of the Great Commission and is included in every conversion account in the book of Acts.

We’ll discuss baptism further, but ponder Romans 6:3–4 and consider how it fits in with salvation. What do you think?

The post Should There Be One More Stop on the Romans Road to Salvation? appeared first on The Z Section.

Proverbs 14:12, NIV

I love the Tom Cochrane song, “Life is a Highway.” It is a fun, upbeat tune. I admit, I am one who does not get caught up in lyrics, unless it is a Christian song. So, don’t ask me what the song by Cochrane really means, but I will tell you want it means to me:

Life is an open book, and we can take ours wherever we want to.

We have the opportunity to strive for greatness or wallow in complacency. We can choose to do good or no good at all. It is up to us.

As for where we find direction, there is no lack of influences: Parents, preachers, friends, teachers, book, movies and bands. All of these can be positive influences, but not necessarily. People, even those with the best intentions, can fail and fall.

As it says in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Not everything is as it seems. We need to be careful and cautious.

For me, I have strayed off the straight and narrow, but a good guide for me has been God’s Word, the Bible. It helps me to stay on track. It has a lot of wonderful advice in it, and it leads us to heaven.

We’ll explore more tomorrow, but for now, enjoy Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway” on Spotify:

Or, on YouTube

The post Are You Headed in the Right Direction appeared first on The Z Section.

Josh Krajcik speaking with Ali Booth at the Best Buy on the Strip in Canton.

I was in Canton on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, to shoot video for Krajcik’s performance and CD signing at the Best Buy on the Strip in Canton. I was part of The Daily Record team there to cover the event. Living Editor Lydia Gehring was there to interview Krajcik and do a story; Dan Starcher was there taking photographs; and I was shooting video.

Krajcik had just finished his acoustic set and stepped outside for a little break before signing autographs for his fans. On his way back in, he stopped to talk to Ali Booth, who works as a cashier at the Best Buy. The two met earlier in the green room.

What impressed me, and why I wanted to take the photograph, was how Krajcik treated Booth with dignity. He got down on her level so the two would be eye-to-eye when they talked. He could have easily just stood there, towering above Booth, and made some idle chatter before excusing himself. But that is not what he did.

Jane Carmichael is a long-time friend of Krajcik’s mom, Lisa Pim. Earlier in the day, we spoke about Krajcik, the album and how he knows what he wants and is working toward that goal.

Despite the success on The X Factor (he was runner-up) and the record contract, Carmichael confidently proclaimed, “He will never change. Josh will never change.” The context was that fame is not going to change the humble Krajcik.

To see something as captured in the photo above, it makes you think Carmichael is onto something.

Updated info:

The videos below are from The Daily Record’s YouTube Channel, check out the 23 Krajcik videos there. You can check out Gehring’s story, along with photos from Starcher, here. To see another post on The Z Section regarding Krajcik, click here.

Here is a slideshow from the Canton event and videos follow.

Enjoy Krajcik performing “Lost at Sea”:

Gehring’s interview with Krajcik, along with him performing his new single, “Back Where We Belong.”

Or, listen to Krajcik’s album on Spotify:

The post Josh Krajcik Connects with Fan in a Deeply Personal Way (Updated) appeared first on The Z Section.