I am always trolling for unusual, perhaps disturbing, stories of humanity. This one caught my eye as a family discovered their daughter tragically died not from police, or the institution at which she was studying, but from Facebook.
Obviously there was some institutional oversight as the police should have called the family immediately, followed closely by the university, but what really bothered me was the lack of foresight by the friends of this poor girl.
Yes, they're grieving, but I just don't think young people, at times, quite understand how the world works.
Everything needs to be made public, needs to be shared, needs to be social right now.
That is how the world is moving, but it's how this current generation of young people emotes.
It probably never dawned on them that, "hey, we should maybe wait a while to make sure her family is made aware of all of this." Rather, it's all about me and how I feel and how I choose to let everyone else know how I feel right now.
I believe you can learn tact, however that skill is becoming a lost art.
Some random thoughts:
- Growing up in Chicago and working all over the suburbs, I became a connoisseur of Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I could tell you which ones had the best coffee, from the little stand alone shop off a highway to the new cafe-style place in the west suburbs . No joke. Needless to say, I missed them when I came to Milwaukee. And of course, I was very happy to see several franchises pop up here and there of late. That said I've been disappointed with the coffee most of the time. You would think because it's a chain it all tastes the same but that is not true. I'll give these franchises a long leash as they figure it out, but Milwaukee DD's, you need to step up your game.
- Can someone explain to me why people want to treat parking garages like the Milwaukee Mile?
- I've been making for our round trip to Green Bay for OnMilwaukee.com's Packers coverage for about four months now and I have to say that drive is one of the most serene and beautiful as you can find. And yes, I look forward to seeing that land for the first time under snow.
- Kudos Buck Bradley's – best White Russian I've found so far in Milwaukee.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
