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A memorial is set up in front of an apartment on East Drive for 5-year-old Serenity Deal, who died after suffering physical abuse. Police arrested Deal’s father, Sean Devon Brooks, 31, on complaints of murder and child abuse on Monday, June 6, 2011. 

My first assignment for The Oklahoman wasn’t the happiest.

Earlier in the day, I was able to hang out with Chris Landsberger as he shot swimsuit models for a fashion issue of another OPUBCO publication.

But after wrapping that up and hanging out in the photo department getting my gear and getting to know everyone, my boss, Doug Hoke, came in and asked if I was ready to get my feet wet.

No one is going to say “no” to that question, so off I went with fellow intern Garett Fisbeck to what I was told was a more questionable area of the city.

The assignment was simple enough – I just had to take a photo of a small memorial set up outside an apartment building. But the story behind wasn’t so simple.

Earlier that day, a young girl named Serenity Deal was physically abused and soon thereafter died.

A different photo I took ended up running on the front page the next day. You can read the story here.

Ryan Linden of Stillwater’s Flatland Travelers plays the upright bass at D.J. Duncan’s home music club in Cushing, Okla. on Tuesday.

Nathan, Adam and I traveled out to Cushing, Okla. on Tuesday to hang out while a number of musicians from the area gathered to play with and for one another.

We all sat in wonderment as the artists played songs that were close to their hearts for at least the moment.

It’s always a good experience when I get to watch artists do what they do for themselves. When there’s no crowd or anyone to entertain, you get a different view.

They’re no longer artists to be viewed, but people to be understood.

It was further proof that there is good music all around if you’re willing to listen.

If you are willing, you should keep up with the “on.” blog that I help out with. It’s almost entirely filled with Oklahoma artists.

#keepitlocal, eh?

Kelvin Wheeler sits in his apartment home on Dr. Martin Luther King street in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

After several hours with Mr. Wheeler, I learned a lot about life.

His life, at least.

Kelvin’s is a life that can only be described as regretful.

After 18 years with a partner that he said he loved dearly, he’s left only with guilt and sadness for the fights he had with her and the times that he was unfaithful.

But after seeing all the things that I don’t want for my life, I still felt for Kelvin. And I don’t mean pity.

I think anyone can empathize with regretting an action that can’t be taken back.

The important part that we miss out on isn’t that we shouldn’t screw up. We shouldn’t, but that’s not the point.

We must learn to ask for forgiveness and to learn to forgive ourselves.

Here’s the multimedia piece that I put together over three days with my new friend Ben.

Wounded Wheeler.

Here are few of the fishing poles that Kelvin Wheeler used to use with his longtime partner, Georgia Cofield. The poles are all out of commission since her passing in April 2009.

How do you not take a photo of an adorable puppy?

It’s actually not that hard not to, unless you have Cara’s voice in the back of your head telling you that you had better do so.

I did have that voice, so I snapped the photo.

Poynter College Fellow Ben Hancock records the sounds of St. Petersburg residents playing basketball on Tuesday.

A group of us fellows did a little exploring and even less reporting around the St. Pete bay area.

More photos from my time so far can be found here.

Ryan Dennis waits next to a window inside the The Poynter Institute on Tuesday.

The people at Poynter are great – both the faculty and my peers.

Above is my new friend Ryan. He lives and breathes philosophy.

I was anxious coming into the program and after a lot of talking and schooling, I’m still nervous. But at the same time I feel better.

It’s hard to feel too awful when you’re learning and meeting great people in a place as beautiful as this. More on that later.

While searching for a way to “illustrate three,” I found a whole mess of frogs.

Actually it would be a knot of frogs and as far as I know, these could be toads. Maybe my friend Hayley Wilhite will educate me. Just found out that all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads. Squares and rectangles, I guess.

Later today I will depart for Broken Bow to go camping with some of the best friends life has to offer. I hope to make a few photos in the process.

Here are a few others from the day.

Semester has closed, but I don’t feel finished with my photo project on the winningest freestyle motocrosser in history.

Because of other projects, I never was able to travel with him to a competition.

But I did get several good opportunities to show him on and off the track. I’m happy with what I have so far, but it’s definitely incomplete.

Here a few others, if you’re interested.

Mack Hawkins of The Non plays the drums during their set at the Sooner Theater for Norman Music Festival on Sunday.

The Non is awesome. Orchestras are awesome.

Together, they were perfect. I hope you were there. If not, “on.” will have a couple of videos up soon.

More photos here.