In my class today I invited in a guest speaker today. And I also invited in another class to hear from him.

Nathan Troost is a Samford graduate. Within about two years of leaving he started his own film production company and now travels the world producing video packages for non-profit organizations. He showed us some of his stirring work.

Neverthirst in India: Iron Tribe Update from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

The Pygmy People: An e3 Church Planting Movement from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

So, you see, I bring in great speakers for my students.

Things to read … because I bring good reading material, too.

Samford JMC to Create Sports-Media Program:

“Sports media will complement the department’s exceptional print journalism, broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising tracks. We want to show our support for Samford athletics and prepare our students for the rapidly expanding employment opportunities in the sports-media field. The hands-on experience students will get in the Athletics Department will be invaluable.”

The new partnership is announced as Samford JMC students and faculty complete work on the pilot episode for a reality television series that follows nine athletes from various sports as they navigate life at Samford. “The Student Athlete” is expected to be complete in May.

Fun times in our program.

After not walking for seven years, Hoover girl inspires others with first steps and inner strength :

It takes 113 steps for 8-year-old Jian Jackson to walk from the hallway of her school outside to her mother’s car. She made that walk Monday afternoon, something she couldn’t do for the first 7 years of her life in China.

“That’s been the goal from the beginning,” said Stacie Jackson, Jian’s adoptive mother. “We’ve been working on that everyday.”

When she was 5 months old, Jian developed a high fever that lasted for four days. Afterward, the orphanage workers noticed she could no longer move her legs. Doctors in the United States believe Jian was stricken with polio at the time. It was assumed she would never walk.

Last June, a woman set herself on fire about every three days in Herat, Afghanistan:

Last June, a woman set herself on fire about every three days in Herat, Afghanistan. That’s an improvement – in June 2012, the city’s main hospital received a self-immolator about every two days, and in 2010, Afghanistan’s presidential advisor on health affairs estimated that 2,400 women were burning themselves alive nationwide, every year. The cause, he said, was depression.

Lee Rigby murderers sentenced to life in prison:

The Islamist killers of Drummer Lee Rigby erupted into violence in an Old Bailey courtroom as they were sentenced for murder.

Michael Adebolajo, 29, and Michael Adebowale, 22, had to be manhandled out of court by security guards after being told by Mr Justice Sweeney that their crime was a “betrayal of Islam”.

Adebolajo screamed at the judge as he was manhandled down the dock stairs in the historic Court No 2 but, in scenes lasting several minutes, his co-defendant was held to the floor and cuffed before being carried downstairs head first.

Relatives of Drummer Rigby, who were sitting just three feet away from the dock, stood up and cowered away from the violence.

Mr. Justice Sweeney. That’s way to use a title. And justice was almost done.

And now a cycling video: