Gaining Credibility As a Journalist

     Although I know I've grown a lot as a journalist in the past four years of writing and shooting photos for The Torch, I didn't realize how much other people have noticed that growth until the dance concert a few weeks ago. When a friend in the concert told me the dress rehearsal schedule, she also mentioned that Shih-Ming invited me to come early to take photos of dancers getting ready.
     This was such a big change from my first dance concert, where a nervous freshman stumbled into the seats, was asked to move, then was told if I didn't turn off my "flash," I would have to leave. The "flash" was really an indicator light that showed that the camera was focusing and adjusting for lighting, but I didn't want to say anything to make Shih-Ming more curt with me. I uncomfortable stretched my finger so that it would cover this light throughout the show. Once the show was over, I just left.
     For this concert, I sat down and was getting ready to take our my camera when Shih-Ming asked me to move. No big deal. She was taking video and wanted a clear shot of the dance floor. After the concert ended, she asked about my photos. I sheepishly responsed that I got some good shots and she smiled at me.
     Through photographing every dance concert, I built up a rapport with her. Even though I do not really know Shih-Ming, I feel much more comfortable around her now and feel like a more experienced and better-known photographer because of my experiences with her.

Student Blogging

     12 students lean over their computers. Some stare at their computer screens in focus, others joke, "blogging is sooo fun!" Fun or not, our teacher just assigned us to write one blog before class ends.
     This is Advanced News Writing and as part of our course, we're writing five blogs every two weeks. Topics run the gamut from human rights and street harassment to weekend parties and issues in athletics.
     One of my favorite things about this experience is reading other people's ideas and thoughts; I may not know a lot about baseball or football, but reading Luke's blog allows me to keep up with the big events. Even though we pride ourselves as being a very active campus, not everyone can be at every event. It really allows me to learn about things happening on our campus through other's eyes.
     As for myself, one of my favorite parts of this assignment has been being able to catalogue my thoughts and have an outlet with which to write. Sometimes something will come up where I'll be more comfortable writing my feelings or opinions rather than saying them. This blog has definitely given me an outlet for that as well.
     I think in the future this should definitely be kept for the course, but maybe give students a set number of blogs to have by the end of the course and have "check in" assignments. While at first I thought 5 blogs every two weeks was nothing, it's proven to be quite difficult now that my semester has really kicked into gear. I wish I would have written more when I had the time, rather than stressin to get them done on top of many other assignments.

Philadelphia Features

     Even though we spent a fairly short time in the city of Brotherly Love, I met a fair amount of people and was able to learn a bit about them just through brief conversations.
     Nick was born in New York and lived there for 20 years. He then went to Oregon for a year, but eventually settled in Philadelphia. He goes to school at Temple University and studies social work while working at a deli in Reading Terminal Market. He gave us samples of food and smiles everytime he came over.
     Another man currently works as a tour guide for a Ghost Tour in Philadelphia. He's lived in Philadelphia for many years and has worked as a tour guide for seven or eight of those years. Even though he likes his job, he dreams of doing improv comedy in Chicago. He has some family that lives there and joked that even though he hasn't been there in 30 years, he still loves Second City.
     A Ghost Guide co-worker went to college to teach English and even worked with 7th graders for a while. He changed his mind and has been giving tours recently.
     So many of these people have more stories than what I found out by talking to them for a few brief moments. I would love to delve into more feature stories, especially during traveling, and meet new people and find out their stories.

Long-Form Journalism and Why I Can't Wait to Get on the Road

     I went to a journalism session this morning all about long-form journalism and let me tell you, I can't wait to start writing! A teacher took a summer trip to show his students that there are stories everywhere; what started as a road trip turned into a collection of stories totalling 14,000 words.
     After graduation I will be going on two big trips: the Wittenberg Europe trip and a Canadian road trip with one of my best friends. Hearing story ideas and how to craft a long-form piece made me even more excited to try it. I think it would be a fun way to document the people's stories that I learn while I'm on the road.
     It also can turn into a fun challenge; the speaker joked that he could stop at every Dairy Queen on a certain road and interview people to put together as a story. Something like that would be really fun and almost like a bit of a road trip challenge for my friend and me. I'm already thinking of fun interview topics and different locations that I could find stories.