the summer of cake

Last Friday was my final day as a News & Observer intern. Every time someone leaves, they (not sure who) get a cake to say goodbye and everyone collects around it in the newsroom. This time, we were surrounded by the images and smirks about John Edwards' affair and possible "love child" while consuming way too much sugar and being encouraged by seasoned staffers to keep our heads up in nosediving industry.

Newspapers aren't doing so great. As a result, there's been a lot of cake this summer, probably at every daily print newsroom in the country. They'll come around... the industry is changing, and changing rapidly. I like to think of the Internet as a child star, like Mylie Cyrus or Lindsay Lohan... someone who grew up too fast and then wasn't mature enough to handle the newly aquired attention and power. Someone needs to put a leash on the Internet. I know in a country that promotes freedom of speech and freedom of the press like none other that may seem a bit conservative, but its the perfect example of unrestrained freedom and the damaging power it has. The Internet has brought a lot of good, but an equal amount of bad because of the freakish growth over the last decade.

Tirade over. Here are some of the last pictures from my summer as a newspaper photographer.

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I spent a lot of time on tax-free weekend. Lots of colors, superstores, tired moms, whiny kids.