Chelsea Murray
Escape Alive
Story By Chelsea Murray
Catherine Rodgers of Naugatuck learns to evade a choke hold. Photos By John Murray
I was robbed my last night in Greece.
After watching the sunset from the Acropolis, myself and two friends took a short cut back to our apartment. On our way through the cobblestone streets we encountered a young Gypsy couple, who stepped out of the shadows looking for a smoke. My friend gave them a cigarette and loaned out his favorite lighter. After small talk about how quiet the streets were, the man pocketed the lighter. My friend calmly protested and asked for his lighter back. Instead of the lighter, the Gypsy pulled out a switchblade and thrust it against my friend’s throat.
Chelsea Murray literally grew up inside a newsroom. When she was five years old the Observer was launched in the dining room of her father's home. Eighteen months later the newsroom moved into her living room when the Observer expanded to five employees. During the past 18 years Chelsea has experienced every facet of the newspaper business - writing, photography, marketing, production and distribution. She began writing youth columns at the Observer when she was 11 years old. Chelsea won first place in the 2002 Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists annual competition for a column she wrote about a teenager dying of cancer. Her column was chosen over 35 entries submitted by seasoned, professional journalists. Chelsea was just starting her writing career - she was 14 years old.
The Smell Of Rebellion
By Chelsea Murray
A person’s sense of smell is an incredible thing. It can aid in recalling past memories, stir up hunger for certain foods, and make someone sick to their stomach. I have taken in many smells in my life, but I will never forget the smell of a Greek riot. The potent mixture of burnt rubber, tear gas, and sweat from protestors and police smacked me in the face as we stepped into the center of it all on the night of December 9th.
Explore Thyself
Column by Chelsea Murray
Elizabeth Gilbert was born in Waterbury and raised in Litchfield.
Who knew?
My Dog Brother
Column By Chelsea Murray
My house mate Christina and her family are putting their 13-year-old German Shepherd to sleep this weekend after a losing battle with cancer. Christina went home to visit Cheyenne for a final time and is struggling with the impending loss. I live with seven girls in a house at Marist College and we’ve all spent time consoling Christina, and talking to her about this difficult family decision. In the process we’ve all opened up about our own dogs and how they’ve impacted our lives. I’ve come to realize that everyone has a dog story.
Climb Your Own Tree
By Chelsea Murray
Julia Butterfly Hill
Activism isn’t dead.
While it’s true young people aren’t inspired the way America’s youth were in the 1960s by Bob Dylan, nor are they protesting the war in Iraq with the same passion and conviction that their parents and grandparents opposed the war in Vietnam, by no means is activism dead.
This summer I had the pleasure of going to my second Dave Matthews Band concert at the Dodge Music Center (formerly the Meadows) with a friend of mine. It was an incredible experience, but the big thing that really stuck in my mind was something Dave Matthews said to the crowd. He said he could tell the times have changed since everyone in the crowd pulled out cell phones instead of lighters to wave in the air in celebration of his music.
Editor’s Note: This summer Chelsea Murray worked to produce Young Voices with a group of 12 Waterbury youth. Young Voices is a youth publication produced in partnership with The Waterbury Observer, Waterbury Youth Services and Media in Motion. The following is her column from the debut issue of the paper. Even though she is entering her second year at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, Chelsea is still the editor of Young Voices.
My biggest assignment last year in sociology class was to make a presentation to the class about the worst dictators, or rulers, in the world today. Some of the students had Kim Jong Ill from North Korea, Fidel Castro of Cuba, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia as their projects, but the one that sticks out the most in my mind was President Omar al-Bashir from Sudan.
Thousands of high school seniors are coming home everyday and searching the mailbox to see if the letter has arrived. The dreaded yea or nay acceptance letter from colleges they have applied to.