A Semester in Review

For the most part Advanced Reporting was great. It was my favorite class to go to most days. I so looked forward to getting to class and talking about anything and everything having to do with journalism, reporting, new media, or whatever else we might bring up, with my professor and two fellow classmates. We had great discussions that actually made me like learning just to learn.

I learned a great deal about where the field of journalism is heading and what skills I will likely need to be competitive in the field. Although I would hardly say that I have mastered those skills, I took some baby steps by starting this blog and attempting to shoot video as part of a multimedia reporting project. Although I am slowly changing my ways sometimes I wish that I could just master one thing, like writing, rather than have to be able to do it all. Also I am a person who generally works best in the last minute crunch and shooting video wasn’t really conducive to working in that way; just one of many reasons I struggled with video. Yet, I am nonetheless appreciative that my professor exposed us to video and we had the additionally help from someone who really knew what she was doing.

Although I was interested in the topic of my reporting project, I probably wouldn’t have picked it if I could do it over. I found it difficult to get current information and people that were willing to get back to me, it is an ongoing issue and problem in this area, but there aren’t really current developments or things going on right now. Also a little additional structure might have helped someone with procrastination issues, like myself, get more done along the way.

Maybe the third time is the charm?

I officially hate all folk wisdom. If I had listened a little more carefully I would likely not find myself in my current predicament. The one in which everything that could go wrong did and I (already having learned my lesson the hard way once) repeated the same mistake again. That lesson being to back up my work.

For a little background information I have what is kindly known among my family and friends and a technology “kiss of death” curse. Although my roommates readily admit that I treat my computer(s) better than they do theirs I find myself once more with an inexplicable black screen blinking the death certificate: internal hard disk not found. Now, this is my second laptop in three years. The first was my father’s old laptop that he graciously gave me to take to school freshman year. This computer was a little older and bigger than my classmates, but was actually a really nice computer and served its purpose well. That is until the freak accident that, if not started, at least made me aware of said curse. Since then I remember a boom box and two walkmans that I stopped working in my childhood, plus one mp3 player, two cell phones and now two computers. Ouch.

One unassuming night only a little over a month into first semester freshman year, I was climbing into my rickety Kiewit loft when my clumsiness kicked in and I almost fell to my death. Alright a little dramatic I admit, but my reflexes did kick in and I grabbed back onto said loft and thought all was fine. Most unfortunately, when I grabbed back on the loft thudded against the built-in shelves that ran all the way along the room, and a picture frame came crashing down onto my desk. Yep, you guessed it, my laptop was sitting on my desk. Within a few short moments my roommate got intimately acquainted with my “I’m enraged and probably need some Orbit gum” dirty mouth. I turned my computer back on and realized that although it still worked the screen was almost completely destroyed.

To stop making a short story so needlessly drawn out, my computer suffered a blow, but with an old external monitor I eventually made do. That is, until my computer weirdly crashed and the operating system had to be reinstalled the next semester. And then sophomore year it had a similar malfunction that ended up being a “motherboard issue” that was not fixable. I went without a computer for almost an entire semester and then when my dad decided to get a new computer again I lucked out and bought his now old one for a measly $300. Then this computer inexplicable got a few lines on the screen even though I hardly took it anywhere and this time it had definitely didn’t suffer from any blunt force trauma. All this leads up to yesterday, when my computer AGAIN went into freak out mode and it appears that the internal hard disk cannot be detected…whatever that means.

All it means to me is that everything from this semester that I should have backed up (because seriously by now with my luck I would be stupid not to), is now locked inside what to me now appears to be a useless hunk of plastic. *Long dramatic sigh.* I do back stuff up, just not as much as I should (obviously) especially when I am as busy as I have been lately.

I was already somewhat behind on my Advanced Reporting project and now have re-do the majority of what I did have done. Plus I have to tell my dad (not looking forward to that conversation) and either have no computer or figure out how to finance another one. And I can’t function for long without a computer since three of my classes are writing classes and I also have a paper in my history class due next week.

Maybe, old habits die hard? Or my third (hypothetical) computer will be the charm? Regardless writing this as I sit in the library using up the two hours I have this computer checked out for is not at all helpful in finishing the loooong list of stuff I have to get accomplished.

 

Working hard or hardly working?

The clock is defiantly ticking away toward the end of the semester and it is (past) time that I get really serious about finishing my advanced reporting project.

This past week I worked really hard on piecing together a fairly comprehensive chronology. This weekend I will be hitting up a public library within the lead site to cross reference some of the information I got from secondary sources about the history of ASARCO as well as check out a few EPA documents.

I’m also planning on going to the EPA public info center.

This weekend I also plan to get going on the video aspect. I realized that I was confused and the ASARCO site actually is now the Lewis and Clark landing, rather than the Heartland of America Park so some video of what the site looks like now would be a good start for some B roll.

My interview with Che Thompson of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance ended up being via phone. I got some really good information from her, but she also informed me that 99% of the kids with elevated lead blood levels are exposed to lead within the home in addition to possible exposure through soil. Yet, she still stressed that all contributing factors can add up and that any source that could poison a child is more than worth cleaning up.

Through Che I got information for and have contacted someone within the Douglas County Health Department to further verify some of the (estimated) statistics she offered.

She also gave me the name of the inspector who does the home investigations and is a case manager. I am waiting to hear back from her to set up a possible interview. (I thought if this works out it would be a good interview for video.)

I also am in the process of contacting several people from the Community Advisory Group. All the documents/handouts from their meetings are also available at the library so I will check those out, but I would really like to/intend to interview a few people from the group as well in the near future.

I now really need to finish up interviews and start shaping and writing my main story. So tying up some additional loose ends and really narrowing down on my main story will be a big goal for this weekend/beginning of next week.

Also I would like to create a google maps mash up that includes the boundaries of the Superfund site, where ASARCO used to be, where Creighton is and all the other places that I feel should be highlighted after finishing up my research.

I still feel like there is a lot to do, but that I have enough of a start that I don’t feel entirely overwhelmed. Yet, since I will just continue to get more and more busy I will definitely be working hard this weekend to get as much done as possible.

In looking for a picture of The Worst Hard Time I actually accidentally stumbled across a blog that included one of Timothy Egan’s columns for the NY Times.

http://majorconflict.blogspot.com/2007/06/american-birthright.html

I found it rather interesting, leading me to more of his previous work which is definitely worth a perusal.

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/e/timothy_egan/index.html

Timothy Egan clears up what life was like in the Dirty Thirites

It’s difficult to sum up my thoughts on The Worst Hard Time into one neat little blog. It was such a good book in which Timothy Egan’s in-depth reporting allowed him to speak with authority while also weaving an excellent narrative. He used the lives and stories of many of the main “characters” of the Dust Bowl to tell the bigger picture of the dirty thirties. Although obviously not alive during the thirties and not even from the Great Plains himself, Egan was able to depict the experience of living (and dying) through the dusters so vividly that the reader can almost taste the dust and is left thirsty. After talking about the book in class I also was left with a renewed sense that journalism isn’t just about daily newspapers or the instantaneous information found on online news sites; instead, there are the other elements like monthly news magazines and even more in-depth takes on stories in books, like Egan does in The Worst Hard Time.

Reading about the dusters also made me remember a book I read in my childhood that was pretty much my only form of education on the Dust Bowl, Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. I actually went back and reread the book (which didn’t take long because it is a fifth grade reading level and written in prose verse). It was really interesting to read the novel with a new appreciation of the historical elements that Egan depicted. Hesse’s novel that took place in Cimarron County in No Man’s Land was far more historically accurate than I even realized. From mentions of rabbit clubbing, New Deal plans, the swarms of grasshoppers, to the fact the main characters were caught in Grandma Lucas’ funeral procession during the Black Sunday duster, Hesse included story lines also found in The Worst Hard Time .

Reading The Worst Hard Time also left me interested in looking into some primary sources about the Dust Bowl, especially the film “The Plow that Broke the Plains.” I found a short clip on youtube, which unfortunately doesn’t include the footage of Bam White, one of the major players in The Worst Hard Time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=rvtpZG2ZggQ&feature=related

Excited yet overwhelmed, take two

After a research session in the library with Mary Nash I once again felt excited about starting to dig deeper into my story idea on the Omaha Superfund lead site. Yet, getting a sense of all the information and documents I may have to sort through was at the same time a tad overwhelming. Although the clean up process and other issues involved with the site is an ongoing process, I feel as though I additionally need to work on finding an angle that makes the story more timely.

What I have learned (so far) about writing an issue story…

Recently my Advanced Reporting class went to the Omaha World-Herald to listen to and talk with Karyn Spencer. Getting to listen to a real investigative reporter talk about the time and organization that needs to go into reporting long term stories was both interesting and overwhelming. I really enjoyed listening to Karyn talk about her upcoming project and all the work that went into the finished product. Yet, at the same time hearing about the many steps of the process and how she organized the vast amount of information she collected seemed quite daunting. I now realize that it definitely takes a lot of time and commitment to pull together an interesting and compelling issue story. For me, the most helpful tips she shared were about organization, interviewing and looking at good stories to understand and then emulate the same type of structure.

As part of an assignment, I then looked at one of Karyn’s old stories as an example of a good structure to perhaps try to incorporate into my own story. The story was about child abuse cases in which the abuser is the mother’s boyfriend or a stepfather. Karyn started by focusing on an example in which a two-year-old boy was killed by his mother’s boyfriend and then does an excellent job of weaving between the example and the larger issue throughout the story. I also noticed that she would almost always end each section before transitioning with a great quote. For example, in a larger issue part she would end with a quote from a doctor who has studied abuse or in an example section she would end with a quote from the mother. She was really able to make the example fit right into what she was trying to get across about the larger issue. One area where it worked particularly well was when a larger issue portion described the lack of parenting skills many stepfathers or boyfriends have, which shows in how they react to crying and screaming children. She ended that portion by simply saying “And then–snap.” The next example section then detailed how one particular boyfriend snapped and killed his girlfriend’s two-year-old son.

Karyn’s lead was also very strong. She depicted the conflicting image of a mother caring for her son, with the fact that she left him with the man who would kill him–her boyfriend. Near the end of her story she uses the same technique when she describes the clashing images of the smiling faces of stuffed animals and the “ashen blue body” of the dead two-year-old. This shows that even a mother who clearly loves and provides for her children can make mistakes, which reveals the human aspect of the story. Doing so might make people more aware that it is an issue that is more prevalent than they may have suspected.

Karyn also includes a section on what can be done to prevent that kind of child abuse it the future. I think that this shows that even in an issue story about abuse, you shouldn’t be all negative. It helps to provide something positive of how to prevent it from happening in the future.

She also used side bars and graphics to display more factual information, like the names and pictures of other Omaha children killed in that type of situation and the statistics of abuse by boyfriends and stepfathers in Nebraska and Iowa. In any issue story there will be lots of facts, but bogging down a story with too many stats or facts isn’t as compelling as detailing a specific example. Thus, Karyn shows that using additional means to get more facts out can keep the actual story more interesting and easy to read.

Two thumbs up for “All The President’s Men”

I feel like I can call myself a true journalism student because I have FINALLY seen “All The Presidents Men.” Ever since my History of American Mass Media class I have wanted to see the movie, but alas it was regularly checked out of the library and my efforts were thwarted. Thankfully, after my professor let me borrow her copy, I realized it was well worth the wait.

It was very interesting and was really exciting to watch. The techniques of making everywhere but the newsroom dark and making Woodward and Bernstein seem so small in comparison to their surroundings (like at the Library of Congress) really made me feel the weight of how hard it was to find out everything they were trying to report. Also, when Woodward would go the the parking garge to see Deep Throat, I actually felt nervous and scared. I think that the story itself is the perfect example of how seemingly ordinary journalists can make a huge impact. I also think that the movie was really well made, which helps bring to life the story for those of us who weren’t around at the time it was happening in a way that even reading the book probably couldn’t.

It was a little sad to see commentary in the special features about how if it happened today, the results would not have been the same. However, I still think that every student even thinking about being a journalist should see the movie.

Omaha Superfund site story ideas

Picture postcard of the ASARCO smelters at night, Omaha, Nebraska, from 1915. Over a hundred years worth of pollution have increased levels of lead found in the soil in the area known as the ‘Omaha Superfund lead site’ to toxic levels.

When we had to start thinking about story ideas, I instantly knew that I wanted to write about something to do with the environment. Needless to say “the environment” is a pretty broad topic. To start narrowing it down, I decided it would make sense to focus on a local environmental issue. An ongoing local issue in Omaha is the Superfund Lead site. There is a lot of information I still need to sort through before I can really nail down exactly what direction I want to go in, but I would like to give an overall explanation of how the toxic pollution occurred and what is and isn’t being done now to clean it up. For example, I found out that the project will likely take another 15 years to complete due in part to the difficulty in securing funds, largely because the Bush administration cut funding for Superfund work. I would also explain the health risks, especially for children, associated with the levels of lead found within the site. Additionally, I plan to make a Creighton connection by seeing if any students live within the site. I think that this is an environmental issue that would be of interest to students because of the proximity to Creighton, and also because the area affected is largely lower income housing which makes it a social justice issue as well.

 

Some additional information about the Omaha Superfund lead site that I have started sorting through:

http://nebraska.sierraclub.org/movalley/local/asarco/index.asp

http://www.sierraclub.org/community/omaha/lead_site.asp

http://www.olscag.com/

 http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/npl_files/index.htm#Nebraska

From AlphaSmart to multimedia reporting

Writing

I have loved pretty much everything about writing for as long as I can remember. Back in the age of the AlphaSmart, I’m fairly certain my teachers hated me because my “short” stories always ended up being about 20 pages worth of my fifth grade ramblings. Yes, at the tender age of 10 I penned my first novella about a young girl whose father murdered her mother and then escaped from jail to kill her, as she was the only witness. I’m guessing my teacher wondered what the hell kind of television I was watching, but in reality I think I just read a little too much Lois Duncan. Getting back on track, I love the fact that writing allows me to think about things more in depth and delineate my thoughts in way I can’t always do in the spur of the moment. Merely working with words to create something that just sounds good is another reason I love to write. Even now, writing papers for say, a core class I’d rather not be taking, can be therapeutic if I craft a particularly great sentence or paragraph. I also like to think of myself as a fairly humorous person and always, when appropriate, hope to add a little satire or humor to my writing.

On the down side, I don’t have a lot of experience (any?) writing for an audience other than a teacher or myself in a journal. News reporting class is really as far as my news writing experience stems. As much as I love to write, and think I am fairly good at it, I don’t really know if I have what it takes to be a good journalist. My other big issue with writing is that sometimes getting started can be daunting. I don’t like to think of myself as a procrastinator per se, but inspiration doesn’t always strike until I feel a certain amount of pressure. Since about middle school, finishing a paper in the wee hours of the day it is due has became a bit of a regularity. I don’t necessarily intend to put it off; I really just can’t get into “writing mode” until I feel that last minute pressure. Either fortunately or unfortunately I actually produce some of my best work when I get into that mode the night before it is due. Although I always edit as I go, leaving writing until essentially the last minute doesn’t always allow enough time to do proper rewrites or through editing if necessary. This procrastination tendency has definitely gotten better since college, and hopefully a looming deadline in general will allow me to feel the pressure I need to get started. Lastly, I can also be a bit overly wordy at times, but two years in the journalism department have definitely started to strip me of that habit.

Reporting

My biggest problem or weakness with reporting is my overall lack of experience. Journalism isn’t something that I always known I wanted to pursue and I didn’t write for my school newspaper or yearbook. Beyond news reporting class I have essentially no experience with actual news gathering and writing. Being so green just makes everything more stressful because I don’t like the feeling of not knowing what I am doing. However, I think news reporting did provide an excellent foundation and advanced reporting, as well as, writing for the Creightonian this semester, will provide some of the additional experience that I need. I think my strength in reporting will probably be my writing skills in general.

I think my best reporting experience was probably a personality profile I did for news reporting on Cammy Watkins, the Conservation Organizer for the Omaha chapter of the Sierra Club. It provided great interviewing experience and I really enjoyed learning more about her. She also gave probably the greatest quote I have ever gotten; “People always ask me if I am an environmentalist, but I think of myself as a humanist. To care about people you have to care about the environment.”

My worst reporting experience would probably just be my entire photojournalism class in general. I not only lacked the photographic chops, but also the ability to just get up in the action and get the picture. Fr. Doll is a great teacher and I loved learning ABOUT photojournalism, but with my crappy camera and lack of skills I couldn’t really produce the kind of pictures I would have liked. This was increasingly frustrating because I was well aware of the fact that in the age of multimedia journalism I will likely be required to have passable skills in photojournalism.