On another happy Online Journalism note, my article trio about ultraviolet exposure, a melanoma survivor and the history of tanning are posted! Enjoy, and feel free to let me know your opinions! If you have any stories about tanning, skin cancer or anything, I’d love to hear from you! It’s not too late to have your input inserted into my article, and I’d be happy to include you if you’re interested!

I had such an interesting experience working on my articles today. I left my last class early today for a meeting with my advisor. I also decided to stop at the tanning salon in the Old Capitol mall to see if any of the employees would be willing to talk to me for my article trio.

Walking towards the entrance, the words of years’ worth of articles and dermatologists condemning tanning flooded my brain. Pictures of melanoma were at the forefront of my mind, so much so I half-expected the walls to be adorned with swastikas and employees to be decked out in “I (heart) Satan” t-shirts or something. Or at least everyone would be Snooki look-alikes.

But the brightly-colored tanning spa lacked both Nazi regalia and trashy reality TV stars. It even smelled nice.

I approached the reception desk, feeling out of place with skin so pale I make paper look bronzed, but the first person I talked to was incredibly nice. She politely answered my questions while simultaneously checking in tanners, most of whom she greeted by name. I was immediately thrown and dare I say, impressed.

After several minutes the store manager started answering some questions. He didn’t flinch at my pointed questions and enthusiastically answered my more neutral ones.

When I asked if warnings regarding the dangers of tanning were posted anywhere in the spa, he immediately ushered me back into a booth to view the warnings and even welcomed the idea of my photographing them.

Like any tanning aficionado, he talked openly about the health benefits of tanning. At first, I mentally rolled my eyes, but then he started mentioning some of the benefits I had unearthed in my research for the articles and skimmed over. I really started listening, and (gasp) I was starting to believe what he had to say.

Sure, some of what he spouted was bruhaha, like the benefits of a base tan or that tanning is a cure for acne (in a sense it is, but really tanning just dehydrates the skin, making you look like people jerky by age 27, but I digress…) But I have read that tanning is sometimes, though rarely, recommended to people with seasonal depression and psoriasis.

What shocked me the most was that the manager acknowledged that tanning was not a cure-all for these health problems but only in some cases.

When I finally left, after spending much more time and getting much more information than I had planned (my brain started making ka-ching! sounds halfway through my questions) I couldn’t tell if I had been brainwashed or enlightened.

Not that I would ever tan, but I started wondering if indoor tanning was a better alternative to outdoor tanning (if you diligently protect yourself from the sun when outdoors after indoor tanning)

Truly, these were just the interviews I needed. I spent my time researching these articles with the preconditioned notion that tanning under any circumstances was bad, but after the kindness and honesty of these tanning folk, I feel my articles have a better sense of objectivity, something every journalist strives for but never truly achieves.

I read an article recently about women and how to appreciate sports. Sure, it was a mildly sexist article about how to bond with “your man” on game day, but that doesn’t mean it lacked some interesting insights.

According to this article, if you aren’t interested in sports, don’t force yourself. They probably won’t magically become a passion of yours.

Also, don’t try to make sports something they aren’t. Don’t view them as a chore; rather, admire the participants for their discipline and performance. Take a step back, away from the expected loyalty to your home team and really appreciate the act itself and the work that went into it.

Sure, it’s going to be a little tedious, but I think it’ll be worth it. Since my GPA matters so much to me, sports do too. For now, anyway.

According to the Personal Injury Lawyer Guides, “libel involves making defamatory statements in a printed or fixed media form. This basically means that anything written down that is available for public viewing. These normally include newspaper reports or magazine articles.”

Public viewing, like Twitter accounts? Yes, libel can occur on Twitter. Kim Kardashian was recently involved in a defamation lawsuit regarding her tweets.

Unfortunately for some, libel in incredibly hard to prove. Here’s eHow’s checklist of proof for a libel case:

• Show defamation. Prove that there was in fact defamatory language that shows badly on your morality or integrity or questions your credibility in your profession.
• Explain identification. Show that the libelous statements in question refer to you and show that at least one reader could identify you as the defamed person.
• Demonstrate publication. Prove the public received–generally that they read–the libelous statements.
• Prove fault. Show negligence or recklessness, if not intent to defame, on the part of the defendant.
• Establish falsity. Prove that the published statements were untrue. You only need to prove this in cases involving public concern.
• Confirm personal harm. Show the loss of reputation, emotional distress or money. If there was no personal harm done, and instead the published statements just caused annoyance, for example, there is no libel suit.

Based on this list, do you think I am a victim of libel? Let me know! I’m curious what you think!

(In case you were wondering, my possible victimization involves a stranger accessing my Twitter account and posting “I can’t believe I’m pregnant ” which because of my schedule, was left posted on my Twitter and this blog for 3 days.)

Things are easily accessed, and various (untrue) statements can be posted or written about a person, even on their own accounts, if they’re aren’t careful, like I wasn’t.

For those wondering about the tweet regarding my current reproductive state, no, I am not pregnant, nor did I ever tweet such a thing. I must have forgotten to log off my Twitter account on a campus computer.

So, for my sake and for the sake of anyone who has had such a problem, here are some tips on Internet privacy.

• Always, always, always make sure you are logged out of your personal accounts on public computers. Double check. Triple check. Quadruple check! Or you might find your friends talking about babies and staring at you pointedly while mentally trying to decide how far along you are.
• Never log into private accounts that disclose personal information, such as work information or bank account info. on a public computer.
• Check and maintain your personal sites on a regular basis. I have been so busy in the last few days, that tweet had 3 days to germinate. Ugh.
• Never allow a public computer to “remember” you. Again, you might find yourself the last to know that your eggo is preggo.
• Manage privacy settings on social networking sites, like Facebook. Don’t allow strangers to view everything.
• Don’t dwell on it if something goes wrong. Yeah, that tweet was embarrassing, but I deleted it, vented and moved on. A little damage control was necessary, but you can’t spend your life focusing on the bad stuff, right?
• On the other hand, if you felt threatened, bullied or anything like that, contact the proper authorities. My situation was not too serious, perhaps libelous though. I’ll investigate libel more in another post.

I’m sure I could go on forever, but I’d like to hear what you guys think. Have you ever found yourself in a situation like mine? How did you deal with it?

In case you couldn’t tell, I often digress while stressed.

But still, being a master at time management makes me an ideal journalist, and right now, a very fortunate college student.