Want to hear a good story? Maybe one about an old man wearing a $1,000 suit and peddling potato peelers, or one about a man who searched through the rubble of a tornado-swept town to find his dentures?
MSNBC's Bob Dotson tells these stories. He reminds us that Americans have interesting stories to share, and he loves finding these nuggets of detail that inspire a laugh or a lump in the throat.
For journalism students, his presentation was a reminder of what good storytelling really means. For other majors, it can be a reminder that success often comes from doing what you love.
Dotson wouldn't be such a good storyteller if he didn't enjoy it, if he didn't dig deeper, stick around longer and ask tougher questions. When he sets out to cover a story, he's not a journalist; he's a man looking for a good story.
We're all striving to be the best we can. Maybe you want to be a politician, a business executive, a nurse, a performer, an artist. Ball State is a great place to earn an education, but we can also take it upon ourselves to raise the bar, to join organizations or create new things.
Ball State brings some great speakers to campus, and we could all be a little more engaged.
If you're a journalism student, you're loving the lineup that the College of Communication, Information and Media is able to put together — Ted Koppel, David Letterman and Biz Stone, among others — but their messages can benefit other majors, too.
David Axelrod, senior adviser for President Barack Obama, is coming to campus in a few weeks. Business executives visit with accounting and finance majors regularly, and students from other departments benefit from guest lecturers, too.
Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, was another campus speaker whose message reached a wider audience.
Only in college can you expect to hear from such important people without having to pay anything.
Dotson's strength as a storyteller comes first from being a good listener. He creates stories people want to hear and engage in.
So often the best stories about a person are told once they're gone. Steve Jobs' 2005 commencement address at Stanford, for example, was more widely circulated after he died. Don't wait until it's too late to share a person's story or to do something great.
We're not telling you to go be the next great storyteller; we just want you to be happy in whatever you do. And then when we journalists set out to share your story, it'll be one you're happy to tell.
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