Monday, April 20, 2009
You got a Pull-It-Sir!
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
Labels: awards, Pulitzer, writing
continue...Thursday, December 04, 2008
Toot, toot. Yeah, beep, beep.
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.” continue...
Monday, October 20, 2008
Just for the record
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.
Labels: rebirth, reporting, writing
continue...Sunday, September 14, 2008
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.
Labels: advice, Job survival, lessons, writing
continue...Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Nuh uh, You can't tell me nothing
I'm going to take this time to apologize in advance, because I'm about to get ignorant.So, I walk into the office this afternoon to find out that apparently, I'm doing a good job. Two of my stories were selected as finalists for the Rhode Island Press Association Awards!
Big deal? To me it is.
I have yet to win any journalism awards since all the hoopla happened at Hampton a few years back. (Not hip to the situation? Google me.) So ever since I got to Providence in October 2005, my goal was to get an award, just so that I wouldn't feel like the highlight of my journalism career came while I was in college. Depressing thought to think it all goes downhill from there, right? Right.
I remember talking to my girl, Jessie, last year when she won some press awards in Florida. Awards aren't everything, she said. Yeah, I replied, but they're still nice.
Now I get some of my own. So I'm amped.
The thing is, I don't know if I actually won-won, or if I'm honorable mention. The way the Press Awards here works, they give you the names of the finalists and then they announce your ranking at the ceremony, which will be on May 2. Either way, I'm taking it as a win and hopefully, there will be plaques involved.
Please believe I'm going to update my resume on May 3.
Anyway, just in case you missed the stories (which oddly enough, I blogged about right here on Ten95) the two stories up for awards are:
InDepth Feature --- A Job With Heart and Sole, Feb. 2007 blog
and Spot News ---- Mother Guilty of Killing Child, Oct. 2007 blog
Alright. Got that out.
Guess it wasn't as ignorant as I thought it would be, huh?
Labels: awards, milestones, spotlight, writing
continue...Tuesday, February 26, 2008
So, funny story...
I forgot how much fun writing can be.I was writing a filler story yesterday about an ordinance on porn shops coming into the town I cover. It was passed at the last Town Council meeting. Nothing spectacular. I needed a story and this was it.
I sat down, did my interviews and started writing. As a habit, I tend to write things pretty straight. News-y. Dry.
But the story was inherently funny. See, the ordinance allowed porn shops, but didn't allow them within like, 5 football fields of any church, school, playground or anywhere children congregate and a host of other places. My town ain't but so big. Probably is barely 5 football fields wide in some areas. So the Town Council, in passing this ordinance, had essentially created a red light district without creating a red light district while at the same time, discouraging porn shops from locating to the town.
Funny. To me at least.
I was telling the story to a friend of mine and he laughed. So when I started writing, I took a stab at my lede:
"The town council has passed an ordinance governing the creation of adult entertainment shops in town. But porn shop owners probably don't feel too welcome."
I wrote the rest of the story and went back to read it over. It was boring. How was this story that was literally gift wrapped comedy boring?
I let my friend read it. He told me to write it just as I'd told it to him. We talked some things through and without too much effort, came up with this for a lede:
"WEST WARWICK — If you want to open an “adult entertainment” business in town, you can do it.
Just be sure to keep it away from schools.
And churches.
And neighborhoods.
And playgrounds.
And funeral homes.
And any place that sells liquor.
And any other “adult” shops.
Other than that, come on in."
I chuckled. He chuckled. And I filed it. He wanted me to put porn shops in, but since the ordinance also governs any place with live nude entertainment and adult movie theatres, I figured porn store was an inaccurate term.
So I called Marty, the copy editor, to see if he got my story.
"I'm looking for it now," he says. The next thing I hear are chuckles coming from the other end of the phone. "This looks like fun. I've got it. I'll call you if I have any questions."
And that was it. Looking back, even though the story was a nothing story -- I'm really proud of it. Like, I'd use it as a clip, maybe. It was fun. And it shows that I do have a sense of humor. And that I'm thinking -- not just reporting mindlessly.
But mostly, I like the story because it reminded me that writing is fun. And that's part of the reason I became a journalist. Because I got to tell funny stories and meet cool people. And also, being funny isn't as hard as we think it is. Just stop thinking about it and the funny will come.
Today, I came into the office and asked my boss if she read my porn story. My coworker chimed in from across the room "I LOVED your lede!"
It made me smile.
Oh, and Marty put porno in the headline.
Chuckle. continue...
Monday, January 07, 2008
Everything I need to know about journalism...
...I learned from The Wire. Maybe not everything, but I'm sure learning more than I ever thought I would.So, I'll admit it: I just got hip to this show, largely because I don't have cable and now, I have a friend who downloads the episodes and made me watch them in preparation for the last season, which premiered Sunday night on HBO. The show is essentially about the struggles between drug dealers, the police who chase them and the government processes and politics that equally helps and hinders them both.
From HBO: The fifth and final season of 'The Wire' centers on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.
Sounds like a potential teaching point to me.
As I watch the episodes, I'll try to point out one or two things I've learned about journalism or the media from watching. Feel free to do the same and add your comments to the post. Oh, an if you need to get caught up, most newspapers, like the Boston Globe, published a "What you Need to Know" about the Wire story in yesterday's paper. Check it out and plug in.
* Baltimore Sun reporter Alma Gutierrez turns in a story about a fire where more than 100 people were evacuated. City Editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes, tells her she's wrong.
Wire Lesson #1: In newspapers, buildings -- not people -- are evacuated. From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary -- evacuate: 1) to empty; 2)to discharge wastes from the body; 30 to remove or withdraw from. Without clarifying that the people were evacuated FROM the building, Gutierrez basically just said that after the fire, more than 100 people got enemas. Ew.
Labels: lessons, the industry, The Wire, tips and tricks, writing
continue...Sunday, October 21, 2007
Dialogue is our friend
So, I was able to come up with something the other day. Here's what an empty head, a full notebook and a looming deadline will get you.Enjoy.
It's funny. I was talking to a friend of mine about this story shortly after I filed it. We pass our stories back and forth every so often and critique one another's work. I was a little underwhelmed at the story. I wrote it quickly and thought it wasn't that good. He loved it. Well, he thought it was good and told a good story. Said maybe I was too close to the story (which, clearly had given me a hard time) to really appreciate it.
A full weekend later, I think he's right. It didn't turn out so badly.
What do you think? continue...
Friday, October 19, 2007
A quick note
I'm exhausted. Physically and Mentally.After a whirlwind weeklong celebration of my 24th year of life last week, I got thrust into this trial on Monday.
I walked into the office and my boss calls me into the office and tells me to haul tail to the Kent County Courthouse for jury selection. See, in addition to covering the town of West Warwick, I also cover county courts for my bureau. I was a little upset that I hadn't know this was coming down the pipeline, but I headed down to the courthouse and sat through two days of jury selection.
I've been covering the trial ever since. At each break and recess, I call the Web team at the paper and give them an update. After court wraps for the day, I head to the office (or file remotely if I can) and write up about 18 inches for the next day's paper. Yesterday, I crafted this tale based on the testimony of one witness.
Besides sitting on those hard wooden court benches all day, the case is just kind of trying. I have a heart, so to think that someone could hurt an innocent child like this is really upsetting. I haven't been getting a lot of sleep -- not necessarily because of this alone -- so that's been making things rough as well.
Today, I'm writing for tomorrow and after listening to testimony, I have absolutely no idea what I want to write about. I've spent the last 15 minutes trying to choke down cold Chinese food from lunch. I'm too exhausted (or lazy, take your pick) to go to the microwave in the conference room. It's 5:50 p.m. My story? Due in one hour and 10 minutes.
I have no focus. My head is blank.
This should be interesting.
Labels: 24-hour news cycle, burnout, courts, deep doo-doo, writing
continue...Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Writer's Crutch
I write best barefoot. I know that now.Each day, around 3 p.m., I slip out of my pumps, loafers or sling backs, prop my feet on a stand beneath my desk and will the butter to begin flowing through my fingertips and onto the computer screen in front of me.
Being barefoot helps keep me grounded. It gets my creative juices flowing.
I realized all that today. All because, today, I chose fashion over function.
I'm wearing t-strap sandals. Very festive. Yet a little hard to slip out of and back into in a flash. I'm trying to write and I'm realizing that the words aren't coming because my toes can't feel the cool plastic of my footstool.
It's funny the things that advance the writing process. One of my friends slips on huge headphones and blasts music to match the mood of her story while she writes. The result is prose that reads almost lyrically (trust me, I've read it).
Another friend of mine swears he doesn't have any writing rituals, but admits he finds a quiet corner away from everyone or writes from home because he hates to compose around people. That, and he never sits in a chair.
The rituals do the same thing for the writer that wearing lucky socks or refusing to wash a jock strap after a winning streak has for an athlete: it puts you in a positive state of mind. Whether or not these things have anything to do with your performance are irrelevant. You believe they do, so they help.
And they change over time. My ritual used to be to fold my leg up onto my chair and munch on pretzels while I wrote. That doesn't work so much anymore, since I wear skirts most of the time.
To take a page from my pastor, it's a way of speaking things into existence. We think these things help. We believe they do. We say they do (or at least, say it to ourselves). And so they do. Sure, I know I could write without these things, but if they help, why not?
So, I guess I'll have to throw protocol to the wind. If you happen to come to my desk and see my naked feet, don't be alarmed.
I'm just doing my job.
Do you have any rituals or habits that help you do your job?
Share them in the comments section.
continue...