Converged Pathways: JoBeth Davis

Gone with the Wind...really gone

2011-04-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

So I've been lost in a book...really two books, soon to be three for close to two months. And I'm taking my own sweet time with them because I don't want them to end.

I am in LOVE with Gone with the Wind.

I didn't expect to be. Gabby gave me the book for Christmas and I remember looking at it with dread. I looked more like a project that a pleasure...1024 pages of tiny print to be exact. But I was in love by the first 50 pages.

Margaret Mitchell wrote her novel with such detail and such amazing characters, I'm afraid I'll be dissappointed when I pick up another book.

I'm finished with the original GWTW, now I'm on to Scarlett, and I'm close to finishing that.

It's my understanding Scarlett, written by Alexandra Ripley, was actually plotted out, at least partially, by Margaret Mitchell herself. While Ripley's portrayal of the characters is a little more shallow than Mitchell's, it's still an engrossing read. The journey I'm on with Scarlett is unlike anything I would have expected at the conclusion of the first book.

Once Scarlett is over I'm on to Rhett Butler's People...we'll see how long I can drag this out...

Milestones

2010-09-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

This is not what I had planned on writing but I'm super excited so I'm going to do it anyways!

Potter is 4 months old today.I decided to test his tiny little bladder to see if next week I can try leaving him home all day...and he made it!!! So at some point next week, I haven't decided what day yet, he will stay in his crate all day, and I will enjoy lunch at the station or with co-workers :) If I come home to find a mess then I'll immediately have to start coming back home. But I'm sure gonna try. It'll be nice not to have to shell out what I do for gas on this next paycheck.

He also managed to jump up on the bed without the help of my old entertainment center today. So I was able to take that back apart and store it in my closet, and spread out my purple fuzzy rug. It almost looks like I have a real bedroom now!

I've spent today trying to get things in their proper places. I have all but one of my boxes unpacked (I don't have my desk contents out because the movers broke my desk). My closet is finally together the way I want it, I have all of my clothes hung up and in their proper place. The drawers in my bedroom are organized and full, now I'm just working on handling what's left of the clutter in there. I'll hang at least two pictures tonight and then it'll look like I have a real bedroom! (I still need curtains, but that's gonna wait til the paycheck after this next one) Once the bedroom is done (after the True Blood season finale...) I'm going to attack the bathroom and de-clutter and clean that. All the while I've gotten a load of dishes done and three loads of laundry. The apartment is really starting to look like a home. So this is what being productive feels like...

I got out of the house yesterday and went and check out what I'm told is a Montgomery landmark...the old Capri theater. I went and saw The Girl Who Played With Fire since I finished that book last month. It was a pretty neat time. It was the first time I've ever gone to a movie by myself and it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. However it was a bit of a shock to have to pay with "cash or check only." It really was like stepping back in time.

I get to see two familiar faces this week, and I'm totally stoked about that! Someone I went to Mizzou with (I'm not going to blow their cover here) will be interviewing at WSFA. They'll be the first familiar face I've seen in two months. And Jason will be here for a visit at some point this week, I'm not positive on what days because of his class schedule, but I'm so excited to see my honey again!

I know there was more I wanted to write but I just turned off the air-conditioner and cracked open my windows and I'm going to enjoy the southern breeze on my first cool night in Alabama (I know my allergies will make me pay later...).

The things you remember...

2010-09-11T21:25:00.001-07:00

Just a short post tonight, and nothing too educational. I promise, I'll have a better one tomorrow.

I've been a bit nostalgic this weekend for Columbia...ok, forget it...down right homesick. But it's for the strangest things.

I miss flat branch. Pretzels with chokes n' cheese, oh lord. I miss the Ragtag...even though I only had one beer there (which I didn't buy myself because I may or may not have been "unable" to at the time...) and never saw a movie there. I miss gameday. Even if I wasn't in the stands the whole dimension of the city just buzzed with excitement and you could hear the cheers for miles.

I miss that fall smell...the one only found in Missouri, and the smell of an early, dewy morning walking over the steam tunnels on campus on the way to the best breakfast in the city at Rollins dining hall.

If I was lucky/stupid enough to spend my day either drowning or frying at Faurot Field I miss the photo-ops with friends. Some of my favorite pictures were taken at football games.

I miss yelling at the asians who crossed the street in front of my car...they made life interesting and unpredictable.

I didn't care for it much when I lived there...but now I miss Shakespeare's. It wasn't the best pizza in the world but it had a flavor that was uniquely columbia and has somehow managed to sneak into the corners of my mind.

I miss walking by FAB slab and seeing people sunbathing and hearing (sometimes awful) music coming through the music school windows. I miss the vagrants yelling ADD SHEET!!! GET'CHER ADD SHEET!!! And the feeling of guilt afterwards when I didn't take one, and the disgust when I did, haha.

I miss spending the chilly evenings chowing down on hamburgers from the grill, pasta salad, and cucumbers on the Penberthy's back deck. (For the record, you're not allowed to have a grill at my apartment complex...and my mother is apparently holding my Foreman grill ransom...so for now I have to settle for pan fried beef...ugh)

I could sit here all night and name things. Montgomery is definitely growing on me. But it's not home yet.

And I want a decent hamburger...and maybe a hot dog too.

"What do you mean I have to flip that switch?"

2010-09-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

My only true complaint about my apartment complex is the maintenance men. They're pretty much useless.

I can submit a complaint and unless it's an emergency they won't get to it for at least a month. And even then, it won't be fixed. Case in point...

When I moved in, the biggest burner on my stove had a short in it, so when I turned it on, it sparked. I put in a maintenance request. 5 weeks later they came to replace it. Apparently they didn't think to test it...because the new burner definitely doesn't work.

My back balcony door doesn't lock...because the part of the lock that attaches to the door frame is missing. I called them to fix it...they left the copy of the request on my counter saying it was fixed, they didn't even touch it. I can only assume that it isn't supposed to have a lock, they're just using the security arm as the lock. I don't live on the ground floor, so if someone wanted to break in that way they'd have to do some serious shimmying up a drain pipe. And when they opened the door my security alarm would go off, but a simple explanation would've been nice.

Also when I moved in my toilet had a phantom flush. I'm not stupid. I know that meant the flapper was going bad. I called the problem in at the same time as the door lock and stove burner. After 3 weeks nobody came to fix it. I got up one morning and it wouldn't stop running. I went to jiggle the handle and heard a "plink" and then the toilet wouldn't flush at all. This meant the chain on the flapper had slipped. I have a counter top that runs over to top of the toilet so it's hard to see inside the tank...so I took my chance and I called maintenance. After all...it's my only toilet and it now didn't work. I knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it, but an hour later someone showed up, fixed that problem and replaced the part that caused the original problem, and all is well. Sometimes a little fib is necessary...the real irony is that if they'd come to fix it in the first place, this second problem never would've happened.

The last instance isn't really a maintenance issue, it just goes to show you need to check out how your apartment is wired.

When I first moved in my mom and I check to make sure all of my appliances worked, ice make, refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, everything. With the exception of the one burner on the stove, all was well. So when my moving fan FINALLY came, two weeks later (yeah, I lived in my apartment with only an air bed and folding chair for 2 weeks...miserable) I unpacked my dishes and went to throw them in the dishwasher...and it wouldn't turn on. I was so angry. I called the maintenance people yet again, and then I went to work hand washing.

About an hour later my cell phone rings, I pick it up, and it's maintenance. The guy asked me if the light switch next to my garbage disposal was turned to on. I said no. He said turn the dishwasher on and then flip the switch. My response: "What do you mean I have to flip that switch?" I did, and my dishwasher popped on. WHAT KIND OF AN IDIOT ELECTRICIAN WIRES A DISHWASHER TO A LIGHT SWITCH?!?! Yeah...mine.

Also...it's deceptive when you tour an apartment during the day, you have no idea what it looks like when it's dark. I didn't notice that there was no light in my living room, OR my bedroom. They're using switches wired to outlets so your own lamps can light the rooms. And that's fine except...I'm supposed to have 2 switches in my living room...only one outlet is wired and working. I'm supposed to have one switch in my bedroom...it doesn't work. And I have a feeling maintenance won't ever come out to fix them. Fighting a losing battle there. But I have no way to flip a light on when I walk into my bedroom, which is annoying...I have to stumble around until I find my lamp. It'll be easier for me when I have my fish tank set up and I can leave that light on, but for now...it means tripping over things for a bit.

Finding an apartment...without being there

2010-09-02T19:08:00.000-07:00

The biggest obstacle I've come up against after finding my job, was finding some place to live.

My situation was pretty unique. The project I was hired to work on was starting really quickly after I accepted the job. I had 3 weeks after accepting the job til my first day of work. Unbeknownst to my future employer, I had immediately put my two weeks notice in at Michaels after I got home from my interview, before I even was offered the job. And I started researching apartments and laying out a basic budget at the same time.

When I was offered the job a week later I only had 1 week of work left at Michaels. That left me with 1 week to pack til I left for Alabama, and I had 2 full days here before I started work.

With only 2 days on the ground in 'bama, that meant I did a TON of leg work finding an apartment while I was in Missouri. I worked off of a spreadsheet that identified the apartment name, rent, sq. footage, and various amenities I thought were important. I also laid out what part of town they were in, because in Montgomery there's one good area and the rest...needs help. Then I started calling about availability, and that's where I ran into trouble.

Montgomery is a college and military town. I was looking for availability at the 1st of August...when everybody was moving back for school or duty, and I was looking for it on short notice. I crossed several apartments I was really interested in off of my list simply because they couldn't have anything ready for me in the time frame I was willing to wait. Plus, I left Columbia before my moving truck loaded. They loaded the day I started work, from that point, they had two and a half weeks to deliver my furniture. I had to have somewhere for them to take it. It was a very serious, and VERY stressful gamble. I was working against the clock in a bad way. I HAD to have somewhere to live, and I didn't have many options to choose from.

Once I marked on my list where there was availability I picked my 3 favorite and sent off an application. One of the three I didn't have a great feeling about, but it would have been somewhere I could deal with. The next choice up was decent. The 1st choice was a long shot, but all things considered, it was my best option. Side note: most places won't process your application until you pay the application fee. My first choice wouldn't do it until I was also willing to put down a $250 security deposit...that was my first choice place.

I faxed applications in, and overnighted an application fee to my second choice (fees were waived for my third choice), and an application fee and a security deposit to my first choice. The first place I heard back from was that third choice. I was approved and they would put my name on an apartment if I wanted to send them a security deposit...I had 3 days to decide. The third day came and I hadn't heard from the other two. I kept thinking about why I didn't like that specific apartment...and on the third day I told them to release the apartment to someone else. I was freaking out, but I didn't want to get stuck in a year long lease somewhere I didn't absolutely love. Stressful decision, but I'm glad I did it, because the next day I heard back from my first choice, I had been approved, and they had a unit saved for me. I set up an appointment to meet with them when I got in to Montgomery to actually SEE that apartment...remember...I was doing this all sight unseen. Terrifying. (btw, I never did hear back from my 2nd choice...the check was cashed and that was it...lessons learned)

When mom and I got into town, with puppy in tow we checked into our hotel...a home for the next week and a half...and then drove straight to the apartments. At first sight, I was really unsure about the apartments. The property manager was really hesitant about telling us anything to do with apartment demographics (student vs. adult vs. military vs. family breakdowns). She kept acting like she didn't know saying "Oh, I don't know. Couldn't tell you." That left a bad taste in my mouth. She showed us a unit not EXACTLY like mine, just similar. I wasn't sold.

Mom and I left without signing a contract. Once again...panic mode.

We spent the next morning visiting my 3rd choice (so glad I didn't go there) and a couple other places I couldn't get to call me back). During that process I learned something that made me feel better about the first apartment...it's not that the property manager didn't know that breakdown of the demographics. "Couldn't tell you" literally meant she couldn't tell me, as in not allowed to. Alabama has a fair housing protection law where management is not allowed to disclose that information to residents, whereas in Missouri they were required to disclose that information. I felt a bit better about that.

Mom and I had a late lunch, discussed my possibilities, and went back first thing the next morning to pay first months rent on my first choice apartment. And that's where I'm living now. And I love it.

I took a number of HUGE gambles that I don't suggest or wish on anybody...ever. But after moving in to my apartment, and after looking at the process there were a couple things I wish I'd known to look for. Some suggestions:

- Ask about the Fair housing requirements where you're moving. That clarified a lot for me.

- Ask a police officer on the street where he would suggest moving. They patrol those streets every day, the know what's safe and where to avoid.

- Call the city and ask for a break down of crime statistics by district. Most areas have to provide this and it will give you a better understanding of the city and where the best places to live are (this proved the cop I asked was right...peace of mind is key).

- Tour the area, find out if you like the grocery stores, the gas stations, local pharmacies. If you have to go there a lot, make sure you're near one.

- KNOW what you are and aren't willing to deal with in an apartment. Do a lot of laundry? You probably don't want a stackable unit. Cook a lot? Watch for counter space. Live alone? Look at a gated community or somewhere with security systems.

- Pay attention to little things in the apartment like outlet placement and wiring (I'll explain more about this with my next blog...)

Owing a puppy is a math equation.

2010-09-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

And it's one I see every day in my checkbook in some very unexpected places.

Potter is my pup.

My mom and I on a lark one day went to visit the Independence Animal Shelter. I had just accepted my job in Montgomery and my parents had agreed that once I got settled in they would buy me a dog so I could have some company to count on. We went to the shelter just to get some ideas of what to look for in a shelter dog.

In the back room, each locked in there own kennels were 5 little puppies marked "Hound mix, 7 weeks." The puppies were all from a litter someone had found under a set of stairs somewhere near the Independence Square. When they found them they were malnourished and covered in white paint. The shelter rescued them, cleaned them up, fattened them up, and then put them up for adoption as soon as they were old enough to be fixed.

It was love at first sight. Potter was a quiet, shy, loving little guy. I picked him up first thing and all he wanted to do was snuggle into my shoulder. He was a cuddley puppy. Against my best judgement I put him back in his crate and took a turn around the kennel room with each of his brothers and sisters. I kept coming back to him. So did my mother. Mom and I were on our way out of the shelter to go home when she stopped at the desk and said "what do we have to do to adopt one?" My heart dropped. I wasn't supposed to get a dog until after I'd gotten settled in Montgomery. We put our name in and a week later she picked up a drugged little puppy from our vet and took him home while I finished my last few days of work in Columbia.

He spent time learning from our three large breed dogs at home and 3 days later when she brought him to me, he was convinced he was a Great Dane. And he and I have been inseparable ever since...

but that's not just because I love him so darn much.

He's too young to be left alone for very long.

According to his new trainer (I'm shelling out for obedience classes for him) puppies can't be left alone for more that the number of months they are old, plus one.

Potter is 3 1/2 months old. So he can only hold his bladder for 4 1/2 hours technically. This leaves me with two options...pay $10 a day for puppy daycare...or drive home every day during my lunch hour to let him out and to play with him.

A puppy is happier in his own home, so that means I'm driving home on my lunch break every day to let him out.

Unforeseen consequence: My gas mileage has doubled. Instead of a tank of gas lasting 2 weeks like I budgeted...I'm only getting 1. It costs $30 every time I fill up my tank. That's $60 a month I hadn't counted on.

Now go back to your college economics class...opportunity cost. I'm missing out on the chance to go out to lunch with co-workers...which when you're a strange person in a brand new city is a pretty important thing. It's the chance to make friends. And instead of going out after work, I run home to let out and feed a puppy.

He goes through a $12 bag of food every two weeks...a $5 box of treats every 3. Add a $3 box of scented poop bags to pick up after him at my apartment complex (gross). And all the table scraps he can beg (and you know I'm a push-over).

He goes to the vet for shots on Friday...guaranteed minimum $60. Add the $70 for a month of obedience training. He'll need another round of shots in 2 more months...another $60. Add flea medication, heartworm medication. He's a teething puppy, so add lots of toys. Two $12 Kong toys destroyed, plus countless other toys. Add in 3 pairs of my own socks. (yeah, haha, funny...not)

And laundry for every time he's peed on his bed...and my bed...and towels from cleaning his spots on the floor.

I'm awake no later than 7am every day. I can't go to bed any earlier than 11pm because of his bathroom schedule.

I'm tired. I miss human contact. I'm broke.

But I don't know what I'd do without the fuzzy little booger. He's my only friend in 800 miles.

If I had it to do over again I probably either wouldn't get a puppy (I'd get an adult that's easier to house train), or I would wait til after being down here a few months to get one.

But the emotional benefit of having that unconditional love through the tough time I'm going through right now is hard to put a price tag on.

Where am I?

2010-08-31T19:07:00.000-07:00

That's a really good question.

I'm a really long way from home...834 miles away to be exact. One minute short of 13 hours away in my own little 1br/1ba apartment in Montgomery, Al.

I'm square in the middle of something I haven't had to deal with before...life.

I have a good job that pays well, I'm living by myself with only my furry sidekick named Potter to keep me company. I have my own little corner of the world, and I have bills to pay...lots of them.

All in all I'd call this uncharted territory.

I'm learning how to adjust to a new culture, a new (old) accent, new people, new places, and how to live alone which is maybe the biggest adventure of all.

I left everything and everyone I've ever known behind in Missouri. I'm now my own support system and that means learning lots of things along the way. So that's what this blog will now be for...sharing what I've learned. Who knows...maybe you'll learn a thing or two.

So what have I learned so far?

I am woman, hear me roar, I installed my own washer and dryer. The movers refused to move them through my kitchen into the closet that is my laundry room because they were too scared of damaging either my cabinets or the units themselves. So with no dolly to help, and with nobody else to push, I moved them through my kitchen and into place in the laundry room.

That alone was a major accomplishment. But that's certainly not where it ends.

My apartment complex won't allow the maintenance men to help residents with things like hooking up said washer and dryer...so I got out the pliers and screwdrivers and went to work.

A few small observations...

Water comes out of a supply line REALLY fast. So, if you have a leak in a hose, you're going to have a gigantic wet mess faster than you can say s#!%.

The part of the washer hoses with curved spouts get screwed into the back of the washer...otherwise you get a leak in the hose...resulting in a really big mess.

There's this thing tucked into the back of a washer...a drain hose. If you don't take that out and put it into the wall you get...you guessed it...a really big mess.

It's smart to run a test run on your dryer to see if it's vented properly. It's not smart to climb behind said dryer after you've run the test to fix the vent...dryers get hot...really hot. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Needless to say, I'm learning a lot. So if you want to see what I'm up to, or learn from my mistakes, keep checking back. I love suggestions or help on projects. Frankly, I need all the help I can get.

Next time...raising a puppy on my time, my salary, and my patience.

Hey Stranger!

2010-06-14T07:01:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been so long bloggers!

Life has been a little crazy since finals week, graduating, and taking on more hours at work so I can still afford to eat...:/ You know how much I love to eat.

But I'm back! And I'll pick up where I left off here in a couple of days but here's a couple of thoughts for you.

I'm pretty much willing to sell a kidney to be able to afford the iPhone 4. Thaaaaat probably won't go over so well with my parents though, which is a bummer. Something about bills and all...

I will still find a way to get it.

I've loved my iPhone 3G almost fatally. It barely holds battery power anymore and I keep telling myself the sliiiight dent in the screen is merely adding character. But the new one looks so shiny!

And a funny story...you know how your body sometimes goes on autopilot when you drive and it take you to your destination? Well when I left home at 7:15am yesterday morning...my autopilot royally failed me. I was supposed to be headed for work...instead I ended up in my parking spot on the top floor of Hitt Street Parking Garage on MU's campus. I got out of my car and was searching for my backpack in the back seat when I realized...CRAP. It's Sunday. We don't have class on Sunday. And then it dawned on me...CRAP I GRADUATED! AND I HAVE TO BE AT WORK IN 5 MINUTES!!!

I will say, that drive to work was most definitely not on autopilot. But I made it!

Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to spend my day off researching more jobs and watching the rain torment my apartment from the comfy confines of my couch overlooking my balcony :)

Looking back

2010-05-04T16:41:00.000-07:00

A brief segway away from college and back to High School.

I think every kid is convinced they want nothing more than to get out of their hometown when they graduate high school.

And then memories of good times try to lead you back after college.

So what do you do when you come to the realization that your home town is nothing but a dead end for you?

I wanted more than anything to return to Independence after College.

But there's nothing there for me.

Kansas City maybe...in time. I'd like to go back to Kansas City. A big question there is, will Kansas City have me? It's such a big media market, it's not always a place for starters.

But the people I grew up with are not the same people anymore. Looking at their new pictures I barely recognize them. Still checking up on the news of my hometown I see things have changed.

It's hard to know what I want. It's hard to know where I want to go anymore. It's strange once you stop feeling the pull back to that town, back to your old High School.

I guess all I know right now is what I want to be doing "when I grow up" and who I want to be doing it with. From there...we'll see.

Reviewing my Journalism Education. One Year At a Time. Part 1

2010-05-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hindsight is 2020. Mine is 2010 HA! No, but really...

Seeing as how the final class of my Undergraduate career, and more than likely my final class ever is tomorrow afternoon and I'm in the process of applying for jobs, I'm a little nostalgic on my last 4 years of J-School. So I apologize, these posts will somewhat resemble a brain-dump...but if you so choose, join me on my journey.

Summer Welcome: traumatic. My parents read on the registration papers that they weren't required to attend. So they shipped me off to Summer Welcome by myself in a city 2 hours away. This should have been a pretty good indicator as to how my journalism education was going to work...being thrown in against my will...head first.

Needless to say if you know anything about Mizzou's Summer Welcome...I was the ONLY person there, in a group of around 200 without a parent. And without a friend. So I was a little alienated until I met a girl here (with her parents) from New Mexico. I was kind of adopted into the Costales Family...and to this day Gabrielle Costales and I are still the best of friends, and we will be walking the stage together next week. (Holy cow...is it really next week?? Grumble...)

Freshman Year First Semester: Oh how I miss dorm food. But NOT my first roommate with cleanliness issues and NOT my first round of classes that seemed to resemble busy work. Bio class, psychology, Spanish 2...don't miss those. My first Journalism class...J 1010 AKA Career Explorations in Journalism AKA a complete waste of a weekday evening. I could have gotten the same thing out of that class as if someone had come in to my dorm for a 2 hour required meeting on the different sequences. It was recruiting. And it felt like recruiting. I remember being told it was the first of the "weeder" classes that would weed people not truly interested in Journalism out of the field. Frankly, the class was deceptively easy, and most definitely not a weeder class.

What else I remember from this semester...I remember heartbreak. Losing that High School Significant Other that everybody told me and everyone else in that situation to leave at home. I didn't. And I paid for it with my social life. I didn't bother making very many friends. I was depressed. My parents dropped me off and left me. My boyfriend dropped me off and left me. And gosh darn it, I was going to sit at home and sulk and hope that there would be a knock on my tiny little dorm room door. That knock never came. And I learned, with the help of my friends Gabby, Missy, and Mickey, that I needed to pick myself up and focus on what was important. So I did, and I somehow managed to come out of that semester with flying colors. And a few new friends.

Freshman Year Second Semester: This is when the fact that I was a college student and I had to make my own way truly hit home. It took some tough love from my new group of friends the Lunch Bunch to get there. But without this semester I would have been packing it home to UMKC's College of Pharmacology. I decided that journalism was more important to me. So I stayed. And I sat through Principles of American Journalism, which is a class I remember very little of. What hit home to me...Jaqui Banaszynski's presentation. That showed me the difference journalism can make in the world. And from that moment on I was absolutely addicted.

I hate writing cover letters.

2010-05-02T06:51:00.001-07:00

I suppose as a journalist I'm more accustomed to telling other's stories. I watch them, I listen to them to get some kind of insight into what makes them tick. Then I take the facts I know and mix everything together into a piece that exposes it all.

So why can't I do that for myself? Why can't I market myself the same way?

My time in the spotlight is supposed to be spent telling others stories...not my own.

Maybe that's why this whole cover letter thing is so difficult for me.

P.S. If you get a chance, watch the video for the soldiers who re-made the Gaga/Beyonce Telephone video. Hilarious. That's a story I'd like to tell.

Journo Road Trip!

2010-04-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Awesome!

K-Proud and I spent a total of 5 hours in the car yesterday traveling through scenic northern Missouri. Some of the sights were a man selling Bonsai trees out of a van, a peculiar way to transport farmers, the home of sliced bread, and maybe the awesomely-named "No Creek" Creek.

Our mission: travel to the city of Trenton, MO for an experiment with a video format for MNH. We were asked to chronicle what a small town's political interests were.

While I heard pretty much what I expected about the political needs of a small town, there's one thing as a journalist in Mid-Mo that I'm not used to hearing, and that's thanks. These people were so grateful that Kelsey and I would take time out of our "busy schedules" to come and try to make their needs public that the Mayor simply could not stop thanking us.

Maybe it's because I come from two incredibly media-saturated towns, but I'm not used to people thanking me for my services. It's my job. I do it because I love it. And, it's nice to see that some people in the world are still glad to have us visit.

Does a girl's heart good to actually hear what I'm doing could make a difference...because frankly, people around these parts sometimes forget that.

So did I mention...

2010-04-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

...the website is up! And running! And fully functional!

Which means job applications start going out...tomorrow.

So HIRE ME! Thanks.

Oh...and something to brighten your day...Chad Mira put this on his twitter and I thought it was hillarious. It's what News Anchors do during commercial breaks.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7ehlw_phys

Food for thought...

2010-04-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Random musing courtesy Kent Collins...

Does a building burn up? Or does a building burn down?

Or can it do both?

Ha...this will cause me to lose sleep.

Dial 1-800-HTML-HELP

2010-04-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am so fed-up with getting my website ready that I could just cry. It seems like the second I get one thing going and working, the entire format just falls apart. I've got the website built...now I'm adding content. I'm attempting to add 7 photos and their captions to my "Other Work" page. I've styled the photos so they show up all aligned to the right side of my content container. But, when I preview them, they look scattered everywhere. And when I go back to add the caption into the page...it really does scatter everywhere in dreamweaver.

It's been like this the entire time I've been building this website and I'm one more meltdown away from going to wordpress. I realize that HTML coding is something I need to have a basic understanding of for what I want to do for my job. And It's important to know a software like Dreamweaver. And I thought having a website to showcase that I know all of that instead of using a template-based service would be the thing to do. But I'm getting grey hairs here...really...no jokes. I invite you to come look at my scalp. If the KOMU HDTV signal doesn't show them, feel free to ask.

The most frustrating thing of it all...I can't start applying for jobs until it's ready. And frankly, I need to get on that. Quickly. I looked at the calendar today and realized I graduate in less than a month, and my website isn't even ready. Granted, my resume is on it. Just, none of my work is either formatted correctly or visible.

I know that once I get this done I will be immensely proud of it. It's been a very long, very hard journey, and I'm so close I can smell it. But right now it's really discouraging that I can see the finish line and not get there.

Speaking of seeing the finish line and not being able to get there...

Fell down the stairs last night and fractured my ankle. So I'm in a boot. I can't wait to head back to the Capitol for MNH in my ortho-boot. Oh, and MNH, speaking of seeing the finish line and not being able to get there...

Now you see why I'm going grey?

Wonderings...

2010-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

I was assigned a little sister last week for my music fraternity SAI. I was matched with her because she's a freshman going into the J-School so it's a learning experience for her and I can mentor her in more than just the ways of our fraternity.

She and I had our first meeting about SAI on Wednesday and it turned into a 2 hour long dinner chat about the state of the industry. And her insight made me think.

The people who are going into J-Schools right now, knowing the state of the industry, can't be doing it for the wrong reasons. If they know there are no jobs, then they're in it because they genuinely love the field of journalsim and genuinely want to find a way to fix it.

To me this means two things.

There's got to be a way to fix an industry that so many people still care about. I don't know what that way is, but they're determined to find it.

And...people in the industry now had better watch their backs. They came to position in the golden age when jobs were readily available and you didn't necessairily have to fight tooth and nail. These people coming through school now...they want it. They want it bad. And they're going to find a way to get it.

As a side note, I had a random thought the other day. I remember as a girl anxiously listening to the dial tones on my internet waiting for the dial-up to connect. That was later upgraded to DSL. And my parents, over the weekend, switched to the new AT&T U-Verse. That completely eliminated the need for my wireless router. The same can be said for my Century-Link internet in Columbia. I literally have 3 wireless routers just hanging around because the technology has surpassed their need.

Can new technology save us? Or is it the tool to our own demise?

Senate vs. House

2010-02-05T11:54:00.000-08:00

I know the legislative difference between the two. I'm a poli-sci minor, I'd better know.

But...a big difference...

Representatives call Reporters back. Senators don't. Or at least the ones on the bills I need information on. I maintain this goes back to High School when I got blackballed by Victor Callahan 4 different times. Yes, HIGH SCHOOL. And then this summer working for Fox 4 he wouldn't call John Pepitone back. I finally say the man in person for the first time on Wednesday...and we played the staring game.

But seriously, the senator sponsoring the Amy Hestir Child Protection Act would not call me back. I finally got in touch with Senate Communications who game me the phone number for another senator who could help me out and I'm glad they did. I finally, after 3 days of making class, have the information I need to finish this story.

Now I just need to get away from KOMU to write it.

*phew*

In other news...

The capitol building is way cooler than I remember. The last time I was there I was a wide-eyed 4th grader who had just taken her first train ride from Independence, MO to Jeff City on a field trip. And, the experience was kinda wasted on me. It was an early morning, I was tired, hungry, and a little overwhelmed. This time around, 12 years later, I'd had an early morning class, I was tired, hungry, and overwhelmed. Ok, maybe it was the fact that I was a foot taller this time? I don't know. As an almost 22-year-old I was better able to handle the massive-ness that is the Capitol building.

My life as a Google Calendar

2010-02-01T09:20:00.000-08:00

I no longer have a life. I have a calendar linked on google that my group-mates and capstone supervisor can edit.

I have to plan fun time, aka...LOST premiers tomorrow (so excited) and that's on my calendar so I will remember to set time aside to watch it. Good grief.

I'm seriously considering putting my sleep pattern on there too...that way I'll actually remember to do it.

Capstone Angels got another email from Rebecca this morning giving us the Senate committee hearing schedule this week. We're each to pick an issue and do a preview story, and then a committee hearing wrap up on it. My assignment: education hearing on Wednesday afternoon, specifically the Amy Hestir bill on Statutory Rape in a school setting.

I'm going to spend my afternoon (which is the only one this week not mapped on the google calendar, aka my only time this week that isn't scheduled for anything) researching the bill's history and trying to get ahold of lawmakers for phoners tomorrow morning about what they want to accomplish in the hearing. I'm thinking another print story with a few photos added when I visit the capital on Wednesday...we'll see how this goes.

More about me, less about Journalism

2010-01-30T10:43:00.000-08:00

If you're wanting a post about my doings in the J-School lately, this post won't have much to offer you. This is more about me and an idea I had and things I want to do with my earnings from my job when I get older.

Obligatory journalism update: I've settled into KOMU extremely well. I hit a few hitches now and then but that's all part of the learning process. I've learned I love TV reporting and working with the web/social media. I'd be happy with a job in either field. Still not sure if I can handle producing. I'm not sure my brain is quite organized enough. As it sits now I'm live reporting for KOMU for the Friday dayside shift (5 and 6) for the first half of the semester (P.S. If you're a job recruiter looking to hire someone, google me!) and I'll switch to mornings the second half of the semester.

The station I interned at this summer is hiring...which is exciting! The problem, they're needing people now, not in May when I graduate as will thousands of other college students. Joy. Encouraging somehow...but not quite the solace I need. Which is why I'm working on my website right now (www.jobethdavis.com) It's a serious work in progress but I'm learning (slowly) the tools I need to build it and gathering media for it.

Also this semester I'm already cranking out stories for Missouri News Horizon, an upstart in-depth political reporting website launching in February. Got my butt kicked last week in cranking out a story with next to no notice, but thanks to two awesome group-mates everything got done, and I think the final product was awesome! Here's to hoping we get a little more notice from now on since this was only the first week. I think Sam, Kelsey and I work together really well which should ease my stress level for the semester considerably.

AAAAAND capstone...Kelsey and I (awesome that we're working together on two projects) and working with media mind @jenleereeves aka Jen at KOMU on amping up KOMU's use of social media. As an experiment we ran a live blog through the KOMU website and facebook on CoveritLive for the State of the Union Address. I was way skeptical about live blogging (granted, doing this was my idea) but we decided as a last minute thing to do it. WAY COOL! All we did was embed the code in our facebook and station websites and tweet references to it, and we attracted 35 people to read the blog we were putting out. This was with no mention on the newscasts at all. I think for Mid-Missouri being as media-slow as it is, this was an awesome response. And definitely something KOMU needs to do again in the future.

So...that was my journalism spiel. On to what I started to blog about...

A couple months ago I found a a Photo Essay that hit kind of close to home:

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1930475,00.html

Anyone that knows me knows I LOVE my dogs. There's nothing I want more (ok, maybe a job) than a puppy of my own to raise. I've never lived without a dog until I came to school and I've honestly had some animal-separation issues. But in being the responsible person that I am, I realize there's really not much room in an undergraduate's life for a dog. I have issues just finding time to take care of myself, let alone trying to manage a four-legged friend.

Something not many people know about me is what I went through with my grandparents when I was a little girl. I lost both grandparents on my dad's side when I was 7. I barely remember them. I lost my grandmother on my mom's side to a long bout with cancer when I was 10, the memories I have of her were mostly of her being sick. And my final grandparent, my grandfather on my mom's side, died on Christmas morning my freshman year in high school. He's probably the grandparent I remember the most, but he spent most of his older years living in a nursing home, so that's where I remember him the most.

I especially remember taking our Dog at the time, Big Guy (A Great Dane/Blue Healer Mix) to his nursing homes to visit him and the other residents. What a hit. Our gentle, fuzzy giant was a favorite by all. I also remember Ace, the therapy dog (Black Lab) on my g-pa's Alzheimer's unit floor. I remember thinking what a world of good visits from those dogs brought. There are other people like me out there who love dogs who just can't have one. And I was absolutely thrilled when I came across this photo essay...all people who had rescued an animal from a shelter and trained them to be therapy dogs.

I want to do this. I want to do this SO MUCH. Doing this lets me rescue an animal, have a pet for myself, and give back to a community be it a nursing home, foster system, school, anything. I absolutely love this idea. It's truly a goal of mine and I can't wait!

I've got another 6 months or so until I can even think about being able to do this...so in the mean time I'm helping this way:

http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=15539990

Great Dane Rescue of the Ozarks is where my family rescued my dog Nila from.

They just received 6 puppies, all of them have Parvo. All 6 puppies are out of the woods but vet bills for something like Parvo are massive. The small group of people that run GDRO can't absorb that kind of financial shock. They're asking for donations to help cover their vet costs.

I can't give much but I'm going to try to help. This is a group close to my heart. And who knows, maybe one of those puppies will still be around in 6 months when I'm ready to adopt :)

Back Home

2009-09-06T08:25:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Independence for the weekend.

I don't normally sit and watch the Sunday morning political shows. They usually make me a little angry but I watched one with my parents this morning. This Week on ABC. And at the end of it there was the In Memoriam section. It listed all the important people that died this week...and the names, ages, ranks, and home towns of the soldiers that died overseas.

It struck me as a good public service for journalism.

Photo Finish Part VIII...Finished

2009-08-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

This was a very busy day. It was the first time I'd worked with Reporter Rob Low, but not my first time with Photog Kyl. We were working on a story about rules the state of Kansas had about owning and operating a daycare. This was after a string of about 3 babies dying in 3 different daycares in the state in a very short period of time. The woman being interviewed in both pictures lost her child in a Kansas daycare, she's now an advocate for Lexie's law...a law cracking down on daycare restrictions.

Fox wasn't the only station with this idea and we had to share our subject and interview site with Bev Chapman from Channel 9. While we were waiting for our interview subject, Kim, to show up we talked with Bev and compared our stations. Both stations are seeing reporters being used for just more than telling stories and because of budget cuts they're being required to do more for the same or even in some cases, less pay.

This was a sobering realization for me. I had seen how things were at Fox, there had been layoffs for editors and managers that were low on the totem pole. I'd seen everyone at the station take, or prepare to take a furlough to avoid further pay cuts. I'd seen how short staffed that left us. But the talk with Bev truly made me realize that the trouble isn't localized...it's industry wide. And to get and keep a job in this market, you've got to stay on your toes.

I've got some work to do. But I know that with my Mizzou education, I'm more than capable of it.

Photo Finish Part VII

2009-08-21T08:32:00.001-07:00

I took these pictures after another vo/sot I worked on. The man in the picture is another photog, David Stonebraker. We all called him Stoney. Something about this shoot in particular sticks in my mind, and I'm not sure why. The buildings are part of an old, abandoned hospital in Raytown, Mo. A pastor and his church group bought the building. And for quite a hefty chunk of change I might add. The building had been abandoned for ten years and had run down and been broken into, vandalized, and just all around forgotten. The group bought it to turn it into a homeless shelter for families stuck in slums and long term motels. There will be individual units for each family with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, and even a kitchen. The family is allowed to stay in the unit as long as they adhere to the group's program...they have to find employment, and start a savings plan to provide for their family. They'll have meetings with financial advisers and have to show how much they're saving, and what they're saving up for. This is all in hopes to get them back on their feet. As long as they follow the program, they'll have a home with the church group until they can afford to be back out on their own again.

I'm still not sure why this vo/sot has stuck with me. I think it's the enormity of what that group was undertaking. And the hope that something good would come out of it.

Photo Finish Part VI

2009-08-21T08:21:00.001-07:00

This picture isn't the best of quality, I had to do a lot of enhancing on it so you can see the wall behind the computer. But I think it's worth it because it's a fun story.

This is the inside of one of the edit/logging bays at the station. That colorful decoration you see on the wall...tape labels. FOX-4 was bought away from Fox network last September. That meant they didn't get the same tech updates network stations did, so they're still editing off of old tape decks. Each story when it's finished get put on its own tape and is assigned a label that's color specific to the show it's going in. That tape is then given to another editor who creates a master tape for the control room. Somebody before my time took those colored tape labels and gave the bay a very unique wallpaper.

When I first started at the station it was a running joke that "The Mizzou Intern doesn't know how to use a tape deck...yet." They just thought that was hilarious.

But now I do...and I told them if they ever wanted to come out of the stone age and learn capture card to give me a call.

Photo Finish Part V

2009-08-21T08:05:00.000-07:00

I took this picture the first time I was sent out with my own photographer to pick up a Vo/Sot. I'm wanting to say this was taken on a Monday...the previous Saturday a man checks out of a KC Hospital and has no ride home...so...he decides to take one. After looking around he finds an empty MAST Ambulance sitting in a driveway with the keys in it...so he takes it. But, what he didn't know was that all emergency vehicles are equipped with an internal GPS so authorities were able to track his progress through the city. Police caught up with him and the man took off on a high speed chase down the highway. The chase ended in Independence where Police threw out stop sticks. When the man in the ambulance ran over them, he lost control and hit a very large tree. As you can see from the picture, it completely totaled the ambulance. After that...the man took his third ride in an ambulance in a period of less than 24 hours, just this time he was handcuffed to a gurney.

In this case the station was playing catch-up. Other stations in the area aired the piece when it happened, late Saturday night into Sunday morning. But because we were short staffed, we didn't have a Photog to go shoot it. The photographer I was working with that day, Pat Holloway, has more contacts with law enforcement than any reporter I dealt with this summer. She was able to get in touch with a supervisor at MAST who not only gave us an interview (that I got to conduct) but also let us into the back lot of the building to see the damaged ambulance.

Photo Finish Part IV

2009-08-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

The day these pictures were taken started out innocent enough. I was sent out with Reporter Monica Evans and photog Ron on a story about new ADA Requirements and a conference discussing them going on at the Hyatt Regency. In the middle of our first interview we get an urgent call from our newsroom reassigning us to breaking news. A call came over the scanner about a shooting in Fairway, KS, just a short distance from our station. What made this more than your garden variety KC shooting (it's sad that I can say a shooting in KC is garden variety) is that Fairway is a sleepy, upscale neighborhood where nothing ever happens. We get there just as the police were starting a conference on what happened. A crew had been painting a house just a little ways down from where we were standing (we weren't allowed any closer) when a man drove up and started an argument with a female painter. He then proceeded to shoot her and flee the scene. We interviewed everybody humanly possible. We got talked to two police officers on the scene and a neighbor who was able to tell us who lived in the house that was being painted. While the other reporters were interviewing another person who lived nearby, Monica walked off a ways and was on the phone with our newsroom...she comes back a few minutes later as all of the news crews were packing up to leave. The police told us they wouldn't have anything more for us for a few hours. Monica used the info the first neighbor gave us, got someone at the station to run a track on the name and house number...and came up with a phone number. After the last news truck pulled away, the homeowners and one of the painters came out to give us an interview and tell us what happened.

The story was, a man had pulled up to the house, jumped out, and started arguing with a female painter and a male painter (he was the one there to talk to us). The man shot the female and the male painter took off running. The man and female painter had just gone though a divorce. The male painter...was the female's new boyfriend. The woman died at the hospital a few hours later of a gunshot wound to the head. The man was later apprehended in another state. And we were the only station with the interview describing how it all happened.

Photo Finish Part III

2009-08-20T07:46:00.000-07:00

Once again with Tess and Photographer Randy Davis, this story was about a new restaurant opening in the Crossroads District in Downtown KC. The woman being interviewed in the picture was upset because of rumors circulating about her business. People had been spreading rumors and circulating what she called false ads claiming it was going to be an "ethnic nightclub" when she was claiming it was a restaurant. Because of the rumors, her neighbors in the crossroads were blocking her application for a liquor license. The neighborhood didn't want a "hip hop club" and the most effective way of blocking it was to cut off their booze. The owner did the interview in hopes of convincing neighbors and the public that she wasn't opening a club. I just hope the giant dance floor and disco ball you can see above Randy didn't hurt her case any...

Photo Finish Part II

2009-08-20T07:28:00.001-07:00

It's hard to see because the old version of the iPhone doesn't have s zoom function, but the guy standing in the middle in the photo on the left is KC Mayor Mark Funkhouser. This picture was taken in City Hall in the middle of a Council meeting where heated discussion was going on b/c of disputes on stimulus money going to a private housing project. It ended with a council member, city attorney, and Mayor Funk in a shouting match over policy and voting rules.
It was interesting to look around the room after the meeting had started. I grew up in Kansas City, watching Kansas City late night news. And as I scanned the rows it was pretty much a who's who in political reporting. I was there with Tess Koppelman, but also there was Michael Mahoney from Channel 9 and several others I recognized. After the meeting was over it was a short sprint to get a quick comment from a council person and then down to the live truck to do some fast editing to get the piece on the air. During the 5:00 show there was a line-up of reporters and live trucks alongside city hall because it was everybody's lead story of the night.

So you wanna see what I saw?

2009-08-20T06:29:00.000-07:00

From my iPhone...

This was taken on either my second or third day on the job. The reporter is Tess Koppelman. Ron was our Photog. The woman in the middle of the frame is Regina Dinwiddie. Google her name...she has an...interesting story. Dinwiddie was a friend of Scott Roeder. Roder is the man in custody charge with the murder of Wichita, Ks. abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. This was just a day or two after the murder. Dinwiddie spoke about protesting with Roeder and things she had seen him do to try and get under abortion provider's skin. She told a story about him standing outside of a clinic (not Tiller's) all day one day, then walking in and asking to see the doctor. When he came out Roeder looked him up and down and said "Ok, now I know what you look like." and turned and left. Dinwidde spoke about how Roeder was both courageous and crazy. She even said she was glad Tiller was dead. That's the first time in my life I've ever heard a person say they were glad someone was dead...no matter the reason.

Looking Back

2009-08-20T06:08:00.001-07:00

I've had a few days off now that my internship is over to sit and think about the experience...

And overall it was a good one. I accomplished exactly what I wanted to...I got a look inside a non-University operated station. And I saw EVERYTHING.

I saw how paid reporters go about contacting sources. I saw what an experienced Rolodex should look like...and wow. Soooo many contacts. I saw different preferences for both questioning subjects and writing stories. Every reporter does it differently...

I saw what it's like to work with a true union photog. And in some cases it was exactly what Greeley warned about. In others, it was fun. But ps...don't ever think about touching their cameras...even if they do still shoot entirely with tape.

I saw how easy it was for an experienced producer to sit down, stack an hour long show...sometimes two at once...and manage to write teases, vo/sots and extra pieces that came of the wire. All of the national news we did came down from our FOX, CNN, and AP wires and since FOX didn't have a nightly news report...a producer condensed it all to put it out on our show. Talk about an amazing feat of choreography...producers would also make amazing event planners.

I got to see how an independent web crew worked to put a website together. It's one thing to write print versions of all the stories and important vo/sots, and to post weather. But it's an entirely different thing to build a website that "works for you." Ours had so many helpful features from a gas tracker, to special recipes, to a job posting site. They even had a google map representation listing garage sales in the area with small blurbs people sent in on what they had to offer. Working with those guys let me see a different side of convergence. And they gave me a little inspiration for when it comes to starting a website of my own.

But that wasn't all I saw.

I saw the politics of the newsroom. The MU kU rivalry...rediculous. There was one person who refused to shake my hand when he found out I was attending Mizzou.

I saw furloughs, I saw layoffs, I saw people take pay cuts. I was there in the middle of their health insurance change over from one program, to a cheaper program. I saw contract negotiations. Everything I wouldn't have gotten to see at KOMU. And it was a sobering reality.

But I'm all the better for seeing it.

Because now I know what to expect from a real job. And that was my goal in this internship.

New Ideas thanks to a Public Toilet

2009-04-26T02:23:00.000-07:00

It's 4:30 in the morning right now and I've been awake since two. I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that it's about 90 degrees in my house right now, or that I have raging allergies, or if it's because I can hear my roommate's boyfriend snoring through the wall.

No matter...I was just thinking...

I had an accident a week and a half ago with my cell phone. To make a long story short, my cell phone had some bonding time with a (used...gag) public toilet and after some serious sanitization and a week of working, it up and died on me.

So...I caved.

Up to this point I had a plain jane cell phone. Simple voice and text, it was all I needed. But I saw my opportunity here and I upgraded to a fancy new iPhone. And the transition has gone well. I've already told my boyfriend that unless he wants to start doing dishes and laundry he doesn't need to stick around anymore because the phone will literally do everything else for me (except sleep...).

But my dilemma and thus my idea came out of this switch...

I love being able to have the news at the tip of my finger, no matter where I am.

BUT

KOMU's website takes about a billion years to load. So...what if we took a page out of CNN's book and had some kind of a re-direct for anyone accessing the website on a mobile device to a webpage without all the bells and whistles that take so long.

If you go to visit CNN from any kind of smart phone you're met with a page with one picture from their main headline, and links with story slugs to their other main story. There's a banner at the top to display any kind of breaking news, and there's a tab area where you can navigate to their different categories. KOMU could have a weather, Your Health, etc. tab...and a small add running along to bottom to please advertisers...and boom. You have a whole new demographic.

How hard is something like this to develop? No idea...I know the convergence school just did an application designing contest for iPhone in conjunction with the engineering school. I bet there's somebody on campus who could figure it out.

Just a small idea...I'll tell you when I really get up for the day if I still think this is coherent...

...back to sleep (hopefully) for me.

Trying My Best

2009-04-24T13:28:00.000-07:00

If an idea is presented to you, and you have to get it cleared through one person before it goes to another person to also be cleared, but you know that 2nd person cleared it and you need to move fast....what do you do?

I did what I thought. I sent the idea to both people involved instead of just the first.

I did what I thought would be best since time is running out on the idea. I don't feel like I stepped on person 1's toes because I sent it to both.

So I skipped a step in the process. Is that ALWAYS a bad thing?

I got an e-mail from one of my professors outlining a ton of internships available in the journalism field right now. I'd like to think that's a good sign. No, it's not a paid job, but there are positions out there and experience to be gained. I can't help but think that's a tiny ray of sunshine in the clouds.

Or, it could be that fewer people are studying the field. If it's that, then I just don't know what I think about it.

Blurred Boundaries

2009-03-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a little time this last week to work on a story over a little boy with Autism and the therapy that he's using that seems to be working. I spent lots of time with him and his family and my problem came in distancing myself...they made me feel like a part of the family, the let me observe every facet of their lives.

When it came to editing my story I found myself wanting to send my story to the mother for approval...just to make sure that I don't post anything she might be uncomfortable with. But that seems like it should go against all of my journalism principles. So I didn't.

This week was just the first time I ever saw the lines between a reporter and a private citizen blur, and it took a little struggling on my part to see through them.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer announced today that it will be moving to online only, and next Tuesday will be its last print edition.

I can't decide if this is it embracing the online age, or folding its print edition due to budget constraints. I wouldn't be surprised if it was both.

Do I think that's a good idea?

No. And that might be blasphemy to my convergence roots, but oh well.

I know in the internet age, there are still those resisting buying a computer. And I guarantee there are some living in Seattle. And they're going to be cut off from the SPI's coverage. And I think that's a bad move.

I know the paper can't account for the people who refuse to get computers, but I can't help but feel that's their way of turning their back on the old times and their loyal readers.

Possibly, if I saw their subscription and internet volume numbers, I might change my mind...but for now...I can't say that I agree with it.

Don't Call Me Sweetheart

2009-03-06T10:27:00.000-08:00

Bob strikes again...

Bob and I ended up on a shoot at the same location about a week ago. I was already in a crunch on my deadline, so I got to this place in plenty of time to get a good seat and talk to a couple of the key players. I revealed to the people that I was a student, and that I was there videotaping for a school project. They said I looked and acted more professional that most students that covered their events. I settled in and about 2 minutes before the scheduled event was supposed to start...in walks Bob. He promptly yells across the room at me "YOU HERE FOR KOMU?"

...If he had noticed the camera I was using...he would have already known the answer. Bob then strolls in front of me and sets his camera up right in front of the view of mine, and when I told him he was in the way, he turned around and shrugged at me. I should have socked him...however, being in a public place surrounded by public officials, I figured that wasn't the time or place. I re-adjusted and settled in for what promised to be a 2 hour long meeting.

During the first part of the meeting there were technical difficulties with a projector during which I spent surveying the room looking for ideas for future stories and comment on the one I was working on. My thoughts were, since it was a meeting, there had to be an agenda out somewhere. I noticed a stack of papers sitting on a desk so I went to look at them, and it was an agenda...to the meeting that was right before the one I was in. I picked it up, looked it over to see if there was anything I could use, and then set it back down. Bob notices what I'm doing and runs over and snatches one of the papers and said "HA, I knew there had to be one."

I told him that he had the agenda to the wrong meeting to which he replied, "Yeha, that's just what you want me to think."

Whatever.

After the projector was fixed and the video presentation finished, which Bob was fiddling with his camera...the real agenda was passed out. And they people at the meeting skipped over the students. Bob looked like a 4 year old that had just been told he couldn't have any candy.

I waited for the stack of papers to make its way around the room, and went and got the extras. There was an agenda for me...and one left. I gave it to Bob.

Never again will I help him.

First words out of his mouth,

"Well thanks sweetheart, could you be a Doll and..."

...and that's when I told him to shove it.

In retrospect, probably not the best decisions I've ever made. But in that moment when I helped a fellow student I was compromised. In Bob's mind I became "the female" who could be immediately looked down on and be asked to do anything. Perhaps if he hadn't called me sweetheart, and doll, I would have helped him with what he needed. But my goal was to maintain as much professionalism and dignity as possible, and being called "Doll" in a room full of construction workers would led to me not being taken seriously. I might add, I had a few of the men comment something along the lines of "way to go" after the meeting when I was getting their thoughts on the decision reached.

One last comment on the situation...both my and bob's time w/ the cameras ran out before the meeting was over. And since it was after hours when the professors aren't in office, there wasn't anything we could do about getting extra time. Bob and I both packed up and went back to turn our gear in...and that's when Bob went home, and I went back to the meeting with my reporter's notebook in hand.

Also last week Anne Garrels gave her master class. There were a few things she said about the industry I hadn't thought about. She said radio, like other media, was facing cutbacks and dying out, but losing the radio would hurt in a different way in losing print or tv. Radio is where a large amount of political correspondents reside. And in the future, if we were to lose political correspondents, the people would lose their watchdog, the witnesses. The people who report directly back to us would be gone, and we would simply have to trust what governments were telling us. Kind of a scary thought...

Take for example Darfur.

Their government claimed for years that there was no genocide taking place in its country, that there was no unrest. Journalists who were there captured evidence to prove otherwise.

Now, just imagine the atrocities that could go under the radar if there was nobody there to witness them...

Not a thought I'd like to entertain.

Learning my Lesson, and Putting it to the Test

2009-02-16T09:48:00.001-08:00

So, for once I decided to get on the ball. Usually I wait a few days to contact sources after pitching a story idea. That gives me time to think it out and get my stuff together before I go out there. Well, I did that early this week. And I contacted people the day I pitched. And I got bitten. I had 3 story ideas this week fall through on me. I'm on my last leg, and it's on its way out...

So as it stands, my story is due...well, really soon. I am on my last ditch idea, we're talking plan D or E here. And it involves cold calling everybody in the phone book I can find involved with this particular subject for in interview to be done this afternoon. After collecting what will hopefully be a couple of interviews I then I have to get all, or most of it put together into s story tonight. And did I mention, tomorrow is my 21st birthday so I have friends throwing me a party tonight?

Something tells me I'm not going to be getting much sleep over the next couple of days. But, I am learning something here, and that's to think on my feet. Since the panic mode has kicked in, I've come up with more ideas and options for this story and other stories than I have found in days. I'm waiting on about 4 calls back so I'm off to do what I do best, panic, and prepare to hit the ground running!

Web Extra

2009-02-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

ACM wouldn't open...

Carol's Story

Sitting in the corner of Carol Nacarato's kitchen is her memento of her time in Florida, a small, sparse, orange tree that her husband saved from their home in Winter Haven.

"My husband actually brought that with him when he came up in his car, it was in the back seat of his car all the way up here from Florida." she said, laughing, remembering the car ride.

The Nacarato family lived through 3 hurricanes, Charlie, Ivan, and Julie tearing through their neighborhood in a period of less than six weeks in 2004. Even though their town of Winter Haven was an hour and a half inland the hurricane still left families without food and power in their wake.

"The power went out for at least a week to a week and a half each time, every time." Nacarato said.

" And that was three times within six weeks. It was rough." she said.

After the water her family stored ran out the Nacarato's turned to FEMA and The Red Cross who were offering relief in town.

"It was difficult because [FEMA] were giving out meals, water, and ice because people needed to stay cool and hydrate, but you had to stand in line to get the stuff because there were so many people." she said.

"None of the grocery stores were open. None of the gas stations were open." which Nacarato said caused a different problem.

It was too far to walk to get the supplies being handed out, so to save gas, people carpooled to the delivery sites.

"It got to the point," she said, "where they thought people were hoarding so they would only give you one case of water when you drove up. One car one case. Even though they were all going 'No, we're all from different homes, we're just carpooling to save gasoline and stuff.' the answer was still no, one car, one case."

Eventually the food that Carol, her husband Frank, and her three boys had managed to save, grill, and distribute to friends and neighbors also ran out. So again she turned to the relief agencies for help.

" I went over to get in line for a hot meal one night and they would only give me one plate. I said 'I have a husband and three kids at home.' and they told me they would have to come and get their own food. I thought it was sensible since there were so many people there for just the mother to get food for the family. But they said they didn't know if I really had those people or if I was just trying to get extra food." she said.

Shaking her head she remembers it all.

"I was just trying to feed my family." she said.

"It was difficult, I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

You Don't Have To Outrun the Bear

2009-02-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

We had a convergence speaker this week, Bryce Moore from KMOV, and I think what he said bears repeating. The topic: how to find a job in journalism. He gave 5 ideas...

1. Build a portfolio of news organizations: Read the blogs, gather information. Know and understand what the problem is, the better you know the problem, the more you can help find a solution.

2. Get information from new places: think like blogs...read Seth Godin, and e-marketer.

3. Be a solution to the problem: figure out how you can position yourself. Make yourself marketable.

4. You don't have to outrun the bear...you just have to outrun the people behind you.

5. There's no reason why you can't be a journalist...right now. Don't wait.

He suggested think of crazy ideas that are outside of the box, so you set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd. Sometimes you just have to throw stuff against the wall and see if it bounces back. The only way we're going to figure out where the media is going right now is to take challenges and not stick to the same old way of doing things. The opportunities are there...just go out and get it!

I think what he said applies not just to convergence, but anyone.

One of the ways he suggested to make yourself marketable, you have to know how to fix the station's problems. He said his station looks at a newsroom of overpaid reporters that do nothing but go out and do one story a day then bring it back and flop it on an editing desk for someone to deal with. He's looking for people who have the tools, who can go do the reporting, then edit it. Then find the web extra (take note, Bobs of the world), and put it online. If your resume can give good examples of journalism and shows you have experience with news tools (i.e. Final Cut, Avid, ACM, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, Cool Edit, Adobe Edits, Sound Slides) then you're going to be that much more above people who can only report or only edit. You're a more valuable employee.

And that's what we're doing here at Mizzou...so Avid beware, even though I prefer Final Cut, I now have a better incentive to learn you...a job.

So with that said...off I go to the lab.

My Schtick With Help from "Bob"

2009-02-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

Last week in class we had the discussion of "web extras" and how as B-2 reporters we are responsible for providing a different print story to put online right up next to our video story, and also any extras to add to the story that we could find. One student (who for all intensive purposes will be known as "Bob" for the rest of this blog) seemed to have an issue with this.

"Bob" and I have had several classes together in our journalism education. It seems we are on similar paths, I just chose a different way of getting through mine. And he never fails to say something to irk or offend me. Why should our time together in B-2 be any different?

Bob proceeded to walk over to his buddy after class and comment very loudly and in slightly more colorful words than I will use, that the web stories and extras were bogus. And that he was a TV reporter, and TV reporters should only produce stories for TV, leave the print to the newspapers.

Well...I have news for you Bob...REAL news. Newspapers are now online. Television stations are now online. This makes them direct competition. Newspapers are now offering video and radio sound-bites to go along with their traditional print stories.

Bottom line: we have to compete.

So, Bob, if you want to keep your job, or even get one for that matter, step it up. You are a journalist, your passion should be for the news, not for the medium.

I would like to say that Bob's offensive comments ended there. But of course, they didn't. Bob said, and I quote, "I don't work for a freakin' newspaper. I shouldn't have to write those stories." Well Bob...you're right. You're not working for a newspaper.

Writing for the web is different than writing for a print source. In writing for the web your story has to tell the exact same story as your TV story, but make it descriptive enough that people don't need the video to accompany the story and short enough that they don't lose interest. Web writing needs to be tighter than newspaper writing because of one key difference: internet attention span.

When reading the paper there isn't that tantalizing button looming above what your reading that says "Facebook" or "E-mail". When you've got the paper, you're sitting down to read the news. When you're on the web, there are far more distractions, so get to your point, describe it well, and supplement it with your video and extras.

The moral to my little schtick...

Adjectives in front of the word journalist are now obsolete. We are no longer "newspaper" journalists, or "radio" journalists, or even "TV" journalists. We are just journalists.

Prepare accordingly.

For B-2

2009-01-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

This is my blog for B-2!

First week of classes...and of course, I'm sick. It seems to always work that way. Oh well, I'll live now, dazzle later.

I'm really excited for my J-4301 class since I get to work at newsy. I had a blast there last semester. Hopefully I can learn more and do a bit more this semester. My KOMU shifts for Broadcast sound similar to what I did in convergence last semester, but my KOMU shifts for Convergence this semester seem a little daunting. I'm not sure what to think of working on the health segment, and only the health segment with Angie Bailey. I'd like to branch out a bit, but it is an experiment, so we'll see where it goes. Can't hurt to try, right?