Ten 95

Day 1,095

2009-06-10T14:02:00.002-04:00

So where do we go from here?

Simply put, we don't know. (As if you couldn't tell that from our retrospectives.)

We've wrestled with what to do with the blog as we approached our deadline. It's our baby, so we'd love to see it continue, but we're different people now than we were when we first started this journey and we'd have to account for that. For sure, Ten95 as you know it will be taking a hiatus - likely brief, but potentially permanent - while we decide where we want to go with this. And when, or if, we decide to restart Ten95, it will likely be in a very different form than you've come to know it.

Know this: the "Ten95 Experience" has been a great one and that's thanks to you. From day one we got great, insightful and encouraging comments regarding our work and our lives. We had a community to vent our feelings to, and people who looked to our experiences as affirmation that they weren't alone in their struggles. We met young journalists who came to us for advice (which was humbling) and readers - seasoned veterans and rookies - who congratulated us on a project with such a unique perspective.

This experience has been one that we can safely say, made our first three years as journalists good ones and shaped our identities in the industry.

And for that, we thank you.

Sincerely,
The Ten95 Crew

Talia
Aaron
Chris
Veronica
Darren
Marcus

P.S. -- For those of you who may need a Ten95 fix and will be in the Tampa area for the NABJ convention, 1/2 of the crew will be on a panel entitled "Reinvent Yourself, Not the Wheel"on August 4. And the rest of the crew will likely be hanging out in the audience, if you'd like to say hello.

Employed and Miserable to Unemployed and Loving It

2009-06-09T18:52:00.004-04:00

Three years ago, I had dreams of working a 9-7 (the new 9-5) job in the online webspace.

Today, I have dreams of waking up after 10am, hitting the beach and enjoying life.

It's been six months since I was laid off, and to be honest, I'm not in a hurry to go back to work full-time.

I busted my ass going to school, working 40+ hours a week, and not having any fun in the process.

I'm extremely grateful for all the things I have accomplished in the last three years.

I was blessed with the opportunity to travel the States, covering everything from the Essence Music Festival to the NBA All-Star game and even the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials.

But with those opportunities come long hours, lots of stress and not much of a social life.

I'm making half of what I made when I was working full-time and I couldn't be happier.

The LA Times had a great article last week that sums up my feelings towards being young and unemployed.

Funemployment.

No, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth so I have to make my own money freelancing to pay the bills.

But the flexibility of setting my own hours allows me to make up for the last eight years I spent interning in strange cities (no offense, Bristol, CT), dealing with my health issues and working in the competitive Black web space.

How long do I see myself rebelling from "the man" and not working a full-time job?

We shall see.

Till then, surf's up.

Bottom of the totem: My retrospective

2009-06-08T19:09:00.005-04:00

Kanye West had this whole saying -- “stadium status” -- which is believed to be Jay-Z’s way of saying an artist had reached a certain point, a point at which he was only doing shows in stadiums. I adopted it. Only I wanted to be working in stadiums, though as a sports writer, by 28. I’m not sure how far along I am towards reaching that goal. My biggest stories here to date have been for our local features section, which is my side hustle. You should not be shining off of a side hustle. But to know me is to know that my success is never conventional.

By the way – I am writing this from my desk here in the newsroom. The phones aren’t ringing. It’s 6:30 at night. I just read my story in today’s paper, well, there’s two of them. One of them is a story about a girl who won the New York girls’ golf individual championship. The other is about a softball team that won its Regional title yesterday. This stuff isn’t typically the kind that makes my tummy tingle, but it’s what keeps my foot in the door.

I definitely got in trouble for writing a story for them -- local features section -- that I now understand should have been pitched to my editors in Sports. Funny, but I wasn’t even thinking it was something they’d want. I e-mailed the editor about it, but he never got back to me. Not only did he like it, but from what I heard, he really liked it. Which, of course, only made him more upset. A huge, huge, huge misunderstanding.

You know when you have a meeting with your boss, and you’ve done something so wrong but so unintentional that you just hang your head, helpless, apologetic and with that empty-pit feeling in your stomach? Yeah.

I do not relate to my co-workers the way that others do, and that is bothersome. And only because I think I am viewed as intimidating or threatening in some way. But other than that I have no complaints. I am writing everyday. I’m doing what I want to do. You know, except the stadium status part.

One think I have done right is get some fairly good mentoring from some great reporters and writers -- from Sports Illustrated writers, Daily News writers, and others. They seem to believe I have ability.

As for what I lack, which, in retrospect, could be the very thing that does me in, is consistency and eagerness. It’s hard for me to be Steady Eddy when decisions come down that I know are a direct correlation of what editors think of my performance and when I am clearly not on equal footing in comparison to my co-workers. With the competition for stories and attention so intense, it sometimes fosters jealousy, gossip and back-stabbing. It’s a tough environment. But I am learning. Slowly I am learning.

In three years, I’ll be that 28 year-old reporter I’d hoped to be covering the N.B.A. I wonder in which ways I’ll have grown as a person, and also as a writer. I hope that I’ll be able to look back on these experiences as learning experiences, as bumps in the road to my not-so-conventional success. I’m not leaving New York, the greatest city in the world anytime soon. I mean, Atlanta? Come on. Besides, Jay-Z, Bruce Ratner and some other developers are moving the Nets to Brooklyn. And I hear they’re building a pretty nice stadium.

What's Next?

2009-06-05T10:45:00.008-04:00

June 10, 2006, I was a temp.

June 5, 2009, I am still a temp.

It looks bad when I type it that way, but these first few years of my career in journalism have been quite a ride. "Temp work," for me, is a far cry from filing invoices or typing correspondence. I've been a reporter, editor, fashion writer, broadcaster, urban entertainment correspondent, and assistant to the oldest (and coolest) man in the game -- though not necessarily in that order. My contracts have lasted months, sometimes years at a time. And I worked at some of the biggest names in Washington media before I was old enough to rent a car. (Holla, 25!)

I've been a temp for three years. And I've been blessed.

When we first discussed doing our three-year retrospectives, I hesitated. I don't even remember what my goal was three years ago, aside from landing a permanent job. And I don't know what my goal is now -- I'm convinced that being a temp has given me ADD. But I do know one thing for sure -- I've done some really cool shit.

(Wait, can we say that on the blog?)

I got to walk around Southeast with a community leader. I got to show the innate power of gospel. I went behind the scenes of my alma mater's marching band, and I brought two feminist bloggers on the air to intelligently discuss the first lady.

And that's only been within the last six months. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to do it all.

I'm doubly grateful, actually, because for all the things I've been blessed with as a temp, stability has never been one of them. Maybe that's what the current flux of the industry really hasn't shaken me -- I'm always in a state of flux myself. Every three months or so, I find myself asking, "Okay... What's next?"

This time around, it's something that has nothing to do with journalism but everything thing to do with my personal pursuits. I'm making plans to eventually attend design school. Am I changing careers? I don't know. Am I trying to broaden my knowledge as a journalist? Not intentionally. The only motivation here is me and my personal dreams -- going to school for something I've always dreamed of since I was a kid. Now's a good a time as any to explore what else life has to offer.

And after that?

Well... I guess we'll find out in another three years.

Crossroads

2009-06-04T09:16:00.002-04:00

T-Dot and Aaron have put me in an unenviable spot with their excellent commentaries, but as the third-place hitter in this Ten95 lineup, I have to find a way to get on base and keep the inning going.

The actual date might be foggy, but I remember almost five years ago at the UNITY journalism convention in a conference room in Washington, D.C., Stephen A. Smith gave me a pretty solid piece of advice that has stuck with me from then to now. When I asked him how to deflect suggestions that I try an area of journalism other than sports reporting (coming from different professors at Delaware State University), he stopped me short and said "Follow your heart, because anything else is just a job."

And as I sit here at home this morning, sighing and not looking forward to another day in my current position, those words came back to me again when we decided to look back on our three-year journey. I thought about how once upon a time, this was all I wanted to do. I thought about how cool it would be to work in an actual newsroom with other journalists and editors. I thought about the absolute privilege of watching sporting events for free and getting paid to write about what I saw. Amazingly, current circumstances have shown me that those things are not enough for me anymore.

I've known it for a while, I've just tried to ignore it, but each day, I find myself saying it to anyone that asks; "I'm on my way to work." Work. An honorable four-letter word in most cases, but in my eyes, it's become pretty dirty. This business has stopped being fun for me, and it has become what Stephen A. told me to avoid: A job. I doubt I'll ever lose my love for the written word because truthfully it saved me from things I'm not even going to touch on in this entry, so that will always be a part of me. However, as far as what the future holds, I'm not sure journalism is a part of it.

Everyday, you hear about journalists, good/great/solid/whatever, losing their jobs because of a seriously staggered economy and a top-heavy management system that was an epic failure from the get-go. They say those at smaller papers (myself, for example) are safe and should be happy to be employed, as one superior has been clear to point out to me and me alone several times.

Everyone dreams of climbing the ladder of success, but for me, I don't even see a footstool. Not from where I am currently. And it hurts. I never thought that at closing in on 28, I'd be looking at a career crossroads, especially since I've only been out of school for two years. However, that is exactly where I am. Grad school is one option, but it would probably be for something totally different. Or I could fight it out and try to find another sports reporting gig...economic woes notwithstanding.

What it really boils down to is happiness. And for me, that's everything, something I've been fighting to obtain personally and professionally for well over a decade now. Truthfully? I'm not happy here. Not in my current position, not where I live, nothing. And that's certainly not the way I want to live my life. I don't want to say my decision's already been made, but a change is coming soon. Whatever way I decide to go, I'll make the best of my decision, live with it and have no regrets. Either way, I've made some great friends and had some great experiences, and I'm certainly grateful for all this business has given me. However, I'm not sure if I have the energy to give back to it.

"I'm keeping my options open..."

2009-06-03T09:45:00.015-04:00

If I had a dime every time I heard that line uttered by a career-less recent journalism school graduate, I might have enough money to buy a taco truck, drive up and down the Beltway selling heart-attack inducing bacon-wrapped hotdogs to unsuspecting federal gov't employees.

Okay, so maybe I have thought about another line of work. So what? I know, I know. I said not too long ago that I was tired of listening to my colleagues whine about the journalism industry. And honestly, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it.

After reviewing a good deal of what I've blogged about these last three years, I've realized why the whining makes me cringe. I've long held the belief that journalism as a trade is done well when the journalist is learned and inspired by the craft...motivated by innovation...and persevering in his or her approach to pursuing their passions.

But enough with the esoteric graduate thesis.

As I batten down the hatches, in Baltimore, MD for a summer internship with the Associated Press, I feel I'm as ready as I'll ever be to decide whether keeping my options open is a good idea.

For one, I've prepared a great deal for this moment. Most often, journalism school graduates who have troubles finding work post-graduation experience this because they didn't prepare while they were in school. Honestly, had I been in my senior year and looking for my first internship I would have been at a serious disadvantage. Internships mean a lot, but they alone aren't eveything.

I'll never understand why I ever had to sell being involved with journalism networking organizations to aspiring journalists. The National Association of Black Journalists, along with the Bay Area Black Journalists Association, has been instrumental in developing and expanding my network and industry contacts. And honestly, many of these people have turned out to be great friends to have.

I've always interpreted "keeping my options open" to mean throwing away all of my hard work, just so I can be miserable in someone's public relations firm. Okay, maybe I'm being dramatic. (The paycheck would be nice, for sure. And student loan repayment will kick in faster than I can say "bacon-wrapped-butter-basted hotdog on a bun.")

But fears of a dying industry have not deterred me from pursuing goals I set for myself long before college. Perhaps I'll feel differently as this summer comes to an end. Or maybe not. I'd like to think I won't ever need to implement Plan B: Aaron's Taco Truck.

And while I won't completely reject keeping my eyes open for another line of work...it's unlikely you'll hear that "I'm keeping my options open." Hopefully, I've prepared enough so that I don't have to.

(Besides, if we (journalists) all left...who's going to support to the coffee and booze industries? ... Joking.)

No Safety Net

2009-06-02T21:26:00.003-04:00

I was never supposed to be here this long.

Three years ago, I had it all set. I had just been hired full-time at my current paper after starting off as a two-year intern. The plan had always been to stay two years and then get up and out. By 2007, I would have some banging clips to help me find a new and better job at a more exciting paper. Rhode Island was supposed to be my stepping stone; a way to get my foot in the door and propel me to a larger market.

October will mark my four year anniversary in Rhode Island and I am more nervous and uncertain about what to do about the future than I have ever been in my life. I was never supposed to be here this long and now, I'm afraid to leave.

I didn't leave before because I didn't need to. And after years of prosperity, it was easy to ignore rumors about how much trouble the industry was in. After all, who could imagine a day without newspapers -- we were vital. Or so I thought.

That was before the Rocky Mountain News closed its doors, before the Times threatened to shut down the Globe, before Detroit stopped home delivery and the P-I went completely online.

It's easy to see all that now, but over the past three years, I’ll admit it, I was caught up in the newness of my budding career. I preferred to focus on the joy of getting a great story or share the frustration in dealing with tough sources and bosses. But all around me, it was happening. It wasn’t until the recession came to my newsroom with the split of our company, buyouts, and then finally two rounds of layoffs that I started to get the picture. This whole thing is bigger than me. And I’m not invincible.

Honestly, that’s why I had a backup plan. The only thing is that now, my backup plan is causing me more angst than ignoring the industry ever did.

Getting my graduate degree was supposed to be my safety net. I started thinking about going to get an advanced degree in law probably about 6 months ago. I'd been covering courts for a while, and then, the paper announced plans for more layoffs. I got excited about the program and my plan was to apply for the Fall 2010 class, which would allow me to save up some money and really prepare for the transition. But with my job only 4th from the bottom on the seniority list when they announced layoff plans in February, I thought it important to have a backup plan.

So I applied to Georgetown. And got in. With a partial scholarship to their Masters of Studies in Law program for journalists. It's a one year program where I would be able to take all the same classes as a first year law student, but come May, I would leave with a Master's Degree.

I'm seriously afraid to leave and I feel like a punk for it. And it's killing me that this economy has me doubting my ability to land on my feet, even with an advanced degree. When I graduated from college, I never thought for a moment that I wouldn't be able to find a job. Ever. But that was back in 2005.

So here I am, with a great opportunity on one hand, a steady paycheck in the other and a gloomy economic outlook overhead. And I have no idea what to do. I've survived two layoffs and a round of buyouts by the skin of my teeth. The idea of hitting this economy in May with stale clips and a degree isn't particularly comforting. But even if I stay, I could be among the first to go if the paper were to decide they need to get rid of more weight.

Three years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do, just that I didn't want to do it in Rhode Island forever. My disdain for municipal reporting emerged over the years, just like my love for cops, courts and legal reporting blossomed. And I worry that I'm romanticizing my time here out of fear for the unknown.

A friend of mine said that one of the bravest things a person can do is imagine a different life for themselves. I wonder if it still counts if you imagine a new life out of fear that your old one will disappear.

Day 1086

2009-06-01T12:42:00.013-04:00

When we started this blog, things were different.

Most of us had just graduated from college, were looking for jobs or either just starting them. We were bright eyed bushy tailed journalists ready to take on the world. We had no idea what adventures our lives would hold as we struggled to gain our footing in the journalism industry.

So we decided to document it as it happened.

We've written as we've been hired, promoted and laid off. As we graduated and figured out where to go and what to do with our lives. We've told you about our horrible beats, great bosses and mean readers and listeners. We've shared our successes, our awards, our failures.

There was no way to know when we started out where the world would be today. That we were dangling on the cliff of a recession that continues today. It was unfathomable to think that a handful of newspapers across the country would actually close their doors. That thousands of qualified journalists -- veterans and rookies -- would be laid off from their jobs.

We documented the shift in the industry as it was happening, as we lived it.

One thousand ninety-five days.

On June 10th, the crew here at Ten95 will reach that milestone. A day that seemed like it was always so far off is now literally just days away.

Over the coming week, each of us will write about what it has been like to start a career at a time when the world, our industry and it's future were so uncertain. This blog has given us a vantage point on the changes the recession have had on the industry that is unique only to us. And we'll do our best to give an honest look at what the view has been from here.

We hope you enjoy it.

Talia
Aaron
Chris
Veronica
Darren
Marcus

Who are You?

2009-05-18T14:07:00.002-04:00

I write stuff about people all day, every day. I can distill legal arguments, even lives into a sentence or two. Why can't I do the same when it comes to writing about myself?

So, I got a fellowship to go to the annual journalism fete in Tampa this year. As a part of the requirements, they want us to write a short biography -- anything from a sentence or two to a short paragraph -- about who we are and what we do.

I was hoping I'd sent them a bio last year that I could update and recycle. No such luck. I went trolling the Internet for old bios that I could recycle. They were all woefully out of date, or inappropriate to the point where it would take a lot of rewriting to make it applicable for the fellowship.

This sucks. And I feel sucky for not being able to just bang this out. Maybe if I imagine I'm not writing about myself:

T-Dot is a justice reporter for a major metropolitan daily in New England, specializing in courts and technology. She covers two suburban courthouses and the Town of Smithfield and has been with the paper for 4 years. She is a 2005 graduate of Hampton University {begin optional trim} where she studied print journalism and served as editor in chief of her school newspaper, The Hampton Script, for two years {end optional trim}.

Eh. Not bad. I'll figure something out I suppose.

Wiki-user to Journalists: "PWN'D"

2009-05-08T18:54:00.006-04:00

From the Agence France Presse:

DUBLIN (AFP) - An Irish student's fake quote on the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia has been used in newspaper obituaries around the world, the Irish Times reported.

The quote was attributed to French composer Maurice Jarre who died in March.

Shane Fitzgerald, 22, a final-year student studying sociology and economics at University College Dublin, told the newspaper he placed the quote on the website as an experiment when doing research on globalisation.

Now.... I don't know about you, but I kinda got the whole "don't-trust-Wikipedia" meme when I was just a lowly student in journalism, oh so many years ago. I always thought everyone knew, "Don't use Wikipedia!"

Guess not.

What's more troubling is how this reflects on our already shaky industry. "Not good" are two words that come to mind. This tech blog summed it up another way:

A key part of the argument for maintaining traditional journalism is that its trained reporters can perform research and investigations that the untrained masses can't, and the content they produce is run by editors and fact-checkers. The revelation that their research is often no more sophisticated than an average Web surfer's, and that the fact checking can be nonexistent, really doesn't help that argument much.

"Doesn't help that argument much"? Heck, it almost shoots it into the ground. Corrections be damned, we're supposed to get it right. And I can't help but wonder how an unchecked wiki quote could make it past the copy desk and into print. Was it a lowly intern obit writer who didn't know better? A seasoned obit writer who, regretfully, isn't as seasoned in technology? Or just another reporter who felt no need to stay at work late to check his facts?

Being that the quote showed up in more than one place, I suppose it's anyone's guess.

But I know one thing for sure -- thank God for Kee Malesky, the veteran NPR librarian who has no qualms about shouting from the top of the building...

"DON'T TRUST WIKIPEDIA!"

Lamentations on the Future of our Business

2009-05-07T14:20:00.004-04:00

A column from the WP's Dana Milbank about the Senate hearing on the future of Newspapers:

They came as if to their own funeral.

Reporters from Hearst, USA Today, McClatchy, the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, the Washington Times and the Boston Globe -- their employers in varying stages of decline or death -- took their places at the press table for a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday titled "The Future of Journalism."

"I hope I get laid off," one of the reporters could be heard telling a Senate staffer, "so I can get the severance."

And later:

But it was (David) Simon, once a Baltimore Sun reporter, who struck the strongest blow for newspapers. Though scolding publishers for their "martyrology" and mismanagement, he spoke of how "aggregating Web sites and bloggers contribute little more than repetition, commentary and froth" and added: "The parasite is slowly killing the host."

Go read it.

So, I'm procrastinating on writing a story (that got held anyway) and I stumble across this column in the Boston Globe by Kevin Cullen.

As a journalist, I got pulled in by his lede (even if it is a rehash of what was drilled into us in j-school) because really, don't we all think our jobs are more noble than that of those we cover?

If you ask anybody why they got into this business and they say it was for the money, they are either certifiably insane or no longer in the business.
Few in journalism call it a business. We like to think we forfeited bigger paychecks to pursue something that is essential: speaking truth to power, comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable.

I'm here in New England watching as the Globe struggles with wage cuts and other concessions in an effort to stay afloat. I have to say as a newspaper snob myself, I always thought the Times was better than this. I had this notion that if any paper would understand the value of journalists, it would be the Times. And they would do what it took to make sure they continued supporting great journalism. But as Cullen said, the Globe relationship with the Times wasn't a marriage, it was a business deal. And, really, I think we all knew that if it came down to the Times and anything else, the Times was going to take care of home first. Shoot, I was told by Times employees not to go to a Times regional paper expecting the same treatment as I would in New York. Only The New York Times is The New York Times. Cullen continues:

It would be easier to get worked up if there were shining examples of an enlightened newspaper company figuring all this out. The Times has made lots of mistakes. I wish they didn't build the Taj Mahal on Eighth Avenue. I wish they'd close the International Herald Tribune before they gut the Globe. And, at the very least, the bigshots at the Times should have climbed aboard the Acela and come up here to explain to us, and to you, their threat to close the Globe. When an essential element of your business is demanding transparency of others, it looks pretty shoddy when you expect none from yourself.

But hating The New York Times is like hating the Yankees: It might make you feel better, but it means nothing in the standings.

The Web's Got the Power!

2009-05-06T12:56:00.004-04:00

The third and final installment of tips, tricks and sites to check out from the New England First Amendment Coalition's Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism Seminar. Check out the first and second installments as well.

Government Contracts: http://www.usaspending.gov/

search by company, state, agency, product, or congressional district and export the data to a spreadsheet
know these Web sites can be incomplete; cross check with press releases, news stories, agency Web sites and SEC filings

SEC filings (documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by publicly traded companies or those preparing to go public) www.sec.gov

Check out the S-1 reports from companies selling stock; the 10-Q quarterly filings; the 10-K annual report; the Def-14 proxy that is filed before a shareholder meeting and the 8K used for special reports and announcements
Other sites to check out:
www.10kwizard.com (subscription)
www.secfilings.com (subscription)
Finance.yahoo.com (Free and has other features for following companies)

Nonprofits

www.guidestar.com
Foundationcenter.org
Nccs.urban.org/database/index.cfm
Philanthropy.com (Chronicle of Philanthropy –– offers a free subscription to journalists)

Labor Unions

File an annual report with the Labor Department called an LM-2
Find them here: http://erds.dol-esa.gov/query/getOrgQry.do

For searching multiple sites at once:

Zoominfo: http://www.zoominfo.com
Pipl: http://www.pipl.com
Icerocket: http://www.icerocket.com
Domain Tools http://www.domaintools.com
Allwhois http://www.allwhois.com

The Wayback Machine: www.archive.org/index.php
Cybercemetery: http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/default.htm
GPO Access GAO reports: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/gaoreports/index.html
FedStats: http://www.fedstats.gov/
NationMaster http://www.nationmaster.com
Excluded Parties List System (GAO) http://www.epls.gov/
Federal contracts http://www.usaspending.gov
National Sex Offender Public Registry: http://www.nsopr.gov
Center for Responsive Politics: http://www.opensecrets.org/
State financial disclosure at Center for Public Integrity: http://www.publicintegrity.org/StateDisclosure/
Lobbying Disclosure Act Database http://soprweb.senate.gov/
Congressional staff salaries/Congressional travel http://www.legistorm.com
Congressional travel reports from the original source: http://soprweb.senate.gov/giftrule/
Maplight (combines contributions and voting records): http://www.maplight.org
Official government site for campaign finance data: www.fec.gov/disclosure.shmtl

Public Records Hiding in Plain Sight

2009-05-06T12:54:00.001-04:00

Second installment of tips and info from the New England First Amendment Coalition Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism seminar. Check out the other installment here.

Rule of Thumb: If the public pays for it, the records are public
Know that federal agencies have more time (20 days) to provide information than state agencies (10 days)
Ask if the information you’re looking for has been requested before –– you can FOIA a FOIA request
If they deny your request, ask for it in writing and keep the denials, in case you need to appeal –– and to include them in your stories
Know the appeal process for FOIA documents and use it (It can be found here: http://www.mrm.mms.gov/FOIA/appeal.htm)
When sending FOIA letters, ask for access to information, not copies of it, in order to circumvent costs
They should have digital copies of the info. If they don’t, there’s probably a story there
Use the general law/charter/document that created the agency to find out what information they have to keep and who they have to report to. Use that info to request documents you know they have to keep.
Records Retention Schedule dictates how long they have to keep documents. RI’s can be found here: http://www.sec.state.ri.us/Archives/pra/sched_dev/general_schedules/
Also look for agency reports to other state or federal agencies; agency indexes of lawsuits, settlements or disciplinary decision
Get copies of their policy and procedure books –– use their language in your requests
Settlements are public if taxpayer money is being used to pay for it
Use the Federal Audit Clearing House to search for federal audits (to know what to request) from agencies like the local housing authority or any agency that has to make a report to the federal government: http://harvester.census.gov/sac/
Get Federal Criminal Justice Grant applications and awards for local courts, as well as performance reviews (for past grant rewards): http://www.ojp.gov/funding/solicitations.htm
Talk to career civil servants rather than political appointees –– they’ll be more willing (sometimes) to give you information because they are proud of their work and unconcerned about politics.
Programmers are your friends: if an agency says it will take X amount of hours to create a document, ask to speak to the programmer. You’ll usually find the search you’re looking for can be done in a few minutes.
Unless the fee for FOIA requests is free, don’t pay for it. Know that you can also apply for a fee waiver.
American Community Surveys are the best census data available for smaller communities. Otherwise, the best you’ll get is the older census data. Find the ACS here: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/

That information? It's free.

2009-05-06T11:16:00.008-04:00

My paper sent me to the New England First Amendment Coalition's Freedom of Information/Investigative Journalism Seminar last week at the Boston Globe. The seminar was a full day chock full of tips, tricks and cool stories from seasoned journalists about how to get information from the government when they don't want to give it to you. I had to present what I learned to my team today at work, so I figured, "why not share the fruits of my labor with loyal Ten95 readers?"

So here you are, readers. The first installment of my notes from the seminar. Enjoy!

Mark Benjamin (Salon.com)
Story about US soldiers in Ramadi, Iraq who were killed by friendly fire incident. Attack was taped by soldier helmet cams. Benjamin wrote stories about the resulting cover-up.

A “15-6” is Army speak for an informal investigation where an officer investigates him/herself.
When asking for a copy of an Army investigation, you often get a summary, not the entire document.

Mark Kaufman (Hartford Courant)
Pulitzer finalist for report on mentally unfit soldiers being sent into war: http://dartcenter.org/content/mentally-unfit-forced-to-fight

use government language to ask for information they say you can’t have
good FOI letter generator: http://www.rcfp.org/foialetter/index.php
understand the law better than the bureaucrats using it to restrict your access
know the timetable of how long an agency has to keep a document
personnel matters are not confidential
If you start an FOI request, finish it to the end. Otherwise, agencies will begin to think that if they give you a hard time, you’ll drop the issue.
Make all requests to a higher official, not the press person, when possible, that way, if you have to get into a fight, you’re dragging the higher official into the issue as well
Documents created as part of an investigation aren’t open while the investigation is ongoing, but documents that existed prior to the investigation (that may be included as evidence in the investigation) are open
Ask what the investigation is –– specifically, ask for the letter from the person ordering the investigation to the investigator. You’ll find out if they are really investigating the right thing and it could lead to another story.

I'm on your internet, starting my own news site...

2009-04-28T11:12:00.002-04:00

Wow...I won't even shame myself and guess how long it's been since I last contributed to Ten95, but I would like to apologize to my blog-mates and our readers for my absence. The stress of my job and life is no excuse to leave you guys hanging, so fear not, I'm back with something relevant to all of our interests.

Spchrist posted a link to this article on the YBJ listserv this morning, highlighting 40 Newark Star-Ledger employees who banded together after layoffs and buyouts to create their own news website, NewJerseyNewsroom.com. I can see and hear the lightbulbs going off above several readers' heads as I type.

While the staff of New Jersey Newsroom can rely on their buyouts to keep their bills paid, they are, as the article suggests struggling to make money (aren't we all?). I still believe this is a good idea, because ultimately, we can't sit around waiting for the economy to turn and the top-heavy management in the nation's newsrooms to return to a sense of normalcy.

We all are aware that the internet and multi-media journalism is where everyone and everything is headed right now, so why not take our futures into our own hands by creating our own websites and going for what we know? My mother always says "nothing beats a failure but a try." And we owe it to ourselves to try and stay relevant and up to speed in the fast-paced industry we currently work in.

I felt a sense of "why not" when I read this story, believing that there is room on the internet (and trust me there is PLENTY of it) for credible journalists who want to bring the news to folks may not be as keen as walking to the newstand and picking up a newspaper anymore. I might be more willing to try this because at 27, I'm fortunate enough to be single and childless, which basically means, I am my own responsibility. I can't speak for anyone else who may not share the same situation.

All I know is there is hope for us all. We just have to have the courage and conviction to adapt to it and embrace it. The staff of the New Jersey Newsroom are already off to a good start in that respect.

Reviews and Relevancy

2009-04-25T15:17:00.007-04:00

I come from place that does hard news and feature-y interviews. So the whole process of writing and printing reviews is foreign to me. But I have to ask... don't these things get edited?

Take the case of the New York Times' review of the new Beyonce/Idris Elba/Ali Larter movie Obsessed. I pulled up the review to see whether the Times found it entertaining or a complete waste of time. But I was smacked in the face with this instead:

"The movie’s most disturbing aspect, of which the filmmakers could not have been unaware, is the physical resemblance between Mr. Elba and Ms. Larter to O. J. and Nicole Brown Simpson. It lends “Obsessed” a distasteful taint of exploitation."

Pause.

Wait.

What?

....

Really?!

I was gobsmacked, to put it simply. How on earth does one conflate one of the most explosive cases of domestic violence in the 1990s with a 2009 movie about a family man that's trying to do right by his wife? (Oops. Sorry. Spoiler alert.) How do you compare a character whose overarching trait is his restraint reserve with someone who had no issue with being violent toward a woman? (For the record, the only violent scenes in the movie involve the two leading women.) And how do you POSSIBLY do that with a 14-year gap between the two?!

How does an editor see this and not bring up any questions?

I know, I know, it's just a movie review. But the comparison left me incredulous and actually, downright offended. There's no need to go into a tirade -- the baseless demonization of a black man who finds himself entwined with a white woman is obvious. And it would surprise me if no one else felt at least some glimmer of that too. To me, it's irresponsible to come up with some that couldn't possibly be anymore far-reaching -- and pass it off as a credible criticism.

I'm just sayin.

Company lays off reporter injured in 2008 City Hall shootings

2009-04-22T12:53:00.003-04:00

Remember that City Council meeting shooting last year where five people were killed and a metro reporter was shot in the hand by an enraged citizen?

Well, the reporter, Todd Smith, was laid off last week.

Smith was a metro reporter covering Webster Groves and Kirkwood at the time of the February, 2008, Kirkwood shootings and went to Kirkwood City Hall to cover what he thought would be a regular City Council meeting. It was the night that Cookie Thornton stormed in with a .44-caliber Magnum and in a mere one minute and 32 seconds killed five people -- two council members, the city's public works director and two police officers -- before turning the gun on himself.

Smith took one of Thornton's bullets in the right hand. He immediately pulled out his cell phone with his left hand to call the Journals. "I said they'd need to send somebody else, because I'd been shot in the hand."

I'm going to refrain from making any puns or anything. Apparently the paper won a Sigma Delta Chi award for its online coverage of the shooting (Smith was the online editor for two suburban editions). The article said that Smith was one of a number of people let go throughout the company.

You got a Pull-It-Sir!

2009-04-20T15:23:00.004-04:00

Just about 30 minutes ago, they announced the winners of the 2009 Pulitzer prizes. Here's a list of the lucky ones. Gotta say I was glad to see the Detroit Free Press on the list for their coverage of the Kwame Kilpatrick textgate story (if you haven't read their coverage, Google it). It is kinda weird to not see other pieces you think should have gotten serious consideration (like the Chauncey Bailey Project). Slate did a piece I thought was apropos. Enjoy it after you check out the list of winners:

JOURNALISM:

Public Service - Las Vegas Sun

Breaking News Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Investigative Reporting - David Barstow of The New York Times

Explanatory Reporting - Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times

Local Reporting -
Detroit Free Press Staff
and
Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin of the East Valley Tribune, Mesa, AZ

National Reporting - St. Petersburg Times Staff

International Reporting - The New York Times Staff

Feature Writing - Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times

Commentary - Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post

Criticism - Holland Cotter of The New York Times

Editorial Writing - Mark Mahoney of The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY

Editorial Cartooning - Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune

Breaking News Photography - Patrick Farrell of The Miami Herald

Feature Photography - Damon Winter of The New York Times

Master Teachers

2009-04-10T11:22:00.004-04:00

A quick shout out to Ten95er Darren who has been live blogging the Master's Tournament for his paper since the tourney kicked off yesterday.

For those who are golf inept, a primer (via Wiki): The Masters Tournament, also known as The Masters, or The U.S. Masters outside of the United States, is one of four major championships in men's professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, it is the first of the majors to be played each year. It is held each year at the same location, Augusta national Golf Club in Georgia. The winner of each tournament is awarded a green jacket, which must be returned to the clubhouse after a year.

Darren is showcasing his vast golf knowledge while peppering his coverage with nostalgia, cool facts and a little humor. Check out a few of the posts that stood out to me from Day 1 coverage:

11:41 -- Anyone but me still get the chills when you hear Verne Lundquist's 1986 call of Jack Nicklaus's birdie putt on No. 17? "Yessss, sir!" Crazy.

11:54 -- One of the things that I love about this tournament is its reverence for its past champions. You can see their competitive drive; no one is content to just show up, play for two days. Case in point: 1976 champion Raymond Floyd just missed a birdie try that would have moved him to 3-over par. His knees buckled, he grimaced, he hated settling for par. That's awesome.

12:50 -- Don't underestimate the solid par the ever-eclectic Shingo Katayama just made on No. 11. He's keeping pace nicely with the field's fast start, at 2-under. (update: He just stuck a pin-high iron on the par-3 12th to about three feet. Should be an easy birdie.)

I don't really know what that last post means, but it sounds authoritative, doesn't it?

In addition to blogging the tournament by the hole (pause), Darren is Twittering (follow him here) and word on the street is that he's done some live chats as well. He's like a little bald multimedia machine.

He's back at it again today covering Day 2. Fore!

It's been a long time...

2009-04-08T17:12:00.006-04:00

...and I've really only got two (uh, three) words for you:

I am scared...

...for real this time.

(Okay, maybe seven words.)

Next month I turn 24. I'll be completely out of school. And, most importantly, I'll be moving to Baltimore, MD for a three month internship with the Associated Press.

From there I'd like to eventually move to New York City...live the rest of my 20s and some of my 30s in the Big Apple.

With the economy in shingles (not to mention the news business), I feel I'm taking a rather large gamble by making such a drastic move. I'm a California-boy, through and through. I've never lived anywhere but here. Adjusting to a new environment won't be a problem for me, but the thought of leaving this all behind both excites and scares me.

I'm thinking the nerves are normal. But my gut tells me that moving out of state with little in savings, no functioning vehicle and no "home base" (yet), and especially right now, is more than a little bit risky.

I happened to be on the bus today talking to a colleague about my concerns. A stranger, who admitted she'd been ear hustling our conversation the entire time, offered this advice*:

(*paraphrased) "Move to New York. If that's your dream, just do it. Things will work themselves out, especially if you have the drive. You don't want to look back on life and wonder what could have been."

Amen, sister.

I'm confident that I'll do well almost anywhere I go. There is, however, a part of me that feels like I'd be letting myself down if I didn't charge full steam ahead with a plan that I've had since my junior year in high school. That plan? Move to NYC, get a journalism job, write and produce my little heart out, go wild (date), and eventually pen a few books.

I'm ready. (I've got to be.) But is that enough?

Goodbye, City Weekly

2009-04-08T02:59:00.004-04:00

There are a few reasons why I even have a career in journalism.

NABJ is one of them.

The organization made me believe I could do this. They gave me confidence in my voice.

Michael Holley, a former Boston-area sports columnist, now of WEEI, is another. He was the first newspaperman I ever actually talked to. He met me for lunch randomly one day during my senior year. I love him for that.

And yet, one of the great thrills of my journalism career was being published over and over and over in my hometown newspaper, the Boston Globe. (I hope to God the New York Times Co. does not close its doors.)

But a portion of that newspaper's heart was cut out of the equation recently. City Weekly was the Globe's offbeat news feature section, that great slice of the local paper that tried weekly to make our relatively large city a little smaller, a little warmer, a little more, well, local. Now it's gone.

This sucks. Not afraid to say it. This really sucks.

This is not about clips, though writing for the section certainly gave me plenty of those. It means that Boston might never read about a group of young hip-hop artists coming together in Mattapan to produce a mixtape. The group of Roxbury residents trying to change city ordinances on construction noise? You'd never hear about it. And Bostonians might never read about what its like for a family to cope with the loss of a young person to a violent death.

These were just my contributions, the city as I saw it.

And there are no warm cliches. No it will be all right. No farewell. It just sucks.

2009-04-06T12:31:00.001-04:00

It’s getting kinda hectic around here.

All around us, we’re seeing the ruins of papers gone. Bye Bye Seattle (on paper). Ciao Rocky. Now, they’re threatening to kill the Globe.

At my paper, the company is proposing to guild members to take a 2.5 percent pay cut. The Guild put out a newsletter detailing the cut and asking for our feedback. On the back, lists a few options of things we could ask for in exchange for the cut.

As my coworkers looked at the paper, they all but exploded with outrage that they were being asked to make yet another cut (the company has laid off at least 100 guild members in the last 6 months, stopped our 401k match and delayed a contribution for the pension phase out plan already). They indignantly marked “there are no circumstances under which I would accept a pay cut.”

I stared at the paper and twirled my pen in my hand. I didn’t know what option to choose.

Here’s my problem: I have a job. And I’m grateful for it. Especially as I see friends up the road dealing with the prospect of being unemployed very soon. Do I want to take a pay cut? Hell no. Do I want to keep my job? Hell yes.

I was talking to a friend in Boston about their troubles and told him that at some point, things will have to change. Lifetime job guarantees may have to go (who ever heard of that, anyway?!?). Reporters may have to fly coach and have a layover on their way to cover the Sox, Celtics or Patriots. We will have to cover more areas with fewer reporters. And it’s all going to suck. But we’ve got to change.

I still haven’t turned in my survey. I still don’t know what to mark. They say we can get personal days equivalent to the value of the pay cut, get an additional week of vacation, or ask for a guarantee of no further layoffs during this year or the life of our contract. The company guarantee means nothing to me these days. So I’m waffling between the vacation or the personal days. I just think its silly to think that we won’t have to make some cuts (and some even more painful ones) if we want to stay viable in this economy [disclaimer: my paper is one of the few in the company that is actually profitable, which is another reason my coworkers are up in arms].

2009-02-24T16:17:00.003-05:00

Not to temper Aaron's enthusiasm because I, too, admire the work Bob and others have accomplished, but things here in my newsroom are a little somber.

For weeks, there's been talk of impending layoffs. Every day we'd get messages like this one from the guild regarding the rampant rumors circulating around the newsroom.

The Guild has been informed by the company that there will be no announcement regarding layoffs today. At this point we do not expect to hear anything until Monday or Tuesday.

I hated those e-mails. And the constant chatter near the printer about how it would all be handled, and when, if ever we would get any details. Today, we finally got word.

Company wide 100 people are being laid off. I still have my job, but 18 of my colleagues don't. No reporters were laid off, but 1 section editor, a copy editor, and pairs of artists, photo editors, visual technicians, photographers and editorial assistants were. In addition, 5 state staff office assistants, including my two favorite people in the world, D and B, were laid off.

This is the second round of layoffs we've had in the last six months. Everyone keeps speculating that another round - which the execs say is always contingent upon the economy - isn't too far behind.

Finding inspiration

2009-02-24T11:33:00.009-05:00

I'm so tired of hearing my peers talk pessimistically about journalism. And especially when I see journalists, much older than we are, continuing to do big things in our uncertain industry.

Inspiration is not hard to find. One of my mentors, Bob Butler, is a laid off journalist. Yes, that's right. He was laid off from a regular staff position at KCBS San Francisco news radio in 2006. But I see Bob as an example of a journalist who keeps it moving — he's not publically wallowing in negativity or depression over the state of the industry.

Not only has he continued contributing for KCBS, he's been a mainstay for the Chauncey Bailey Project. The project was recently written about in the New York Times.

In addition, he's the president of the Bay Area Black Journalist Association and regional director at the national level.

He's keeping busy. And for me, that's inspiring. Raise a glass to people who triumph over adversity and do damn good work in the process.

Bob Butler (right), with Thomas Peele and Mary Fricker.
Photo: New York Times

Unemployed* And Loving It

2009-02-07T21:05:00.003-05:00

Last week hit the 2-month mark since I was relieved of my full-time work responsibilities ... and I'm still loving it.

When you factor in the fact that I was on vacation the week before I got the slip, I have really been out of the office for nearly three months.

(*Technically, I'm employed, but as a freelancer. Working from home = awesome.)

When your day consists of Sportscenter, Sportscenter, Arrested Development, lunch, The O.C., nap, and (insert sporting event of the evening here), who wouldn't be happy?

It has been a much needed break away from corporate America and has allowed me to recharge my mind.

The job hunt is narrowed down to just one position, which I'm playing the waiting game to see if they are going to give the green light on a hire.

Besides that, I really can't say I have been searching long and hard.

Not that I expect to find much if I were, but I'm at a position where I would only stay on the East Coast for this job I'm waiting to hear from.

If for some reason that doesn't work out, it's back to Los Angeles for me.

Who wants to join me for a little R&R at the beach?

Go Ahead And Smile

2009-01-20T15:14:00.004-05:00

I'm at the coffee house around the corner from my apartment (where Marcus and Aaron are currently napping after our long morning at the Washington Monument), sipping a vanilla chai latte and watching ABC's continuing coverage of today's inauguration festivities.

This whole weekend has been pretty amazing. And that's not lost on the people covering it. Every anchor that I've seen today has had a little bit of a smile on the lips, a glint in the eyes. It's warming and refreshing, given that journalists are usually seen as stoic, stone-faced and sometimes detached.

Aaron cheered at one point this morning (I can't remember why) and Marcus nudged him, teasing, "Come on, journalist. Be objective." We laughed. But I'm sure somewhere, someone is allowing the idea of objectivity to dictate the expression on their face. And the nudging isn't coming from a playful friend, but from a stern voice inside the head.

I think today is one of those days where it's okay to feel. The one thing I noticed, as we made our way from Columbia Height, down the Metro's Green Line, through Chinatown and on the trek down to the National Mall, is that goodness was oozing out of everyone. (Even out of the street vendor selling Obama hand puppets.) And when you're around such optimism, such comradery, it's pretty darn difficult to tell yourself not to cheer.

Besides, when you see that there's a bright, feel-good mood in the air and you share that with your audience, you're still being objective.

So go ahead, smile. Today is one of those days where it's totally okay.

Inauguration Day for the rest of us

2009-01-19T13:33:00.006-05:00

I'm not in the Capitol, but that doesn't mean there's a void of inauguration coverage out there for those who will have to miss out on the historic event.

The New York Times put together an interactive time line of presidential inauguration speeches using the word bubble feature seen often in blogs. As you click on each president, you see which words he used most, and which words he used more in that speech than he did normally. Pretty sweet.

They also had this story -- which I heard about on NPR -- about how the president can choose whether to affirm his oath, or swear to it.

I'll admit, though, the Washington Post has been my go-to guide for all things Obama. I figure, who else better to cover Washington than the Washington paper? Their blog, 44: A Transition to Power, is bookmarked on my toolbar. Lots of cool, short stories with breaking news and fascinating little tidbits about PEOTUS.

Here's a by the numbers breakdown of the resources and support needed to pull off the inauguration compiled by the Washington Times.

In case you miss the entire thing all together, I'm sure this guy will be doing a recap of the highlights. Here's some of his earlier work. Not bad, huh?

And just for the hood's sake, a little something in case you need a soundtrack to the nonstop TV coverage on the inauguration weekend. And if you're looking for something a little more soulful? Try this. Or this.

Inauguration bound

2009-01-18T11:30:00.004-05:00

Darren, Marcus, Veronica and I will be in D.C. for the inauguration. Check back here over the next few days for updates ...

Preliminary itinerary:

Young Black Journalists Mixer @ Ozios - Sunday night
NABJ Reception @ NVLP Headquarters - Monday evening
Hip Hop Summit Party - Monday night
Inauguration Day Events - Tuesday

Pencil Me In

2009-01-16T18:40:00.002-05:00

Wow. I think I just had a moment.

It's Friday at 6:42 p.m. I just filed my story for tomorrow's paper and, technically, I'm off the clock.

I was going through my calendar on Outlook to see what I needed to do for next week, and that's when it happened. I started to think I might have a handle on this whole journalism thing.

So, here's the deal: At the beginning of this month, my paper turned us all topsy turvy and stripped many of us of our long held beats and gave us new topical ones.

You know I was amped, right?

The heavens were shining down on me because I got assigned to the Justice team -- which I'm affectionately calling the Justice League. (Did you know there was a black woman on the squad?) And because I've been covering the Kent County Court system for about 18 months now, they let me keep it.

Huzzah!

Well, not quite. See, before now, I've been covering Kent County kinda halfway. Keeping track of cases, but using West Warwick as my primary beat. Now, I'd be covering Kent County as my primary beat and a suburb called Smithfield as my secondary.

First week comes, I have no clue how to spend my day. I reach out to court reporter friends at the AP -- they give me some advice and I try to work their suggestions into my own routine. I spend a lot of time in Smithfield -- virtually -- and finally get out to the suburb to meet with the Superintendent and Town Manager. Come back with a gang of story ideas. But I still haven't made headway into the courts.

So I start making calls.

I call the Attorney General's office and speak to the PR guy there to get an idea of who I can talk to at Kent County to get the lowdown on cases. I call the police departments in my county to see if they can begin faxing over their weekly court calendars and dispositions. Some agree. I count it a success.

I piddle the rest of the week away, waiting for court dates that get moved at the last minute, and doing interviews for stories in Smithfield. By the end of the week, I'm depressed because here I am, with the chance to do exactly what I want to do, however I want to do it, and I'm falling back on municipal coverage because I don't know where to start. I gave myself until Janurary 26 to get my bearings and figure out what I wanted to do about this beat.

So, today, I sent an e-mail to my boss asking him to set aside some time this coming week to talk to me about what he expects from my court coverage. Then, I add the following recurring events on my calendar.

*Brainstorm Ideas for staff meeting
*Justice League Staff Meeting
*Go to courthouse to research cases
*Check court calendars

They're small, but it seems so big to me. I'm a lister. A planner. I need structure. I know I need to be in the courthouse to find the stories. But the anal retentive in me needs to have that time marked out on a calendar where it says I've set aside this time to do research. Sure, I can go more times, or at different times than when I've scheduled it on the calendar, BUT IT'S THERE. It feels concrete to me. And coupled with the court dates already filling my calendar from other cases I'm following, it makes me feel like I'm actually doing my job.

I like that feeling.

Um, dude, there's, like, a plane in the water

2009-01-15T21:02:00.005-05:00

+

zero casualties =

and...

You are what you Google

2008-12-29T14:38:00.004-05:00

Slate did this cool twist on the whole "2008 in review" story. Instead of just writing about what happened, they did a story about what people Googled this year.

You heard me.

Using some fancy programs (Google-based, of course) and their own generous knowledge of pop culture events, they looked at any search term that got more hits or searches than the major political candidates (Obama, et. al). They even took the time to explain how they did it:

Our methodology was pretty simple: We pitted the number of Google searches for a wide variety of cultural products and figures against the number of searches for the top candidates, looking for any story that was more Googled than politics on a given day. (We used Google Insights to compare the terms.) In effect, this means we were looking for cultural figures more searched-for than Obama. (His name was a more popular search term than the other candidates' for most of the year; Sarah Palin held the top spot for a month or so after she was selected as the Republican running mate.) Below is a sample chart that compares various candidates with two of the biggest nonpolitical stories of the year. Google data is displayed on a 100-point scale set by the highest data point on the chart.

So, America: What did we Google?

Some of everything. From Ashley Dupré (Eliot Spitzer's escort) to Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon (who were married in April) to Marc Chagall (Russian-born modernist artist) to Bernie Mac (died in August) and a whole lot of stuff in between.

Check out the article here.

Brrr....

2008-12-20T20:17:00.007-05:00

In this season, I'm thankful for my ankle length puffer coat.

Oh, it's just about the most unflattering thing I've ever worn in my entire life (and I grew up in the era of stretch pants and scrunchies). But it's warm. Oh, my goodness, it's warm.

I thought twice about breaking it out, but my assignment Friday required it. I was on the storm team.

Yes, the dreaded storm team. That meant that while everyone was bustling home, I was bundling up and finding people who braved the storm.

I tried to postpone it. I really thought that maybe the meteorologists were wrong. I slipped into my brown tweed coat, zipped up my flat brown boots over my hiking socks, and called it a day. That morning it was cold, but clear as I drove to work.

I was prepared though. The night before, I hit up Wal-Mart and stacked up on the essentials. Heat. A fleece blanket. Ice melter. Anti-freeze. In my backseat, I had a reusable shopping bag filled with canned soup, peanut butter and crackers, bottled water, bottled Arizona iced tea (lemon, please), and plastic silverware. I even through a thick scarf and my puffy sausage jacket in the back, just in case. Oh, I was ready.

By the time 2 p.m. came around, it was still pretty clear in Providence. We looked at the radar.

It was all green, except for Providence. It was just a matter of time. I hooked up with a photographer and we headed out. My assignment was to go to the airport and talked to people who were stranded, and go to the mall to see if anyone was shopping in the middle of the blizzard.

Of course, they were.

Kathy - the photog - and I slogged out way through the blowing snow and slippery slush to take pictures, talk to people and basically freeze our butts off.

We slipped and slid down Interstate 95 back to the office. I filed my notes and, after a quick run to the mall, went to go dig my car out from the nearly foot of snow that was dumped on New England.

I thought I was smart, parking in the garage. I figured at best, my wouldn't end up looking like this poor soul's did.

See that? When I came in around noon, the parking lot was empty. Everyone was trying to fit into the garage. I lucked up and found a spot right at the entrance on the second floor.
But here's one piece of advice: park toward the inside of the garage -- always.

J-School students are masochists

2008-12-17T09:35:00.000-05:00

"Despite less-than-lucrative job prospects for graduates, journalism is an increasingly popular major at colleges ..." making journalism school students candidates for case studies in masochism.

A Times Union article shows why those of us really interested in where our struggling industry are not put off by rapid decline in the paid journalism work force.

Why masochism, you ask?

A 2007 survey of journalism & mass communication graduates compiled the average starting salaries for students who earned degrees, comparing them with other disciplines.

Here's a breakdown:

Computer science graduates: $60,416
Information sciences graduates: $52,418
Finance graduates: $48,547
Business admin. graduates: $45,915
Liberal arts graduates (teachers): $35,419
Journalism and mass communication graduates: $30,000
(Realizing you should have double majored in college: priceless)

Ouch. Stings a little bit.

A hint for those entering college and interested in journalism ... information sciences graduates are in high demand, as news Web sites expand on their utility.

Is Aaron going back to school? Hmmm ...

MediaNews execs speak out, stating the obvious

2008-12-17T09:06:00.003-05:00

"MediaNews Sees Bad Timing on Newspapers, Not Bad Bet..." reads a NY Times headline.

Really? Bad timing? Hmmm ... That's an interesting way to put it.

MediaNews has not had a good year. But then again, neither has Tribune, McClatchy, Gannett ... the list goes on ...

And like this country's president, newspaper execs seem to be allowing sobered introspective reflections to slip from their usually mum lips.

Exhibit A:

Many current and former Mercury News executives say that a lack of investment by Knight Ridder and MediaNews have given the paper a fairly ordinary Web site that has been slow to adopt practices that keep readers coming back many times a day, like publishing articles online well before they appear in print, updating them frequently, blogging and posting videos.

For real? Really? Hmmm ... so how long have executives held that opinion? Is this a recent epiphany?

... I'll go out on a limb and assume that said executives are preparing to invest in these "ordinary Web sites that have been slow to adopt practices that keeps readers coming back" ... right? Right.

(Sighs.)

Journalist's shoe seen 'round the world

2008-12-17T08:21:00.002-05:00

You'd have to be living under a rock to not have already seen this:

I mean, wow. This trumps the "don't tase me, bro" moment. Clearly, no shoe will ever be as famous as the size 10 that narrowly missed our lame-duck president. And it's clear this "journalist," at the Bush-Iraqi prime minister's press conference, let go of all journalistic professionalism and common sense to make his point.

Question: at what point should you decide not to "cover" something if you cannot resist the urge to throw things at the people behind the podium?

Gov't paying for young reporters' internships?

2008-12-15T14:43:00.001-05:00

Here's an interesting concept.

A radio segment in last week's On The Media featured New Republic writer Mark Pinsky, who suggested -- in so many words -- that the U.S. government could (should?) pay writers (i.e. journalists) to writer the nation's history.

A short history lesson:

During the roll-out of FDR's New Deal in the 1930s, the Works Projects Administration created the Federal Writer's Project, which employed out-of-work writers to "(compile) local histories, oral histories, ethnographies, children's books and other works."

Project workers famously collected narratives from former slaves in the South and created the American Guide Series. They were paid about $80 a month, which is $1264 today.

Pinksy suggested media workers could push for the Obama administration to resurrect the project as part of his economic stimulus plan. For example, that could mean a government agency could hire journalists right out of school to record current events for the nation's archives...or subsidising student internships for the nation's struggling (failing...dying...imploding) print media industry.

Here's a podcast of the show segment. Listen for yourself. Then leave a comment.

Grazed by the Axe

2008-12-11T21:02:00.001-05:00

The worst part is watching the names trickle in.

Management refused to disclose the names of who was let go, for good reason, I suppose. But on some level, I'd rather just know, not because I want to be in people's business, but because these are my friends, my colleagues -- in some cases, what I consider my family -- being shown the door.

Instead, I have to read names in the paper or on the blogs.

And my heart is broken all over again.

Some of you know I spent a long time trying to get into the place where I work today. And it hasn't been easy staying -- no place is when you're the kid and the minority. But I've been blessed with what I called a "workplace family" -- folks who encouraged me, challenged me, gave me a swift kick in the butt when needed, and quite literally saved my ass when something was about to go down. They encouraged me and protected me, all because they knew, too, the difficulties of being the odd man out.

But now I'm reading their names. On blogs. In the paper.

And now my support system is shattered.

Suddenly I feel like I'm standing alone. And I can't help but to feel a little shattered too.

Go Look at this Project

2008-12-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

Some of my former collegues at the Freep just did a great project where they got unprecedented access to children in a local foster home. The Freep writes:

Free Press photographer Kathleen Galligan spent three years photographing the children at Christ Child House. The Michigan Department of Human Services, which rarely grants permission to openly photograph children in its custody, gave the Free Press this unusual access to highlight the plight of Michigan's foster children.
"It's an effort to educate the public on the challenges we face," said Bill Johnson, head of the Michigan Children's Institute, the DHS division with legal custody of the kids.
Referring to Christ Child, he said, "They're a small agency, but they do a great job."

The project features stories, video, and great photographs featuring the boys that live at Christ Child and tell you a little about who they are and what they've gone through. The project features things you can do to help, as well. They also did something I thought was really cool --- they did a gallery of kids who still need adoptive homes. It's a small thing, but I just thought it was great.

If nothing else, flip through the pictures in this project. I did that quickly after reading about the project in Al's Morning Meeting. For some reason, seeing these kids just living their lives almost brought me to tears. Maybe I'm just a sap, but that's what journalism is about: giving people a glimpse into someone else's life.

My Name is Marcus And I'm Unemployed

2008-12-04T16:54:00.000-05:00

The alarm went off at 8:30am Thursday morning and I hit snooze.

Stuffy and congested, the plan was to call out sick and come in the afternoon for a 2:00pm meeting.

But something told me to check the Blackberry to make sure there were no important e-mails.

Anytime you get a company e-mail from Debra Lee before 9:00AM, it's not good news.

Viacom had announced they were letting 850 employees go and that BET would be affected as a result.

One of those 850 employees is me.

Before you break out the box of tissues and offer your hugs (I'll take your hugs if you're hot), believe me when I say that I'm OK.

(If you have talked to me in the last 11 months, you will know that I'm really OK)

God works in mysterious ways and I look at this as an opportunity for a change of scenery and a fresh start in my career.

If you were expecting an angry Black man rant about how the man screwed me over, I apologize.

Now time to catch up on my DVR ...

Toot, toot. Yeah, beep, beep.

2008-12-04T13:25:00.000-05:00

I'm about to toot my own horn.

I rocked the rims off this story. And it was just a man on the street color piece about our local DMV closing.

Here's the link. Click it. You know you wanna read it.

Too lazy to click? Here's the lede:

WEST WARWICK — The wait time at the Registry of Motor Vehicles office here yesterday was about an hour and a half in the early afternoon. But you didn’t need a ticket to tell you that.

The blond wooden benches lining one wall were spotted with people reading books, chatting on cell phones or just sitting staring into space. Some men paced and read the signs on the scuffed rose-colored walls. Everywhere you looked, it seemed, someone was waiting for the automated voice to call their number over the loudspeaker: “Now serving 631 at window four.”

A Yule Log, maybe?

2008-12-03T13:57:00.001-05:00

Everyone has to do it at least once in life: Work a major holiday.

Yup, it's a hazard of the job that most journos come to grips with early on. whenever I would tell my mother that I'm working on some holiday, she'd yell at me. And then I'd calmly ask her if she got a newspaper the day after Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter.

That usually shuts her up pretty quickly.

Anyway, I probably set myself up this year. I asked my editor for Thanksgiving off because I wanted to go home to visit my family in Michigan. I hadn't been in a year. So I told him that I'd work any time between now and then in exchange if I got Thanksgiving -- though I'd rather not work Christmas because I wanted to travel to New York to be with my sister.

So I got THanksgiving off. And then, I got scheduled to work Christmas. From 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Thanks, guys.

So I tried not to worry about it. I sent a message out asking for volunteers to switch with me. I figured I'd deal with it when I got back from home. When I did, no one had responded. It was looking pretty bleak.

Then, a few people offered to switch their Saturday, Dec. 27 shifts with me. It would be better than nothing, I reasoned, but I wanted to see if I could get the entire weekend off. I was being greedy. So I went to solicit a few people I knew wouldn't care about Christmas.

After some talking and checking with her spouse, someone agreed to switch with me (joy!) so now I get to go be with my sister on Christmas! I'm so excited. So much so, that I'm trying to figure out what I could get my coworker who switched with me to show my gratitude. It might be something small, but I'm going to get something because this really meant a lot to me. Even if it's just a giftcard to one of the restaurants around here that might be open on Christmas night.

Least I could do is buy her dinner.

CNN joining the wire 'game'

2008-12-01T17:58:00.007-05:00

Move over, says CNN executives to the Associated Press.

Looks like the largely oligopolic news wire industry will soon have a new purveyor. It's not news that newspapers all over the country are letting go of their AP memberships, as they cut spending (staff). But with CNN pitching to offer a wire service for cheaper than AP, struggling newspapers could bite the bait.

Does this mean there will be more CNN bureaus and jobs created in the near future? Who knows.

Is the honeymoon over for the AP, which recently announced some troubles of its own. Again, who knows. The AP says it services 5,000 broadcast outlets, which is far more than its 1,700 newspaper subscribers. Heck, CNN uses AP wire services.

By the way, AP CEO Tom Curley says: "Breaking news is very, very expensive and if they (CNN) have the resources to spend on it, we welcome them to the game."

So I guess they aren't worried. And it doesn't seem like they'd need to be.

Interesting take on community journalism

2008-12-01T17:13:00.001-05:00

More than a few newspaper journalists were excited by the all-out-scramble to score print editions the day after the election. I'm sad to announce, if you hadn't already figured, that Nov. 5th and 6th did not save newspapers from trouble.

But there's hope...

Laidoff journalists, freelancers and community watchdogs are quickly (and, perhaps, have always been) turning to the Web and to non-profit organizations to fund the more costly (and often meaningful) journalistic endeavors. (When your paper won't...or can't.)

Spot.Us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change, where-by "the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories."

Donors get tax breaks. And if the MSM picks up your work, donors are reimbursed. It's an awesome way to collaborate on on stories.

Now if I only had a story I need funding for...wait...I think I do.

Election Post-Mortem

2008-11-07T16:19:00.001-05:00

On the industry:
If nothing else, November 5 made you excited to be a journalist. Beyond all of the great stories and analysis coming out of news outlets across the country, the best sight that any journo could ask for was commonplace in gas stations, bookstores and supermarkets: empty newspaper racks.

People grabbed up newspapers in droves, leaving latecomers with no chance of even seeing the newspaper, let alone reading it. I got a call from a woman around 6 p.m. that evening. She'd been loking for a newspaper all day and wanted to know if we had one. I transferred her downstairs to the main newsroom where we certainly had a stack of papers on the common table. I don't know if they gave her one though.

My sister text me from New York, asking if I could get her a copy of my paper. She wanted to save it. My other sister text me from Michigan, asking if I knew whether the New York Times and Chicago Tribune would sell their papers online. I sent her the order information.

Point is, something important happened and people turned not to radio, not to TV, not to the Internet, but to newspapers to document it. Now, I know most won't read those papers. They'll be wrapped in plastic bags and placed on shelves to be pulled out 50 years from now as souveniers. I'll accept that. But it still speaks to our importance as a medium; as the first draft of history.

On the stories:
Someone pointed out the big project that Newsweek does after every election with embargoed material. I read the Cliffnotes version and I'm really excited to read the entire article when it comes out in print soon. Some of the stuff are off the cuff remarks, or weird pieces of information (Palin stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel to greet two reporters in her hotel room before saying she'd be right back), but some of the inner workings they discuss (computer programs to track new voters and hacking attempts on both McCain and Obama's web sites) are really interesting.

And some of the stories have just been really good. I just heard about this one from the Washington Post. It really kind of drove home how important of a moment this election was and how truely historic it was. And it tugged at my heartstrings at the end. Tears did well. I will admit. They didn't fall, but oh, they welled. Read it. And check out the accompanying audio/photo slideshow.

All Hail the Chief

2008-11-04T23:01:00.000-05:00

CNN is projecting we've got a new president.

As of 11 p.m., it's roughly 297 Electoral votes compared to 139 votes for John McCain. in addition to winning all of New England, Obama is projected to win Washington, California, Oregon, Nevada, Virginia and a handful of states in the midwest.

Earlier tonight, I was at work when one of my coworkers, a black woman, turned to me and said she didn't think he was going to do it. I told her to wait until after 8 pm to start making projections.

Whether you voted for him or not, you can't help but feel a ping in your heart. We've come this far. We've got a long way to go, but my God, we've got a black President.

This is happening.

2008-11-04T22:56:00.000-05:00

This is really happening.

I have nothing else to say.

Why I love election night in the newsroom...

2008-11-04T21:21:00.000-05:00

Mmmmmm...

Chinese food buffet...

And five or six types of pizza...

Who says newspapers are broke?

There's still time

2008-11-04T11:08:00.000-05:00

Polls close in most places at 9 p.m. Whatever your political affiliation, make it happen.

Just for the record

2008-10-20T11:28:00.000-04:00

This new job description is hard.

I just came from my boss's office to talk about what I'm doing. The story we settled on -- about the effects a lawsuit settlement will have on the town -- is a good one. But I kind of don't know where to start.

If it was a page story, I'd call two or three people and be done with it. But as it stands, I'm combining two stories, really, into one. And I'm sitting at my desk with the boo boo look on my face.

I made a list of people I think I should call. I'm wondering if I need to put in a FOIA request. I have to say I'm a little gun shy.

I asked my boss if it was okay that I wasn't writing anything for tomorrow. That freedom, he said, is what the new world order is all about.

Alright, back to figuring out how to approach this story.

Welcome to the Show

2008-10-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

So... I was on NPR's Talk of the Nation today.

Nope, I wasn't working the show. I was on the show.

I was a guest... on Talk of the Nation.

HOLY CRAPCAKES, BATMAN!!!

I don't think I can understate how nervous I was. Little young thing, sitting in the studio with Neal Conan and Ron Elving, dudes who have been in the game for years. Not to mention, I was trying not to make any noises while the mics were on.

But, nerves aside, it was pretty friggin' cool. I talked about the last piece I wrote for TheRoot.com. And my cute Puerto Rican friend who works on the show gave me a thumbs up -- two actually -- when I was finished. So I was good.

But hey, stop watching me yammer about it and just go listen... here.

And just for the record... this TOTALLY made my day. :o)

The Mike Huckabee story

2008-10-09T12:48:00.003-04:00

"The terrorists," it has been said, "hate us because of our freedom." I could never quite get along with that statement for a litany of reasons. (Not the least of which is it makes absolutely no sense.) Were it true, they would surpass even a great hall of haters, that rogue collection of losers and scoundrels that draw faith from another's failure, pleasure from pain.

I thought a more accurate depiction of the source of their hatred had something to do with how policy decisions affect real people. And our tendency to wash up with food.

It is the excess of Western culture that is really to blame for the enemies we seem to accrue like so much debt. Americans are a wasteful people. Avocado is a facial wash. We scoff at the sight of burnt toast. We are obsessed with a pop-culture phenomenon that consists of someone on throwing dollar bills that flutter down on people at a disco. All of it has programmed us to believe that there are rules of status – one of them being that they do not associate with us.

So when Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who finished second to eventual nominee John McCain in a several primaries this year, sat down on the D train the other day, my thought was that it wasn't him. I was with a group that included my good friend Gary, a producer at NBC, Jennifer, a fashion designer, Lindsay, an accountant for a private dental practice and future dental student, and Patrice, a musician. "This guy," I proclaimed, "looks just like Mike Huckabee."

Patrice stared at him and suddenly was drunk with laughter. "Oh woooooow, he does."

The only problem, of course, was that he was Mike Huckabee sans press secretary, personal assistant or any type of security. He wore a blue shirt that had the initials M.D.H in cursive writing at the cuff and carried an unmarked bag that looked like it was take out from a cheap Chinese restaurant. After all, he had gotten on at Grand St. A man and woman came up to him.

"We're big fans of yours," one of them said, as if he was still on the campaign trail in Iowa. He thanked them warmly, naturally, and they sat back down.

"You know," I said, motioning to him to get his attention. "I'm sitting here saying", wow, this guy looks like Mike Huckabee. Now I feel like an idiot."

He laughed, and robotically stuck out his hand. "I'm Mike."

"Darren."

He mentioned a few tidbits about his show on Fox News, which is why he was in New York. "They treating you well up there?" I asked.

"Oh yes, just fine. Though I'm sure I'll say something sooner or later that'll cancel that out real quick," he said, alluding to his pension for controversial public comments. We all laughed.

Huckabee spoke with the sort of fluid cadence that was his mark on the trail, the type of speech that makes it sound like everything he says is funny. He asked where I lived. He mentioned that he visited a church in Harlem that he really enjoyed, then asked where we went to church. I gave the Kings Church of Christ, and our ridiculously talented minister, David Wilson, a huge plug.

"Mike Huckabee?" a 20-something guy with blond hair, stuck out his hand. He acknowledged him and smiled. "I like your style man!"

Flattered and maybe a little embarrassed, Huckabee motioned to all of us, saying, "I guess liking my style means that it's pretty cool that I'm riding the subway."

He widened his eyes and shrugged, as if not knowing what to say to that.

His actions said that status does not mean you have to be excessive.

"It's the easiest way to get somewhere."

The reporter in me came out eventually. I asked him what he thought about Sarah Palin's performance in the debate against Joe Biden on Thursday. He would refer to Sarah Palin as "Sarah." And Katie Couric as "Katie."

"I thought Sarah really helped herself," he said with gravitas, a sign that he is taking his job as a political analyst for Fox News seriously. "I mean, she was just dreadful with Katie. And I mean awful. I really like her and she's a terrific friend of mine but she was terrible."

He was close to his stop now. I asked if he'd be embarrassed if we asked for a picture. Gary had his camera. "Oh no, no not all."

So we took one big, black happy photo with Mike Huckabee on the D train.

Keep going until you reach the other side

2008-10-08T12:01:00.000-04:00

This was about as close to marching orders as we'd get. At least in the near future.

My coworkers and I filed slowly into the small conference room in our office, the managing editor of our paper seated on one side of the oval table. For the next hour, she'd tell us what she knew, which wasn't much, but it was something.

All of the bureaus were closing, she said. And the two remote offices would be housed temporarily downtown in our office and another down the hall. The first reporter from South County arrived today.

In essence, the days of hyperlocal coverage writing about the minutae of Town Council and School Committee meetings -- were over, she said. The boss wanted us all to write A1 stories. On our beats, some of the bigger stories would survive, while some of our smaller communities may not even see the light of day in the new paper. We probably won't tell the readers that we're doing away with the zoned editions she said. We should be prepared for the deluge of calls we'll recieve next week.

"We are reinventing the paper and it could be exciting," she told us. "But to get to exciting, we're gonna have to go through a whole lot of hell."

That was one thing we all knew.

In the days since the restructuring began, they've switched beats on some reporters, pulling a municipal reporter onto the blog, and moving the Providence reporter to a national sports beat.

Right. My thoughts exactly.

How we'll cover news in the future is largely unsettled, she said. We may do it by town, but more feasibly, we'll do topical coverage. We should get our dibs in now with beat preferance, so when the New World Order comes, at least our desires have been made known.

I just sent my e-mail to her, telling her that in a perfect world, I'd like to cover either legal affairs, education or news features, in that order.

As I watched my coworkers pepper her with questions, I tried not to be mad. I knew I had no room to be afraid -- everyone else was chalky with fear. I empathized with the M.E., having to go into rooms full of reporters with few, if any, answers. Not a job I'd envy. At least not now.

I tried to analyze what this new world would mean for me, an average reporter. I'd be competing against all of my coworkers for the same amount of space that's in a Monday paper. Ideally, it means I can write what I want, when I want, taking the time to craft stories and delve deeply into subjects. Realistically, it means that I've got to find better stories to tell or find myself squeezed out of the paper.

I sure hope I'll find them by the time we get to the other side.

darren.sands@pleasedontemailme.com

2008-09-30T15:08:00.001-04:00

"How could we not be mentioned in this story? Just so you know, I posted your e-mail to my entire e-mail list and they will be writing."

Yup.

That was one of the notes I got in my e-mail after writing a story about tribute bands. According to this reader, his band has been commanding the tribute scene for decades and their omission in my story about the state of the scene displayed laziness, and a lack of thorough reporting.

I was beside myself with frustration.

Two days ago, I got in an unnecessary argument with a reader who took me to task for writing about a 13-year-old diver and former gymnast who made the state qualifying meet in her first year in the sport. His argument? We had never written so much about all-county divers, so why were we writing this now? Calling it a waste of space, he left his number. I called him, he shouted and got nasty.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?

So please don't e-mail me. Like, ever. Just don't do it. Ignore the e-mail address. It's not worth me taking it personally.

Layoff Blues

2008-09-26T18:33:00.000-04:00

I just got really scared.

I’m sitting in my car in the parking lot outside my job with the car running and Raphael Saadiq playing on the stereo and I feel like I’m about to hyperventilate.

I just left one coworker in my office while she was printing out her resume to potentially shop around at a job fair this weekend. My boss skipped out early. She was laid off yesterday and has been mentally checked out since. The guy in our office who got laid off kept plugging away at stories today, just like always, except that his flow was constantly interrupted with phone calls he’d take in the hallway. My guess is job offers and financial matters.

This is what it feels like to be in a dying industry, I suppose.

At first, I was angry. Angry that all 30 of our cuts had to be borne by the news department. Angry at management for refusing to acknowledge the value we add. That without us, the paper will be nothing but a multi-page advertisement. But they don’t listen to me.

In two weeks, my job will change. They told us that the bureau system as we know it will be gone as of Oct. 10. I turn 25 two days later and return to work that Monday to a newsroom full of uncertainty and trepidation. Happy Birthday to me.

I was talking to a photographer when the first layoffs were announced. He asked me if I’d been shopping my resume around. I had, I told him, but there was a problem. The places I’d been shopping it to were having hiring freezes or worse – the people I’d been cultivating relationships with for years had taken buyouts. He told me I’d be fine. I told him I have no marketable skills. He laughed and tried to reassure me that I did.

I don’t.

I’m a newspaper reporter in a world that increasingly is telling us that they don’t want to read newspapers. I’m a newspaper reporter in a business where management feels it’s more prudent to cut news staff than advertising or production. I’m an average news reporter in an economy where I’m competing for the few available jobs with people much more experienced and way more talented than I.

Thank God that for now, at least, I’m safe. I know that when the next round of layoffs comes, I’ll be in the class that gets cut. And I have no idea where I’d go. What do you do when the industry you fell in love with as a kid doesn’t want you anymore?

I have some management experience, filling in as bureau chief when my boss was out. Maybe I can manage a coffee shop. I call in updates and write breaking news for the blog sometimes. Maybe I can be a telemarketer. I have years of practice taking things that people say and do and rehashing them for a new audience. Maybe I can be a history teacher.

I was talking to one of my old competitors the other day. She left the local paper and went to go work for the local theatre company in the marketing department. She gave me comp tickets to a show the other night. Says she loves her job. Maybe she has the right idea.

What scared me most as I packed up my things and walked to my car, what has me writing this blog on my laptop in my Cavalier, is that it’s not so much that I can’t do anything else. It’s that I don’t want to. But I’m coming to realize increasingly that wanting something doesn’t make it so.

Layoffs

2008-09-24T14:39:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure how to start this post. So I just will.

Today, the company announced that they are laying off 30 people from the news department.

We knew the layoffs were coming. We knew they'd happen by mid October, but that's all they told us. We didn't know how the cuts were coming, who would be affected, or anything.

I knew something was wrong as I walked up to the building this afternoon. I'd just come from a water rate hike hearing and was coming to the newsroom for the first time today. I saw a photographer standing outside on his cell phone, clutching a Guild newsletter. I knew we'd gotten some news about the layoffs. I just didn't know what.

As I made my way up to my office, I got a text from a friend in the main newsroom.

When were you hired? I just lost my job.

I rushed downstairs to her hangout spot -- a place behind the building she often goes to smoke handrolled cigarettes -- to make sure she was okay. She seemed fine, and I didn't really know what else to do. She wanted to get back into the newsroom to finish the day. So I let her. Upstairs in my office, I learned that one of my newly-married, soon-to-be a father, coworkers had been laid off.

I was hired in January 2006 officially. The cut off date for layoffs was May 30, 2006. Just a few months seperated me from unemployment. They took all of the part-timers firts, and a handful of full-timers got caught in the mix as well.

I've never felt so bad about having a job.

"Silent, but deadly" story

2008-09-24T14:21:00.000-04:00

::sprays Frebreeze in the room::

You can wait your entire journalism career for the opportunity to write this sentence into your copy:

When police were trying to get fingerprints, police say Cruz moved closer to the officer and passed gas on him.

Okay. Maybe that's just me. I would have filed that story and then spent the rest of the day laughing my ass off. That's the type of story that makes you love your job!

I wonder what evidence they'll have if it goes to trial.

Jam On It!

2008-09-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

They say the key to happiness is finding the things you love and putting them together.

Which is probably why I'm all giddy about this right hurr.

The D.C. Examiner has signed me on to be their local dance blogger. EEEEEEEE! If there are two things I know, it's dance in D.C... and blogging.

And I know what everyone's thinking... they're like, "Veronica is SO in heaven right now."

Yes. Yes I am.

GO CHECK OUT MY D.C. DANCE BLOG!!!

When You Write What You Know, You Start the Conversation

2008-09-14T23:24:00.000-04:00

I have a hard time coming up with story ideas.

Not because I can't think of any. I dream up plenty on any given day. But my brain has a glitch. It works a little too much. To the point where I overthink and overanalyze my ideas so much that I usually find a reason to dispose of them before any editor even gets the chance to. I think it's a side-effect of working in radio: instead of trying to fill up pages, we're trying to ration out minutes. Mere seconds, in some cases.

But it's something I'm actively trying to change. Particularly because right now, assignments are few in the floating/freelance producer world. I've got some time on my hands, and I've been spending it trying to figure out how to spend it.

"Go do a piece," said one of my colleagues (and sometimes-boss). "You're a good writer. Go find a story to do."

She said it so simply, like she was telling me to grab some orange juice out of the fridge. Doesn't she know in this overactive mind of mine, it's just not that easy?

*sigh* Okay. Yes it is. At least it should be. It just isn't, for me.

I was lamenting over this during a roadtrip with Soraya this weekend. "Just write what you know," she said. Basically, she said, there can be a story in anything.

And no sooner than I sign on to the Internet tonight do I see the very proof of her point.

There's the column about insipid commenters on washingtonpost.com (I'd been sniveling about that just a day before). There's the New York Times piece about the evolution of Sarah Palin's hairstyle (I'd been sniveling about that too for the past three weeks). And the Modern Love essay about the downsides -- BIG downsides -- of looking someone up on the Internet before the first date (been there...MAJOR mistake). And let me forget the piece about tattooed wedding rings.

(As an addendum: The articles mentioned above also proved another point that Soraya had made -- that Times clearly has its finger on the pulse of culture -- "It leads the conversation on these things," she said -- and that that's some stuff to aspire to.)

So, with my boss' encouragement in my pocket, Soraya's pep talk fresh in my ear, and examples to follow everywhere I look, I've printed out a little helpful phrase and taped it above the keyboard on my laptop:

"You can write about ANYTHING."

Copy edit much?

2008-09-14T17:46:00.001-04:00

(Sighs.)

Readers catch everything. But unfortunately the on-duty editor, the copy editor(s?) and I didn't catch anything.

I wrote my first obit yesterday...

Yes, I know. Something as simple as an obit should be a piece of cake, right? And it was, sorta. Last night I worked the cops desk alone. During the last third of my shift, the editor told me I had less than an hour to research, report and write an obit about a local politician/activist that I barely knew anything about.

I did a public records search. Miraculously, I found the deceased activist's phone number in Sacramento and spoke with his daughter, wife and brother. I spoke with one of the activist's colleagues and attained an emailed statement from a more notable colleague.

By the time I had gathered all the information, I had twenty minutes max to write the story. Surprisingly, I came pretty close to deadline, crafting the best obit I could in just under 30 minutes.

I filed. The copy editor/pagination guy asked me a couple of questions and the story was put to bed. But what had I missed? Well, two or three things, according to a reader who so kindly emailed me to let me know:

Thought you may want to be informed of these probable typos in your article about Peter Camejo in the Contra Costa Times: Here, the word "man" is likely missing from the quote: "He was a person who fought constantly for justice. He was an activist, an entrepreneur and he was a dedicated family," Danny Camejo said.

And in the title of the article, you may want to use the word "rights"
instead of "right" in "Civil right activist..." The rest looks very good and
thank you for your article.

Great. Just great. My first obit and I can't use it as a clip. And who can I place the blame on? I just as soon place it on myself, except I swear two other sets of eyes read this story before it made it to the web and to the page.

Anyone else care to regale us with your copy editing nightmares?

2008-09-14T15:20:00.004-04:00

Maybe I'm weird.

I like being edited.

I mean, it's always a good feeling when someone hands you back copy and says, "This is great! No changes." It strokes your ego... but if you're me, the strokes are short. I start to wonder, "No changes? Are you sure? You positive I didn't miss anything? Are you SURE?!"

Chalk it up to my personal need for perfection, or the closest I can get to it. You can't get there if you're not challenged. Because if you're not challenged, you get stuck in your own little bubble thinking you can write rainbows and unicorns -- until finally, someone points out the muddy puddles and walruses on your page.

And then your feelings are hurt.

So yes, edit me, please. Especially if you're older, wiser, more seasoned and experienced. Anyone who knows me knows I have something of a reverence for the veterans at work. The hosts, reporters, editors -- all kind enough to chop up a young producer's copy.

Okay, yes, there are times when the revisions can annoy me (like choosing "gargantuan" instead of good ol' "huge"... inflated copy, anyone?), but most times, I just like sitting next to people I respect and learning from them. Three years out of school, I still consider myself a student. I figure, in order to be my best, I have to learn the best.

And, baby, I'ma be the best.

It took a lot not to cry today

2008-09-12T15:23:00.000-04:00

It was as quiet as one can expect any newsroom to be.

Phones went unanswered and for about an hour today, all of our attention was focused.

Today, we said good luck to some of our colleagues who took the buyout my paper offered last month. As editors read the departing reporters bios and shared anecdotes of their time here, I realized most of them had been here longer than I'd been alive.

There was cake. There were speeches. There were lots and lots of jokes and funny stories. And there were tears. And lots and lots of hugs.

Everyone seemed happy to go. They'll spend their time writing books. Or at Red Sox games. Or just living their lives greatly. They said so. But for us who will show up to work on Monday without them, there's a void.

I went downstairs earlier to say goodbye to a few of my favorite reporters who are taking the buyout. Someone asked what the mood was in the bureaus. My paper announced buyouts in August, and come October, we will have layoffs. No one knows how many, nor the method that will be used to make the cuts. I told them that right now, we weren't uneasy just because there were too many variables to worry about. We'll be concerned when we have more information.

But when I went upstairs, I couldn't help looking at the classified ads that show up on the various listserves I belong to. I wanted to at least know what was out there. Because if I go, it won't be by choice, like these guys.

Election Reporters share tips, opinions

2008-09-06T23:29:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned, I'm blogging live from the conference here.

Here's a post I wrote earlier about a panel on election coverage. I thought the Q&A part would be helpful for our readers.

Election Roundtable: Q&A
A few questions and answers from the session....

Is who makes the most money really the best way to choose how you'll spread coverage around?
Sweet: Obama is a hometown guy; some candidates got more coverage than they deserved because they were interesting, etc.

There's not enough decoding of what is actually meant (should be done by reporters). There are not enough voices of color giving analysis or commenting (to give context like this).
The majority of top reporters covering politics at news outlets are white men over 50, says Jodi.

What do you read, watch, listen to, or not?
Felice: Loves Maureen Dowd, the Politico
Lynn: Mike Allen's Playbook at Politico, The Page (an aggregated site that looks at what moves the day), CBS/ABC aggregates, NYT, Wash Post, Chicago Sun-Times, and the links on her blog. She doesn't pay attention to one on one interviews. She needs places giving lots of information synthesized.
Beth: Mike Allen's Playbook, CNN, NYT for general coverage and Slate's XX Factor
Ann: Michele Cotta from the Republic, Rebecca Traister at Salon

Can the Obama campaign sustain the interest and energy?
Yes, they can sustain the energy, but will the young people who have mobilized for him really vote?? That's the question, said Beth.
Lynn Sweet: Term Obama uses is "intensity gap" -- they say they're ahead of McCain. Palin revs up Repubs the way Obama has done for the Dems.

Places like the Politico don't have the same resource base as the old media institutions -- are there going to be journos covering political campaigns in a new media world? What's our strategy to keep the journalism in the campaign?
Beth said they're doing partnerships with papers like St. Paul Pioneer Press and Denver Post. Also launching Politico network -- content and ad revenue sharing program that will launch on Tuesday. It all has to do with marketing and advertising. Can't see advertising is our enemy.

Multimedia Mini sessions

2008-09-06T15:20:00.001-04:00

On camera tips

sit up straight
breathe -- think of calming things
consider a Flip video-- $150 for an hour of video
Use your nervousness and allow it to keep you excited
Don't "uptalk" (allowing your voice to trail up), keep your voice steady and speak with authority. Don't question what you say. Believe it.
Think about three points you want to make -- not about stats. Think soundbites -- those are the things that draw emotion out.
Make eye contact -- try not to use your notes
Shut up and listen. Let the silence work for you.
Have fun!
Check out NYTimes reporter David Pogue, a technology writer, and his Web casts. Engaging!
Think about what you're wearing: no sleeveless, no low cut necklines, simple, clean jewelry, DON'T wear black or white, or small intricate patterns.

SOCIAL NETWORKS

It's the Social Mullet: Business in the Front, party in the back
Business: LinkedIn -- get recommendations, put resume up and make contacts
Party: Facebook -- put up those pictures of you at your college kegger, but just be sure to set your settings to 'private' so employers won't see your misdeeds (or your midsection)
Twitter is like microblogging.
When blogging, be tasteful and be cautious
Google yourself! Keep in mind what shows up on your search page
Always, always, ALWAYS set your privacy settings. Always.

BEHIND THE CAMERA TIPS

Always white balance -- zoom in on something pure white to correct the color in your videos
Use manual focus
Audio check the person and adjust the volume so that you don't get spikes in the volume level when someone speaks
when doing a 'man on the street,' make sure the mic isn't visible in the shot. Also remember that everything in the screen is a part of the story.
Gain -- it adjusts light sensitivity on a camera. Can be used to brighten a scene if there is very little light. But be careful, it makes quality grainy (think adjusting the brightness of a photo too much)
Establishing shots help provide context. If it's an interview, show both people sitting first, then feel free to zoom in on one person or the other.
Adjust the camera so it moves smoothly and as you pan, zoom in so that it is all in one smooth motion.
LISTEN -- use your journalistic discretion about when to pan and when to focus. Only zoom or move the camera with a purpose.
Use a tripod if you can; if you can't, hold your breath while you're taking the shot or use a chair or something to steady your arms on the camera -- or if you have a large camera, sandwich the camera between your shoulders and head (a la broadcast) to help steady it.
Action -- Never leave the scene without "B-roll" --- those supplemental shots of the subject working or (gasp!) shots of whatever you're talking about actually taking place.
Get as much video as possible, but have a script of what you want. Do your research and know what the subject will be speaking about. If you can, WRITE DOWN THE TIME CODE when something interesting happens. It'll make it easier to find later as you edit.

WEB SITES TO VISIT:

Journalism 2.0
Poynter E-Media tidbits
IWMF.com
BNHphotovideo.com (to buy multimedia equipment

There was also a session on Flash, but it's just so complicated, I'm thinking it wouldn't do you any good to get a step by step on how to make a mini slideshow. But, do check out online tutorials at a bunch of places to get a handle on this very important program for multimedia.

Connie Schultz, luncheon keynote speaker

2008-09-06T14:28:00.001-04:00

I'm sure you've heard of this woman.

Read stories most likely about her, but unless you're from Ohio, probably not by her.

I just heard her speak at the luncheon at the JAWS camp. A few things that stuck out:

Why she didn't change her name: After telling a story about how her parents thought they were two nobodys who would raise four somebodies, she said she was "proud to have her name." Later, she told us about responding to people who suggest she should change her name and said she tells them that being married does not suck the opinion out of her. "I'd been boring myself because I stoped giving my opinion and instead, was giving his opinion." Her marriage didn't change her opinions, or mean that she couldn't be her own person
"Speak your mind even if your voice shakes" -- Maggie Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers
"We're in this business because we care," Schultz said. "We got in it not to make money; we wanted to change the world and I'm tired of apologizing for it.
Race is the issue of this election (Schultz told us a story about how her dad was racist); it is more about having the hard vconversations with people we love and why we don't talk about it. The whole undercurrent is fear.

2008-09-06T09:19:00.000-04:00

Hey folks,

I'm here at the first panel for the morning, an International panel featuring a bunch of what looks to be amazing photographers from around the country -- and even Iran.

For the organization, I'm also blogging live from this session, so I may not be able to do the same for both blogs. So, if you want my play by play on international coverage, check out www.jaws07.blogspot.com.

A little bit of plagirizing from the post I just did there:

The session, an international panel, will discuss how "international issues are being covered at home, how hard it is to pitch international stories related to women, women reporting overseas and how to find -- and best tell -- the untold stories of women overseas."

The panelists are:Peg Simpson, freelance writer from D.C.
Paola Gianturco, documentary photographer, author
Lois Raimondo, staff photographer The Washington Post
Sahar Sarshar, videographer for voice of America, and video/radio for the Iran chanel.

We're having a little trouble getting all of the technology in the conference room set up, but things should begin shortly

JAWS in the mountains

2008-09-05T18:18:00.001-04:00

I'm here.

Are you jealous?

So, this weekend, I'll be blogging live (semi-live) from the Attitash Resort in New Hampshire where I am attending the Journalism and Women's Symposium annual camp.

The whole purpose of the camp -- and it seems the organization -- is to empower women and give us a safe and secure place to learn about our industry and, of course, vent our frustrations.

I found out about this organization from Veronica, who attended the 2006 camp as a scholarship winner. And just for fun, I figured I'd post a pic from her Facebook album about the camp, in case you can't click on the link above. So, the camp is a weekend long and you go to sessions and hang out and just bond. At Veronica's camp, they rode horses.

I just thought this picture was cool.

Anyway.

Some of the sessions we'll be talking about this weekend include international stories, a multimedia training session (I'm so amped about that one), reinventing yourself, elections, science/environment/technology, and the disconnect between the middle class and Congress.

Did I mention there are cocktails every night AND there's a talent show tomorrow????? And yoga in the morning.

*Swoon*

I may just have to stay forever.

Well, maybe not.

Dinner is in 20 minutes.

Note to Self:

2008-09-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

If you have to work on a holiday, always bring snacks.

I've been at work for exactly 54 minutes and I am starving for some reason. I've eaten the two grapefruit cups I brought to work and I"m working on an Arizona tea as well. But I didn't bring a lunch because I figured I could run home and get something when I got hungry.

But, when you're working holidays or weekends, you're usually the only person assigned int he newsroom. Which means that if anything happens anywhere in the state, it's your job to cover it.

I've already dodged a bullet with a structure fire that got knocked down quickly. But I'm still under the gun for a story for my section tomorrow.

And my tummy is rumbling.

Man, I shoulda brought some more snacks.

Los Angeles Or Bust?

2008-08-29T15:53:00.000-04:00

I'm homesick.

Yeah, I said it.

I left Los Angeles in May 2005 with $44 in my name and my fingers crossed that my 1988 Honda Civic could make it through the Rocky Mountains.

After spending the summer interning in Denver, I settled in my home away from home, New York City.

But with my college degree in the mail and my professional career established, it's time to head back West.

Home of the palm trees and the chicken and waffles.

(And really, there is no comparison to women in Los Angeles. Woof, woof, New York.)

There is just one problem.

Employment.

I'm at a company now that has an office out in Los Angeles but my team is located mostly in Washington, D.C.

I'm faced with the challenge of making a compelling case as to why it would make sense for me to relocate.

And then there is the situation as to what happens if they say no to my relocation request?

Do I stay in a city that I'm growing to hate on a daily basis or do I pack my things and hope to find a new gig in LaLa land?

Don't worry Darren, I'm not leaving you just yet.

Oh, the signs are everywhere

2008-08-28T10:49:00.000-04:00

So, I should have said something.

It's election time and everything is coming up screwy in the town I cover. A few weeks ago, one candidate had some signs stolen. Another supporter got his car egged and some signs stolen -- then called the police.

I wrote the initial story saying the signs had been stolen. The supporter told me a tip -- the car likely belonged to the former police chief and it was his daughters and another candidate's son who were in the car.

Okay. Here's where I messed up.

I took the tip and that's pretty much it. I didn't want to write about the signs and dragging these kids through the mud didn't seem like my idea of fun. So I didn't tell my boss.

*Gasp* *Shock* *Horror*

I know. Not the best move.

Fast forward a week.

Said supporter calls the main newsroom and gets the ear of another reporter. Said reporter tells his boss, who tells his boss, who calls my boss asking why we didn't know about this.

Well, we did. I just didn't say anything.

My boss agreed that the story didn't need to be reported, but today, said that regardless, I've got to be more transparent with information I have.

Yeah. I guess she's right.

Oh, and said reporter wrote the story. It ran in today's paper.

No one is pressing charges, it seems.

What's your screen name mean?

2008-08-28T02:28:00.000-04:00

Dear readers, I need to prove a point to myself.

Background: When doing profiles of folks, I tend to ask random questions.

"What's your dog's name?"

"What time do you wake up in the morning?"

"Where did you get that shirt from?"

I ask lots and lots of often meaningless questions. The first reply I get is usually some variation of, "Why do you want to know that?"

There's a story behind most things, right? My fellow reporters know this to be true. Answers to some questions just have that funny way of giving us insight about an individual that we wouldn't otherwise have access too. To prove my point, O reader, I want you to post a comment telling us how you created your screen name.

Everyone, except Talia. And if you have her screen name you know why.

I'll start.

My best friend in high school was the first to start calling me D-Sands. It stuck. Then one week, the Celtics drafted Paul Pierce, whose number was 34. Dsands34. The other part of 34, of course, was that I am a huge Dave Matthews Band fan, and they had this cult classic called #34. Look it up.

So you know that I like DMB, am a basketball fan, and that my friends give me nicknames that have staying power.

What's your's all about?

Playa Hater strikes again

2008-08-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

I can't believe the Playa Hater hated on Brett.

What ever happened to uniformity?

You all read how much I wanted Brett to come to New York. And how it really happened.

But in a post about the news that Michael Strahan staying retired, Marcus suggests, on his blog, that Brett Favre should have stayed retired, too.

This hurts.

My guess is that Strahan is staying retired just to spite all those, like Tom Rock, who thought that he might return because of a pending ruling in a divorce settlement that could still give his ex-wife several millions of dollars.

Talk about getting the last laugh.

In Brooklyn, No Sign of the Times

2008-08-25T06:12:00.003-04:00

Your first steps out of church on a Sunday morning in Brooklyn offer a cozy narrative collage: mothers and their children dressed in their Sunday best; elderly men in fedoras with canes between their legs hastily eating salt fish and bake; a black boy trying basketball moves on the sidewalk, crossovers and spins and head fakes not yet ready for the unforgiving quickness of the court.

You'll have no problem, once you stroll down Flatbush Avenue, noticing the many corner grocery stores, often known to New Yorkers as bodegas. They're a one-stop shop for just about anything one could crave on a Sunday morning. An egg sandwich? Sure, coming right up. Hot coffee? How do you take it? The No. 3 scratch ticket? Here you go, good luck.

So when I strolled out of church and onto Flatbush, I thought I'd have no problem finding the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

I might as well had been looking for the Times Mirror of London.

Three stores in a three block radius did not carry the Times, just a few tattered copies of the Daily News. Newspapers were largely out of sight amid the muted bustle of this particular Sunday in Brooklyn; the manager at the ubiquitous drug store, Duane Reade, said they had stopped selling newspapers long ago. As a journalist, I felt as if my calling had no currency.

I should note, that it was the complete opposite to the feeling I had on of a recent visit to a quaint Northern Virginia neighborhood where it seemed that everyone was reading the Post's Style, Business or Sports Section over some sort of omelet, their dogs obediently chained to a fence. This, I thought, was pretty cool. Every bit the status symbol, I never thought I'd see the day where the newspaper was so sexy.

So relevant.

..

It was Jemele Hill who asked, "If you put a newspaper down in a barbershop, do you have any idea how many people will read it?"

The answer is a lot. Amazing how enthralling a free newspaper is, versus one that costs you 50 cents. If for nothing else, I bought the paper to make a statement: Newspapers aren't dead. Not there. Not in front of the No. 2 train on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.

Anyway, your probably wondering where I found the paper. Not at the bodega or Dunkin Donuts or Duane Reade.

There's a newsstand on the corner.

Take Control

2008-08-23T12:20:00.003-04:00

"You've gotta take control. You gotta be confident and be the boss."

Said the senior editor to the 20-something producer.

It's my age. That's the one thing that makes me apprehensive in the production studio, sitting between the editor, the host, the correspondent on the phone and the engineer running the sound board. All these people in the room (some who've been in the game longer than I've been alive), and who's supposed to be in charge?

Me.

The funny thing is, it seems like I'm the only one so keenly aware of it. I'm the only one that feels awkward. Maybe it was growing up with the whole "respect your elders" thing. That, and the fact that I was in awe of some of these people when I was a mere sapling in college. Somewhere in me, there's a fear that a colleague who I highly respect and admire will look at me and sneer, "Who does this girl think she is?"... all because I tell them they have to do something over again because it sound quite as good as it could have.

But, as my editor's words showed me this morning (and at the start of the summer... and about a month ago... this has been a running theme, same advice, different sources), it's probably all in my head. This isn't the family dinner table, it's the newsroom. And when it comes to putting something on the air, worrying about stepping on someones toes just because they were born a few years before me should probably be the furthest thing from my mind.

I've gotta do my job.

And my job is to be confident. To be the boss.

Say that, say that! Part Duex

2008-08-21T15:02:00.001-04:00

(*queues the church organist)

Somebody find the person who wrote this comment, get them together with a venture capitalist -- and fast!

(*does a "Halleluah" stomp)

GO!

Aaron's Tech Corner: Microphones

2008-08-21T13:37:00.003-04:00

While at UNITY 2008 in Chicago, Veronica and Talia were panelists on an internship forum. I captured most of it on film, and was excited to post Ten95's first video...with us in it. Alas, the sound captured with my trusty Aiptek HD-DV camcorder was terrible. (That camera, by the way, is awesome! Just not for capturing the panel.)

Why?

Well, mostly because the sound system in the convention center meeting room wasn't loud enough, and I had no way of "mic-ing up" the panelists or the moderator. Soooooo...when life presents you with lemons, you make another installment of Tech Corner. (Then you drink some lemonade.)

Click on image to view.

It's always darkest before dawn

2008-08-21T11:18:00.005-04:00

For some reason, I thought I was safe.

My paper had gone through buyouts in the years before I came to call it home. Our staff was already so thin, I knew that really, there was no fat to trim.

At Unity, as I went booth to booth hearing tales of recruiters who wanted to hire, but couldn't, I had a little bit of satisfaction in the fact that I had a job and for the moment, my newsroom was remaining in tact.

Not so much anymore.

Midnight was the deadline for employees willing to take the buyout that the company offered days after I left UNITY. I got the call that we'd be trimming some lean while I was at a court reporting conference in Reno.

I stepped out of the session to have my boss read me details on my buyout offer. I don't remember the details, but I think it was something like $4,000 and maybe another $4,000 in medical coverage.

Peanuts, even by industry standards.

So I chalked it up and readied myself for whatever would come. I had good clips and contacts, so I'd milk them dry if I got laid off. Until then, I was going to go back to my job and work like nothing had changed.

But things are changing.

Come Sept. 12 or so, the 22 people who took the buyout across the company (here, Dallas and Riverside, Calif.) will be gone. Among them will be my friends, Scotty and Mark. And I almost think I'm more sad about seeing them go than anything. I would barely make it past the cubicle pod they shared when I went down to visit the newsroom because I'd be wrapped up in conversations with them, laughing and joking and somehow learning at the same time. I'm going to miss that.

The 22 people who took the buyout may not be enough, as the company hoped for 10 more to take the offer. We'll find out in the coming days if we'll resort to layoffs. If so, part-timers will go first, and then jobs will be taken by seniority.

Mark spoke with The Providence Phoenix and offered these thoughts on the buyout. Says The Phoenix: He described how a previous buyout opened fresh paths for him, including the chance to cover the State House, and in terms of younger staffers, he says, "Now it's going to be their opportunity."

My God, I hope he's right.

Why Responding To Work E-Mails at Midnight Is Bad

2008-08-21T00:05:00.002-04:00

Ugh.

Just ugh.

I'll explain later.

Getting it First, but getting it wrong

2008-08-20T15:22:00.005-04:00

This is where news goes wrong.

A number of media outlets are reporting that Ohio Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African American woman to represent Ohio in Congress died today.

And these aren't podunk papers or TV stations who may not know better.

I'm talking CNN. Bloomberg. Shoot, I heard it on NPR.

Here's what Associated Content said: The Associated Press reported that she was discovered slumped over the wheel of her car, apparently after having suffered an aneurysm. As late as 12:30 PM ET, Market Watch quotes her office as reporting that Ms. Tubbs Jones was stable and receiving the best of care. Yet it was The Hill that speculated Stephanie Tubbs Jones would be taken off life support this afternoon. At 2:07 PM ET Politico reported that Tubbs Jones was indeed taken off life support and deceased. Nevertheless, MSNBC now suggest that the news is a bit ahead of life, and Stephanie Tubbs Jones is still very much among the living as of 2:41 PM ET.

In our effort to get it first, we're getting to wrong.

I heard the news in my car (said NPR news update I mentioned earlier) and when I got back to my desk, saw a flurry of e-mails from other journalists looking to confirm the news. So I did what any person of my generation would do -- I googled Tubbs Jones.

My first indication reports of her death had been exaggerated: Wikipedia. I didn't click on the link, but I could clearly see that there was not a date of death in the entry. Hmmm. I searched further.

Google News.

I found maybe 3 stories that said she'd died, right next to stories that (rightly) said she had an aneurysm and was in critical condition with limited brain function. To their credit, I did another search and found that many of the news outlets had taken down the report of Tubbs Jones' death in the scant 15 minutes I spent searching. I did still find one article from CBS News that confirmed her death.

So in my final act to confirm, I went to the only source I know I can trust: the local paper. I figured if anybody got it right, or would be willing to correct the error, it would be the paper that Tubbs Jones reads every day herself.

From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first African-American woman to represent Ohio in Congress, is in critical condition after suffering a burst aneurysm last night, officials said this afternoon.

Officials updated her condition this afternoon after conflicting reports that the congresswoman was dead. Numerous media outlets - including The Plain Dealer on its Web site cleveland.com, CNN and the Associated Press - reported that Tubbs Jones had died.

But that was as of 3:30 p.m.

Send up a few prayers for Tubbs Jones. And let's pray we get the story right next time.

We have a winner

2008-08-19T17:02:00.003-04:00

Well T-Dot chose not to judge the the headline competition on her own story, despite several pleas. So I judged it. And the winner of the headline competition for T-Dot's collection plate thief story is actually a friend of mine from church, Keri Smith, a proud Jamaican, though, I suspect Usain Bolt has something to do with that.

I would now like to take a brief intermission.

Why is this cat winning races that he does not finish?

Now back to the post.

Keri's headline, "Man barters soul for $500" was great. It was innaccurate, because our friend Evan took a lot more than that, but she's not a journalist and so she's excused.

Nice job Keri. I know you'll enjoy this picture a lot more than we all think you will.

Posers

2008-08-18T13:21:00.003-04:00

I hear from time to time that I have a mean, unapproachable face. I'm starting to think its true. Because no one like this has ever asked me if I was reporter while I was on the train.

A good friend of mine in New York City rides the A train from his apartment in Bed Stuy in Brooklyn to his internship this summer and, later this fall, to his law school Lower Manhattan.

For some reason this one day last week, he was writing in a reporter-style notebook. I presume he was writing himself thoughts or reminders, a grocery list or maybe even a recipe for egg foo yong. The point is I don't know.

As fate would have it, they had a long conversation about her art, about his law school training. In fact, I think they planned to meet up for lunch at some point.

What I do know is that personally, I write in my notebook all the time. I ride the subway everyday; on my way to games or other assignments, I jot down notes to myself if only to remember that I wrote it down sometime, somewhere. Either way, no one -- like this -- has ever came up to me and asked me about who I was.

You know my friend couldn't wait to tell me.

Hmph.

I just hope they talk about this. And where it's going to go in the Sanderberg living room or my bedroom. Marcus, what you think?

Will a man rob God?

2008-08-15T02:45:00.003-04:00

T-Dot knows.

Yes he will.

T-Dot, our caped crusader, voted most likely to be the first to take down a politician, nabbed this gem about a church employee who lifted one hand up to God and had the other in collection plate. The communion creep had $2,500 stashed in the crib! She writes:

Evan Berger, 18, of 152 Newell St., a salaried parish sexton — whose duties include maintenance as well as helping to coordinate Sunday collections — was arrested Aug. 7 on a felony charge of larceny over $500, said Capt. Stephen Lynch. Berger is free on his own recognizance pending action by the attorney general’s office, according to Lynch, who said a felony screening is scheduled for Aug. 28.

But the headline is pretty vanilla. "West Warwick church worker accused of stealing from collection plate."

Wack.

Surely, our readers can do better than that. Have at it.

Go!

Photo schmoto

2008-08-13T21:29:00.002-04:00

In working on a cover story for our feature section about local tribute bands, all I have come up with in terms of photo assignment are to shoot a few bands at, you guessed it: a concert.

How boring is that?

Pretty damn boring.

What's a reporter to do? I admit. I'm not the best visual thinker. I can't use illustration to tell the story. The pictures in the newspaper are usually interesting to me. But that interest doesn't help when I've got a long form feature to bang out, and about six or seven pictures that have to go along with it. I just don't want six pictures of some band at some club on some random day in August. How do I help photo help tell my story?

Do I have a panel at NABJ next year on my hands?

Film session

2008-08-11T17:52:00.003-04:00

I knew it right after I watched Shattered Glass, the film based on the real-life events of disgraced journalist Stephen Glass and his plagiarist exploits at the New Republic .

I love movies about journalism.

I love to see how other reporters go about their jobs. When I got into the game, I was pretty much going for what I knew. I was the lone ranger, a maverick cubby navigating an endless stream of people, places, games, events and editors whom I wanted to please. For the most part I just wanted to get it right.

In some ways that hasn't changed. I still feel like I am in this alone, but films about journalism provide an accurate picture of that loneliness. That's me on screen, if only for 120 minutes. Quite often, that's more than enough. But sometimes I just want to talk to real reporters and ask, "How did you get this story?"

Or I could just pop in Absence of Malice.

So yo, what's your favorite journalism movie?

More Favre

2008-08-11T17:46:00.002-04:00

One of my local high school sports colleagues turned this story on Brett Favre. I thought it was pretty good.

Maybe there's some hope for me after all.

So Ten95 readers. We wanna know:

Have you ever gotten in on a big story that wasn't on your beat and shined? How did you handle it? What was your editors reaction? Tell us all about it.

As Favre as he'll take me II

2008-08-09T16:43:00.004-04:00

Brett Favre has been reading Ten95.

No. 4 FAVRE Jets jerseys are flying off the shelves.

I was on a train heading into the airport and a TV reporter asked me if I was a Jets fan. Yes, I was on TV. She must not have cared much about her story, though.

"So what do you think about Brett Favre being traded to the Jets?"

*looks off mindlessly in the dark of the early morning*

"Good for New York?"

*looks off mindlessly again, shoving the mic in front of me again*

Shrugs. I answered the best I could.

I just want to write about Brett. So I can tell my grandchildren and stuff. No, seriously.

Paging Garry Howard.

To be continued...

Summer Survivial

2008-08-07T11:08:00.010-04:00

One-third of the Ten95 crew participated in a panel during Unity called "Paying it Forward: How to Maximize Your Internship," as a part of the all-star crew that included recruiting phenom Joe Grimm, radio guru Doug Mitchell and reporting superstars Chloe Hilliard and Marlon Walker. Veronica moderated and I was a panelist.

The room was packed. The kids were eager. The advice was super sound. Below are a few pics from event and our Top 20 lists of things to do -- and not to do -- while on a summer internship. The tips were written from a print perspective, but are applicable across mediums.

DO learn who is who on the staff.

DO understand that each staff is a living organism that you should easy your way into SLOWLY. Assertiveness is great but sometimes misplaced enthusiasm can rub some the wrong way.

DON'T blog (Facebook or MySpace) about your internship. Your employer is watching and reading.

DON'T feel a sense of entitlement while you're in a newsroom. Just because there are front page stories (or great packages) without writers, don't think that one is going to be yours.

DO watch your editor to determine his or her work pattern and the best time of day (or week) to seek guidance and feedback.

DO arrive 30 minutes early every day to get the best assignments. The early bird gets the worm. There are stories that your editor is probably waiting to assign as people come in for the day so make sure you're in the mix!

DO cultivate a few relationships with people who understand your thought process well enough to be excellent references in the future and collect their business cards.

DO offer to help out in any little way with a big story.

DON'T jeopardize your credibility by having a romantic relationship during your internship --- especially not one with a permanent staffer.

DON'T ever be hard to reach. Questions and opportunites can arise at any time.

DON'T take criticism of your work personally. Work with your supervisors to make it better.

DON'T say "I don't want to," and don't hesitate to say, "I'm not sure how, but I want to learn."

DO make sure that you understand your assignment and ask detailed questions before you head out to report. You can write the best story in the world, but if its not what your editor requested, it won't earn you any points.

DO make or beat your deadline.

DO chat up other reporters. If you see a story someone did and you liked it or are interested in the process, ask them out for coffee or stop by their desk.

DON'T forget to check every name, age, address and fact in your story, in addition to running spell check. No one likes messy copy.

DON'T turn your nose up at any assignment. Small stories lead to bigger opportunities.

DO ask for feedback. Midway through your internship, schedule a sit down with your editor/supervisor to discuss your performance to-date. What areas need work? In what areas are you excelling? What does your editor want to see going forward? Take the feedback to heart and work on the areas that need improvement.

DO set tangible goals. Make a list that will serve as the roadmap to your internship. What skills do you want to learn? What particular stories or topics would you like to cover?

DO come up with your own story ideas and pitch them to your editor.

(Photo captions from top to bottom: Talia answering a question on the panel; Chloe and Marlon dropping knowledge on the interns; Veronica keeping us all in line.)

As Favre as he'll take me

2008-08-06T19:49:00.002-04:00

Don't think for a second I haven't been thinking about the idea of Brett Favre coming to play with the New York Jets. The New York media is abuzz with rumors and reports that the Green Bay Packers are in communications on a trade that would bring the 38-year-old quarterback to the Jets.

My plea? Can I get a little of that action?

It would be the biggest story of the NFL season. And who wouldn't want to be in on that? No, it's not my beat. But if I didn't want to get my hands a little dirty, I wouldn't be a reporter would I?

Come on, Brett. Come to New York.

You'll never work a day in your life

2008-08-05T11:40:00.007-04:00

Now. This is hot.

I'd probably do this for free:

Blog about beer? They say you should do what you love, but dang. It's great to see newspapers allowing their writers to blog about their passions. From one beer aficionado to another, Rob Kasper, of the Baltimore Sun, cheers. Now, this is random. But he writes:

But a beer with soft crab sandwich, topped with a slice of Maryland tomato -- that is a great marriage. I prefer a Pils, either Victory's Prima Pils or Clipper City's Uber Pils, with those dangling crab legs.

Dude, you are talking my language. Who wants to hop the train down to Baltimore, catch an Orioles day game and get some crab? Like, enough to bring back to New York.

A Song for the Journalism Industry

2008-08-04T19:40:00.002-04:00

Sorry, I had to do it. Sha-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!

It's time to change!

Online Journalism Awards announced

2008-08-04T15:16:00.002-04:00

Via Romenesko:

2008 Online Journalism Awards - Finalists

For all you multimedia producers out there, that's the list of who you should be sending your resume and online clips to.

...long shot? Maybe not.

Letting journalism "have it"

2008-08-04T13:14:00.007-04:00

...and the LA Times for that matter.

Romenesko posted the ramblings of a disgruntled former LA Times employee. Basically, the guy's talking major trash about the Times and about the industry. Some of it is funny. And some of it is just...well, I'll let you be the judge.

The Ex-LA T'er calls it a list of "42 Things [He] Know[s]".

My favorites:

#3 - ...the business model for newspapers is broken. (Agreed.)
#11 - Newspapers were unbelievably slow in embracing the Internet, even though younger reporters have been pleading with their bosses for years to embrace the Web. (I second that!)
#40 - I have no doubt my newsroom colleagues who I left behind can adapt to the challenges of the New Media environment.

On kicking journalism when its down:

If you leave the industry, because you say it's so broken, doesn't that mean you aren't around to revive or rebirth it?

I've never understood why veteran journalists -- even young ones -- critique the industry, just as they are leaving it. I don't get how that sort of criticism helps.

It's like being the head cook in a restaurant, quitting and then telling management to stop serving steroid-injected chickens because it isn't good for customers.

Leave Luke Russert Alone

2008-08-02T17:47:00.003-04:00

What's in a last name?

Well, if you're 22-year-old Luke Russert, your last name means everything.

The son of the late, great, Tim Russert, is in the news this week.

No, not because he was filling in for Stat Boy on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption." (By the way, cute dog, Luke.)

NBC announced this week that young Luke will serve as a correspondent for NBC News and cover youth issues at the upcoming Democratic and Republican national conventions.

Not a big deal, right?

Wrong.

Luke's temporary summer gig has sparked outrage within the NABJ community, especially from one member, who I won't identify by name, but let's just say if they made a "Boondocks" movie, he would make a great Uncle Ruckus.

Show me another recent college graduate who didn't have the last name of a prominent journalist who became a correspondent at-large for the #1 news network in the country based on an internship at ESPN and two years doing an XM Radio show? Was there any bright, talented and poised graduate at Unity provided a similar opportunity? Was there any Unity association member with two to three years of DAILY NEWS experience offered a similar gig? I'm just saying. We can come up with every kind of rationale possible, but we all know the real deal, so let's stop pretending.

Nobody is hiding the real deal.

He got the gig because of his father's death.

Luke would be the first one to tell you that.

I understand the journalism industry is going through some tough times and a lot of qualified journalists are being laid off right and left.

But taking that frustration out on a kid who would much rather have his dad back than any NBC gig is not the answer.

Re: Touch me, tease me

2008-08-01T16:58:00.002-04:00

(*sigh) Sands, my man...I've already blogged about it, dude. Over a year ago. I'd never hold out on you, buddy!

Touch me, tease me

2008-08-01T14:54:00.002-04:00

Aaron: Why have you been holding back on me?

I'm in love with this thing. And I don't even have one.

Do you know how easy it is to learn how to edit video with this little piece of machinery? Retails at $179.99...

Thank you, Ann Scales

2008-07-30T01:45:00.004-04:00

Ann Scales looked at me like I had two heads.

And I've never been the same since.

She was at the Boston Globe, manning a table for her employer at UNITY in 2004. I was a sad-looking college student with no clips, no internships and no prospects. I did work at the school paper and all Ann was trying to figure out was how I expected to get an internship with no clips. That was around the time she tilted her head to the side. She opened her mouth, her dark lipstick parting ways in utter disbelief, and looked at my heads. Both of them.

I took a trip to the printer.

As it was, my clips revealed that I was not ready for the Globe. She didn't need to be Joe Sullivan (the Globe's sports editor) to figure that out. She knew that I needed to know a few people. That I should keep in touch with someone named Paula. And that I should keep writing. And reading.

How things have changed in four years. I've got a job and some experience. Ann, as far as I could tell, was not there, certainly not representing the Globe, having recently taken a buyout there. I've since published several dozen stories in the Boston Globe, my hometown paper. I'm proud of many of them.

My awakening happened last week in Chicago. One recruiter at UNITY stood up, greeted me by name, shook my hand and asked if I brought my stuff for them to update their files. Of course I did.

Then it dawned on me.

I never once thanked Ann.

Until now.

Beyond Unity

2008-07-27T17:30:00.005-04:00

*sigh*

Unity is over. Usually I'd be in denial after such a fun and eye-opening week of journalizing, but it's kinda hard to ignore the fact that I'm sitting in my DC apartment -- looking at the pile of clothes that, five days ago, were rejected from my suitcase.

I guess I know what I'm wearing to work tomorrow.

Lukewarm denial (and wardrobe considerations) aside, I can say, in three years of attending journalism conferences, this week has been the best for me yet. I returned home re-energized and ready to take on the journalism world -- something that, yes, is par for the course, but my rejuvenation is more amplified this time around.

Probably because it's a more targeted rejuvenation. Usually folks have a broad goal (become the best darn journalist/producer/whatever ever!), but little direction as to how to get there. Which is problematic, because excellence and success comes in steps. So it's key to figure out what path you want to take to your goal.

I used to have a hard time figuring out that path, but after this week, I've come up with my first step: I want to build a reputation on my broadcast writing. I found myself in workshops this week dealing with putting words together for news, including one with Dr. Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute. And I realized -- I've gotten compliments and praise for my on-air writing before I even thought about the benefits of professional development. Imagine if I took more time to invest in that aspect of my craft. I could become a pretty bad mamma-jamma.

So that's my focus for now. Finding Veronica's Style of Broadcast Writing and getting it noticed. It'll take practice, training and seeking out advice and feedback -- all to enhance what (I'd like to think) is a natural ability.

But I know I'm not the only one rejuvenated after Unity. What steps are you taking so you can make your way to the top of the journalism world?

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

2008-07-24T13:32:00.000-04:00

By 7:45 a.m. today, I was up, dressed and having breakfast with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of The New York Times.

Yeah, I was doing it up. But not really.

See, the breakfast was sponsored by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. In honor of the milestone, they invited alumni of their programs to this breakfast and conversation about the future of the industry with Sulzberger.

I ain't an alumni. But my boss is.

When I told her I was going to UNITY, she mentioned that she'd been invited to this breakfast and wouldn't be able to go. It sounded interesting so I asked.

"Do you think you could see if I could go in your place," I asked her. "Since I'll be there. I don't like mornings, but at conventions, I try to go to as many sessions and events as possible to take advantage of my time there. Just let me know if it is a possibility."

It was.

And the sausage, blueberry pastry and pineapple were mm mmm good.

That's one of the cardinal rules of internships, jobs, shoot, just life. Ask and ye shall receive. If there is an opportunity for you to even play a small part on a large project, or you see a reporter grumbling about a story you'd love to have, ask to help out. The absolute worst thing that can happen if you ask is that a person says no. At best, you'll have a great byline, or tagline on an important story and you'll build relationships with coworkers and gain reporting/interviewing/writing techniques by osmosis. So identify what you want, who might be able to give it to you, and see if they're willing to do so. You might be surprised at their answer.

To be honest, I almost didn't make it there this morning. Last night, we were out singing karaoke at a local club in the Sheraton lobby. I didn't make it to bed until 2:30 in the morning. So when that clock went off at 6:20 a.m., I pressed snooze.

And again at 6:45. And 7:00. In my head, I said no one would care if I missed this breakfast. And I'd get to sleep. But I'd asked and I really did want to go to the event. Plus, I was hungry.

So I dragged myself out of bed, threw together an outfit and hoofed it to the Sheraton. I found the room and hopped into the buffet line, figuring that by the time I got through it, everyone would have sat down and I'd be able to find a seat. I ended up standing behind Wil LaVeist, a former columnist at the Daily Press (the local paper in my college town) and we chatted it up about Hampton, his move away and back to the tidewater area (he now works for the Virginian-Pilot) and how I'm finding Providence. There was a vacant seat at his table, so we continued the chat over eggs and OJ.

The conversation, led by founder Dorothy Butler Gilliam (formerly of the Washington Post), centered on the changing industry and what our product and the journalists of tomorrow should look like. Among the highlights:

In your newsroom, there should not be a newspaper division and a Web division, Sulzberger said. With the emphasis on the Internet as it is today, there should be one person coordinating the news and web postings for each section. Not one person coordinating the news and another posting it to the web. (Interesting because my paper is definitely set up with two distinct divisions)
People have been predicting the death of newspapers for the last 10 years. But at the Times, Sulzberger said, the circulation has nearly doubled in recent years. While print readers have remained stagnant, the number of online readers has increased steadily.
The average person spends 35 minutes a day with the paper; the average online reader spends 35 minutes a month on a newspaper Web site, he said. To survive, we have to find out how to make sites "stickier" so people will spend more time there.
As we learn more about shooting video, writing stories and collecting audio, always remember the product. The tools are nice, but just remember you are using them to create quality work -- they shouldn't take away from that main goal.
The Times is doing a great job with hiring minorities in its Web division, but those minorities are overwhelmingly Asian. They need a larger pool of qualified applicants from ALL backgrounds (hint: if you're trying to get in at the NYT, get your multimedia on).

I learned something else today, too. Sulzberger is pretty funny. He's a likeable guy -- at least from afar. Seems like it would be pretty cool to sit down to a cup of coffee with him.

Well, I at least got close to it today, just because I asked.

Live from Chicago, it's Ten95!

2008-07-23T10:49:00.003-04:00

It's time for Unity! I'm finally in the Windy City, chillaxin' with fellow Ten95er Aaron in the Hyatt Regency as we wait for the for the rest of the crew to arrive (or for Marcus to answer his phone).

It's not even noon yet, and already we're overwhelmed with what the week has in store for us. Receptions, parties, lunches, brunches and dinners... and that's just in the first two days!

But my primary focus right now is a Saturday afternoon workshop called Paying it Forward: How to Maximize Your Internship. No, I won't be among those in the audience taking notes. I'll be on the other side of the podium instead, running the show as moderator.

Yeah. Someone put me in charge.

There will be another member of the Ten95 Brat Pack right there with me too. Talia is one of our panelists, along with fellow young journos Marlon Walker and Chloe Hilliard, and veteran recruiters Joe Grimm and Doug Mitchell. (And you can probably count on seeing the rest of our cohorts causing trouble somewhere in the room.)

But there's a bit of a dilemma: We have six professionals with one very important subject to talk about. And we only 90 minutes in which to talk about it.

Clearly -- and regrettably -- we won't be able to cover everything we want in just one session.

Thank goodness for the blog. The Ten95 crew is jumping on the internship advice bandwagon and will be posting on the subject throughout the convention. (And maybe, if we're lucky, our esteemed recruiters will even guest blog. *wink wink, nudge nudge*) That way, we have a place to share all the wisdom that time won't allow on Saturday, as well as all the reeeeeally, reeeeeally important stuff that does make it into the discussion, and that's worth discussing again.

So while you take in the sights of the Chi, be sure to keep one eye glued to this space for internship advice and all kinds of other Ten95 coverage from Unity. Happy Convention!

Why I love editorial cartoons...

2008-07-16T17:59:00.004-04:00

And while we're at it...

And another good link, click here.

Now, where did I put my head?

2008-07-10T17:33:00.003-04:00

I'm lightweight amazed at this.

So, for the last few weeks, I've been bombarded with appointments, dinners, parties, etc. for the upcoming fete in Chicago.

I haven't retained half of it.

See, I'm a visual person with tactile tendencies. If I can't look at something and see it, it really doesn't exist. And if I didn't write it down, I won't remember to look for it. So I've been clamoring for someone to make an itinerary for me so I'll be able to keep my media receptions straight from my networking opportunities.

The good folks at UNITY answered my call.

They have this personal itinerary site where you can put in all the sessions you want to attend, request interview times with exhibitors and even put in other notes for outside functions or things to do.

Sweet.

Now I feel like my life is in order. Thank you, UNITY!