A Crime Scene: Real Life

I interviewed witnesses. Reported. Shot and cut the video.
But it's just a whole lot to take in and know what to say.

Guns. Blood. Bags over the victims' heads. Tied up. Threatened. Heroes.

It had just about every factor you hear about when it comes to crime movies..
But your heart aches more when it is real life.

I arrived in the trailer park neighborhood where the police report said the attempted robbery took place. I drove around the area looking for anyone outside their home that I could talk to. Since I wasn't given an exact home address that means I was going to have to 'door-knock.'

Door Knock: Going door-to-door-knocking to see if anyone is home.

            *Good chance they aren't home if story is in the middle of the day during the week.*
             If home there are usually four options:
            1. They didn't see or hear anything.
            2. They don't want to talk to the media
            3. They know and saw everything, but then say they don't want to go on camera.
            4. They know and saw everything, and you kindly find away to get something/someone on camera. (because pigs will fly when someone is jumping to be interviewed on camera.)

Luckily, the first man I spoke to was able to tell me what home the attempted robbery happened at. It was a few houses down, but nobody was home.

I saw in the police report that one of the victims fled to a neighbor's home. I looked around the victim's property and saw a blood trail. The drops of blood led down a driveway and up the doorsteps to another home.

The neighbor was willing to talk and soon after other neighbors started to come out and tell their story of what they heard or saw.

I was filming when the victims of the crime were arriving home from the hospital. They were in such good spirits after such a traumatic event. The woman's face was badly beaten and part of me just wanted to take her back to the hospital. She spoke to me as blood continued down her face (not on camera.)

Something horrible happened to this couple, but to see them in such positive spirits was very uplifting. Seeing a neighborhood that responded so quickly gave me hope.

It's not what happens to you, but how you respond right?

Midwest to California to Washington: New Beginning

East Lansing: Leaving East Lansing, Michigan after 4.5 years was tougher than I anticipated. You brush off good-byes as "see you later," but walking away you wonder how long 'later' actually means. What if that that really was the last time you see them. What I do know is I'll cherish the memories I do have with teammates, coaches, student-athletes, professors, internship friends, fellow journos, families and some other wonderful Spartan supporters. 

Roadtrip: Packing my entire life into a rinky-dink Honda Civic. A guy tried to scam me out of my apartment lease (not cool). Drove East Lansing, MI to Omaha, Nebraska. Next day I drove to Boulder, Colorado and toured campus with a high school friend. The next morning I drove to Denver, CO and had breakfast with another friend I have known since grade school. Drove about 13 hours to Las Vegas, Nevada. Spent two days in Vegas with friends from high school. Checked out the Hakkasan nightclub, Wet Republic pool, some casinos and ran 16+ miles in the morning. Drove home to San Diego through the desert with a broken air conditioning system.

Home: So nice to see family and longtime friends for longer than a weekend. Met my brother's girlfriend for the first time. Got injured training for my marathon after my 18 mile run. Returned to my pre-training weight with the help of the best Mexican food, being unemployed, injured and not having to train for anything for the first time in my life. Sat on the couch applied for tv reporting jobs here and there, ate, slept, beach, and bugged my friends to hang out when they got off work.

Field Hockey: Ending up coaching field hockey with the club team I played for growing up. High-energy people, great attitudes, and lots of hockey fun.

Job: Interviewed with the station on Skype. Interviewed again weeks later and also took a few tests. Interviewed with the co-news director at the sister station. Talked about my references who were later interviewed. Accepted a job offer while at my family friend's house.

Move: Family went on hyper-drive mode looking for apartments, moving company, new furniture, etc. Drove from San Diego to Redding, California with the parents. Next morning drove through the mountains to Portland, Oregon. We ate at the famous Palmer House for an early dinner *mushroom soup*. We eventually drove along the Columbia Gorge before crossing over into Washington.

Moving In: Dad had to fly to New York shortly after we got to Washington. The apartment was beautiful. but smelled awful. After we spent money on candles, sprays, powders and whatever else, we found the source of the problem. There was spoiled meat that fell behind the fridge sitting there for who knows how long. Mom and I had to stay in a hotel for a few days because the movers hadn't arrived with everything. We toured the city, had Mexican food and shopped for essentials. Soon it was time to say good bye and get going.

My Skydiving Video in Australia

A group of Michigan State University students and I went skydiving in Australia as a part of the 2011 Summer Sports Study Abroad. From 9,000ft we fell to the earth at around 100mph and landed on the sandy shores of Mission beach.

New Year New Website

I remember the first time I sat down and tried to put together what I thought was a resume. Now I have shifted gears and just finished my own personal website.

www.mollymcassidy.com

This website includes everything from my resume and cover letter to fun facts and pictures to help viewers get to know me.

Feel free to let me know what you think and be sure to check out the various links to further connect with me.

Joyfully,


MOLLY

No Need for a Scapegoat

I love this blog because it covers wonderful, fun, learning, and eventful days worth remembering in my life that I'll be sure to look back on. However, I want to post my article that I wrote about the Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky scandal taking place at Penn State University because I know we'll here about this in the future and I want to remember where I stood AS OF Nov. 16th with the information that is out NOW. So, here it goes. This article can also be found at www.spartanedge.com and my "The Damsel in Bliss" blog.

In light of the recent alleged child sex abuse events at Penn State University, Happy Valley has now found itself in a deep and torrential valley of mourning: trying to climb their way out by saving face. With this concept in mind, the University’s boards of trustees have fired the one person who was arguably the most recognizable face in Penn State University history, Joe Paterno, and made him out to be the scapegoat.

I’ll make it clear here now, that this is not a football, congressional or even college town gone-a-stray issue. This is about the innocence stolen from several children, who will live the results of what happened long past the day when the news coverage of this scandal dies out. This is about a man, Jerry Sandusky, who allegedly used his status as an assistant coach under Paterno, to lure young boys into sexual entrapment. This is about the lack of moral integrity from several adults stemming back to 2002, to follow through and do what is just rather than the bare minimum accepted by the law.

Here’s where I might get under your skin. Ready? Whether you’re the enraged parent, survivor of child sex abuse or you’ve made camp outside “Joepa’s” home rallying for him in support, the University has used Coach Paterno as a scapegoat and this is far from right. Notice I didn’t say this is completely wrong. This man has suffered a tarnished reputation, exile from his job of 60 years and has said himself that he wishes he had done more, yet the majority of attention has been focused on him, good or bad.

The light, this unfortunate light needs to shine on Jerry Sandusky and his alleged victims, rather than a legendary man, not just for amassing more wins than any other football coach, but for his humanitarian efforts and 60 years of service to a thriving Big Ten University. And all I see is media coverage on every major news channel and newspaper focusing on Joe Paterno. Whether it’s covering Paterno’s family history, video of PSU students rioting after the dismissal of their long-time coach, talk about Assistant Coach Mike McQueary being forced to miss the football game because of threats and now security at the football game will be increased…These. Are. Minute. Details.

I want the “Nancy Grace” uproars from the media dissecting and investigating what compels a human to commit these acts and how we as citizens can make sure we proactively fight against this atrocity to protect our children and make sure the public understands when and how to take the necessary steps to report such incidents. Ultimately, Paterno is responsible as the head coach and even more so when he was made aware of even one sexual incident under his watch. However, these are only speculations, assumptions, personal opinions as to how much Coach Paterno knew, while the courts hold a very convincing and conclusive 23 page document on how much Sandusky allegedly did according to eight victims and their families.

If confirmed news (from Joe Paterno himself would be ideal) surfaces that Joe Paterno knew about Sandusky’s crimes and actively tried to cover it up or ran with the, “out of sight out of mind” concept, then I’ll be happy to write a follow-up and tell you that Paterno’s many years of right don’t cancel out this particular wrong.

However, as of now, right now, Paterno has taken a majority of this child sexual abuse upon himself and his entire family with only speculations circulating, when Sandusky is the man who planted the seed, watered the situation with his continued alleged abuse and has now soiled an entire university and man’s unblemished legacy. Sandusky is one bad seed that when given the chance needs to take (if convicted) accountability for his actions that have not only deeply harmed children and their family’s but rippled; and has now affected Paterno, and an entire University. There is no need for a scapegoat when you have him…this should be the focus of our attention and the children who need our prayers.

Last Day in Australia: Palm Cove

Th next morning the only ones left in Cairns were the ones that were flying to New Zealand the next day or sailing to the Whitsundays Islands off the coast of Cairns. We decided to make the most of our last day and headed to Palm Cove beach south of Cairns.

On the 45 minute bus ride to the beach I sat near the front where this older drunk mean started rumbling to me about the Romans crucifying Jesus, how if I'm from California I should smoke and then he gave me a free bus pass for two stops. It was really awkward because I could barely hear the guy the whole time and he wanted me and my friend Brooke to come sit next to him...we stayed where we were.

The beach had golden sand, mountainous islands and a beautiful cove that wrapped around to the right of us. When we first got there though it was a little overcast and Adelle, Desiree and I grabbed some brunch at a cafe across the street.

As it cleared up we caught some sunshine and watched Ryan do his signature hand stands and a kite surfer out in the water.

After some time hanging out on the beach I jumped up and decided to break into a job down the curve of the beach. I put in my headphones, bumped some tunes on my iPod and ran barefoot where the waves broke on the shore and I never enjoyed a run more.

On my run back I gathered a few shells took in the crazy place where I was in the world and found my way back to my friends to head back.

Thanks for reading and I hope you're looking forward to my posts on New Zealand up next!

Love,

ME

Holloways Beach and Jello Wrestling?

After the wonderful time skydiving, we caught our 2 hour bus ride home and were hanging out in the hostel when there was a knock on our door. Outside the door I saw Zach and Brent and they said they had a surprise for us. When we looked to the left we saw JEAMIE DEACON!!

By chance Deacon happened to book the same hostel as us in Cairns and saw one of the athletes on the study abroad with us in the lobby and the rest is history! We decided to go out to Woolsheds to eat dinner with her as well as the cross country girls and Desiree.

The next day we went to Holloways Beach. The only problem was you couldn't go in the water because of jellyfish and alligators, but it was a beautiful day and we decided to lay out and get some sun. There was also a beach cafe right before you stepped through the palm trees and onto the beach.

The beach was pretty empty because it was Australia's winter time, but it was more like a San Diego winter where any day is still a good beach day.

After our day at the beach we headed back to our hostel where I met up with Deacon and we decided to go to our hostel's club because they were having a jelly wrestling competition.
We sat at a wooden beach with some of our friends from the study abroad group who hadn't flown out yet and also a guy from Perth, Australia and Ireland. The guy from Australia told us about for he last few years he's read about people's parachutes not opening a few times...glad we already skydived before hearing that one.
A few of the hostel's employees were walking around asking if anyone would like to participate in the competition and myself and a study abroad girl friend of mine decided that we weren't going to have any regrets.
We were given a free drink then told to sign a disclaimer that said the hostel was no responsible for any emotional, psychological, or physical damage or death...we signed :)

We were set to compete against 4 other girls and the objective (yes there is an objective) was to get the piece of rope tied on the other girl's opposite ankle in a best 2/3 matchup. After my friend and I both defeated 2 girls, we found ourselves facing each other in the championship round. We were 1-1 when I grabbed onto the rope around her ankle and through my hands up in the air for the win only to look at the rope and realize I had torn off her anklet she had bought a day prior. The crowd was cheering as we grew tired when she finally risked it for the biscuit and found the rope on my ankle. She won $100 and I won a $50 bar tab that I ended up using to hand out drinks like I owned the place to my friends.

We then had one last matchup to compete in, but this was different because they threw all six of us in the red jello and hid 2 bars of soap somewhere in there. It was every girl for themselves and that brought out the fight in everyone. My friend and I kind of teamed up and were tackling girls off one another and trying to knock girls out of the rink and it was definitely a knock down. Once the two soaps were found, but not by one girl because they kept changing hands and we were beating each other to give it up, they called the match and gave two of the other girls a chance to win the water rafting trip.

The night was a blast and one I'll always remember, but that darn jello was hard to get off. Thanks for reading and I'll be sure to post again soon!

Love,

ME