"Bed, where are you flying to?"

"Bed, where are you flying to?" is the first line of Rita Dove's Sic Itur Ad Astra or This is the Way to the Stars.

Walt Harrington wrote an article called The Shape of Her Dreaming which was published in the Washington Post magazine about Rita Dove's creative process of poetry writing. Harrington literally sat with her throughout the whole process and asked her questions for each of the line she jotted down.

This journalism piece is unlike anything that I've ever read before. It's more of a narrative that takes a deeper look at an intensive creative writing process and dissects every single reasoning that presents itself in the poet's mind and heart. In his article, Harrington discusses the poet's rationale why she scratched off one line, revised two, or ripped off a few pages of what she had written. He was with her through her anxiety, her idealism, and her confidence.

I honestly never thought that one could come up with thousands and thousands of words about how a poem was written. But apparently Harrington did something different that made the piece so interesting simply by paying attention to details and asking questions.

Here's the excerpt of one of my favorite pages:
"I'm a child again." Too explanatory. The poem should have the feeling of childhood without needing to announce it.
"Catching my death of cold." It goes on too long. This poem must be a collage of fleeting images, as in a dream. But Rita likes the line and would like to find a way to keep it.
"Moonlight cool as peaches." She likes that line, too, may use it someday in another poem, but to mention food while in flight is too corporeal, too earthly. Still, she'll leave it in for now.

And Harrington went on and on with more lines to talk about.

Harrington must have asked Dove a lot of questions. I find this piece to be very evoking. Readers get to know Dove a lot better from this piece rather than Dove's own piece of poetry. Harrington revealed that he took notes and referred to the time every time she made changes and asked questions about items on her desk and pictures on her wall. A lot of things contributed to a successful translation of the crafty imagination that was going on in Rita's head to readers. Harrington's piece almost made the poetry so much more epic than the first time I read it. For me as a reader, it's almost like a globe-trotting journey to be with Rita all the way from the moment she picked up her pen and finally jotted the closing line. I gave Harrington kudos for coming up with such intimate narrative journalistic piece out of his intensive interface with the poet for a few days. It seems like not a single thing is minuscule to him. Every little component matters.

Model Citizen Fashion Show

Last week I did a story on Model Citizen Fashion Show at Holiday Inn Select hotel in Columbia. This is the third year that they this and it still hasn't lost the thrill. The room was filled with guests and I have never seen that many pretty people in Columbia. I interviewed one of the models, who's a Stephens College student, one of the designers named Janna Merciel, and the Thompson Center's senior information specialist.

The event is held to fundraise money for MU Thompson Center of Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Entertainment Tonight's Jann Carl and KOMU 8's Megan Murphy were the emcees.

I asked for a media permission to cover the event few days earlier and that's how I got in touch with the senior information specialist a.k.a the PR person. He didn't let me to go backstage because he thought it was such a tight space and there would be no room for me to set my camera. I actually didn't know if it was a good decision for me to ask him in advance on the phone before the event rather than at the event itself where I was carrying my equipments and where my facial expression could probably show persistence even more rather than my voice over the phone.

But anyways, I found one of the designers on Facebook. There's a Facebook event for it and I just randomly messaged about 30 people and asked if any of them is a model or a designer who's going to be willing to be interviewed and be followed by me throughout the whole fashion show process. Out of almost 30 messages that I found, about 2 replied saying they're not either of them, and one said she's a designer. That's how I met Janna Merciel.

With an understandable reluctance of talking to a stranger, Janna replied to my Facebook message a little slow. And there I was, checking the website every 5 minutes for her reply. A few hours before the fashion show began, I sent her another message leaving my phone number. Then 15 minutes later, she texted me.
We made an arrangement and she agreed to take me backstage. Yes, social networking websites can be useful for journalists too.

Since I'm not that great of a photog, I found it hard to get a wide shot of the models coming out to the runway and zoom in real fast when they get to the end of the runway and pose. I had a few in my B-roll, but some of them are a little shaky and just not the way I wanted them to be. Also, the stage was pretty high and I was all the way in the back, stretching my tripod high to the max. Meaning that I had to look up all the time, looking at the LCD screen. My neck wasn't so happy about that.

This piece is very lighthearted and I was excited the whole time when I was filming the fashion show. Even I think that showed in my interviews and I'm pretty sure my interviewees could see the enthusiasm in me. It seemed like everyone was happy to be there and therefore they're really friendly to every other person as well. I had a good time doing the reporting and when I was doing the editing too. It's such a fun experience.

Should Michelle Cover Up?

Photo credit: Joyce N. Boghosian / The White House (Michelle Obama)

Over the past year, I have been used to broadcast writing more than ever. Although I do read newspaper articles, I realize I always skip the opinion section. The New York Times op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd wrote a column called "Should Michelle Cover Up?"
And to be honest, the title triggers my curiosity a lot.

The first paragraph starts with Dowd breaking the "journalistic" rule that a journalist is not supposed to start a piece with a taxi scene.

As I read further down the paragraphs, it sort of tickles my impatience little by little. I was down to a chunky 4th paragraph and still haven't seen a single name of Michelle Obama being mentioned. I have to admit though, the column is written in a very quick-witted way, with an intelligent, explicit satiric throughout the whole piece. In a way, it is quite entertaining to read. Dowd is really good at incorporating her expansive knowledge of the sporadic past or current events in her satiric opinions.

Way further down the paragraphs, I learned that there has been a lot of talk in Washington for Michelle Obama to cover up her arms. And that she also ignored the talk. The piece is almost over, only three small paragraphs left, and I still haven't figured out what Down's thoughts about the issue are.

This is what I see:
"Let’s face it: The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps."
I'm not exactly sure what Down's position on this yet. But then she further explains, "her husband urges bold action, but it is Michelle who looks as though she could easily wind up and punch out Rush Limbaugh, Bernie Madoff and all the corporate creeps who ripped off America."

In the last three paragraphs I then learned that Dowd supports Michelle not to do anything about her sleeveless arms. "Her arms, and her complete confidence in her skin, are a reminder that Americans can do anything if they put their minds to it."
And then she started comparing Michelle with Hillary and Laura. Yes, THE Hillary and Laura.

But hey, what a long prolog it takes to get to the meat.

Did I enjoy the ride before I finally get to find the meat? I'm not sure. I can see how for some people, it can be quite an engaging journey though. A journey where Dowd takes the reader to connect the dot, with each having a single, somewhat relevant, information as a product of her personal cognition. For me, the dots are all over the place and I'd prefer a straight ride. My take on this is most likely affected by the fact that the headline is what attracts me to read the piece. And having never heard of Michelle's clothing issue before, I was expecting that would be the first thing that I saw.

I do admit that some of her "dots" are quite informational: Timothy Geithner. G.M. is verging on bankruptcy, Obama's grandfather was beaten by British colonial troops in Kenya, etc. So I guess, I'll have to read columns when I have more time than usual, when I'm ready to be amused by a little more ride by the writer. It's just that broadcast writing is nothing like this and apparently it has changed my perspective a lot when it comes to my preference in receiving information.

I won't mind if next time Dowd shares about her elevator experience at the beginning of her piece. I'll learn to adapt in this ever-changing world of journalism.

the most thrilling task of all: news producing

My producer shadow shift turned out the be very inspiring for me. This past Tuesday, I had to shadow KOMU producers working their magic on setting up the newscast rundown and all of the other countless big responsibilities for the ten o'clock news. I helped a little by rewriting the national wire stories for the newscast. Being a producer, I learned that it's a lot of pressure. People are counting on you to make the right decisions. You are the one in charge for the whole situation and every single aspect of the production. Even if you might not be held responsible for working on each aspect from scratch, you need to keep track of its progress and make sure it turns out great.

I break down some of the skills that a producer needs in which I hope to master soon in the future of my journalism career.

1.  A producer needs to be good at scriptwriting. Not only this skill comes in handy when rewriting national wire stories, but also to make sure that each reporter is doing his job well when it comes to writing their stories. 
   
2. A producer needs to be a good reporter. She needs to know how a good story unveils and not to leave out every single opportunity that could make a better story. A good judgement is needed when it comes to news value, story outline, and great video footage.
3. A producer needs to be a good editor. Making editorial decisions to make the story presentable to viewers is the next most challenging task after all the reporting is done. Most of the time a reporter is responsible to do this on their own, but it's the producer's job to make sure it turns out good.
4. A producer needs to be a good manager. Teamwork and management skills are quite crucial as a producer needs to communicate with reporters and other producers to make sure they all deliver the best newscast one after another, making sure which story is best to be put where, when, and in what forms should it come in (VO/package). 
5. A producer needs a to be a good multitasker. With all the responsibilities, it's pretty obvious that this quality is nearly a must. 

And the list goes on and on. To deliver the best under great pressure is a challenge and it's something that everyone in the newsroom has to deal with. But really, learning about all this has triggered me nothing but stubbornness and determination. To put it this way, I am thrilled. I am thrilled that I will have the chance to enter this kind of world full of responsibilities and learn from it. I don't know how good of a producer will I be in a certain period of time from now, but I do know that it's the opportunity of learning that thrills me. Thanks KOMU producers! You know who you are!

curious octopus floods aquarium

Photo: Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

In this article from National Geographic called "Curious Octopus Floods Aquarium," Christine Dell'Amore has an intriguing report that reminds us of a part of the world a lot of us aren't exactly in touch with... or for that matter: part of the world all of us can't be in. The ocean.

Dell'Amore wrote about a curious female octopus and her little escapade. The entire story is centered around this octopus and her behavior. According to the piece, "she has managed to disassemble a valve and released 200 gallons of seawater into nearby exhibits and offices". While this isn't exactly world-changing news, the writing impresses still in its' simplicity describing an intelligent creature. A lot of people forget that the octopi are smart, strong creatures thanks to its' overwhelmingly unique shape. She reminds us that aquatic animals, though most of them don't have a voice to communicate like us and the other animals that co-habit in this world, should not be treated as second rate citizens of the earth.

What's really intriguing is the reporting behind all this. How much time did she spend working on this piece? How many research did she do beforehand? I think you have to have a genuine interest to be able to execute a piece like this. Did she go visit the octopus in the aquarium or did she just sit in her office and made phone calls?

The article translates various facts into generally digestible sentences and makes it a joy to read. The style is fun and inviting and instead of becoming a scientific textbook bore, it has given me an entertaining "the more you know" moment. What made me think that she might just write this article over phone calls is the lack of personalized details of the subject. There's never really an detailed description that gives readers a sense of reality: this is what an octopus looks like and does. It's just something to connect to the readers and escort them to the "world" that they don't know. This article is more a newsy kind for me.

I like the fact that the article has a video in which people can see an octopus squeezing through a nine-inch hole. I think that adds so much to the consumer experience in terms of interactivity.

unattainable visuals

My story about the stimulus funding for energy-efficiency and how ready MU or the city of Columbia for it turned out to be not so satisfying. Basically my problem was I didn't have enough time to do it. I worked all weekend and so I only had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to work on it. And not surprisingly, officials have their own schedule too, which makes it even harder. I ended up talking to MU Campus Facilities official who was really helpful. But again, due to time constraint, he referred me to this maintenance worker who was fixing the ballast in a fluorescent lamp. I didn't really get to do what I wanted to do because the official was just there and waiting for me to be done while giving me "hints". It didn't help that the maintenance worker didn't move around at all either.

It is really hard to get a video for the story because I mostly talk about the future projects, in which they are not doing any at the moment. So I don't really have a video for it. I focused a little bit on energy-efficiency lighting and how MU is almost ahead of everyone because they have been dealing with it since 1990. Overall, I had a hard time to tie things in together just and the lack of footage from the raw tape didn't help at all.

What's worse is I taped over about 30% of my raw footage simply because of I played it back in the camera and forgot to fast forward it. This is almost like a catastrophe that never happened to me before.

Anyways, I have to admit that my video is not really tie in tightly to the script that I write just because it's really hard to get a video of things that you talk about if there's actually no one who physically work on it.

And I will always remember for the rest of my life, play back wisely.