I’m working on the personal feature story about a young man who was or might have been a hero when Minneapolis’ 35W bridge collapsed on August 1, 2007. That evening I was at Dinkytown’s Kitty Kat Klub with my French class reviewing for our final examination. Meanwhile my cousin was bee-lining into the middle of the chaos –some Twin Citians have probably called this their own version of September 11th. My cousin did what many others probably want to claim; he risked his to life help another. The story peg is being geared for the six month marker of the event on February 1st.
When my sister told me that our cousin had had a two-fold experience, I wanted to confirm and file that story. It originally seemed that he had helped to save one person’s life and then had the opposite event happen. Well that opposite and hard to swallow story was his.
Traumatically, he had to watch someone die. He has a strong and compelling story about wanting to do the right thing – what your character and conscience demand. His story is similar to movie thrillers where an ordinary person is pushed by his moral calling to attempt the extraordinary.
The story is moving along. While the interview audio and the narration is laid down, important and transcendent elements are missing. I don’t have the audio to create a scene or a full enough sonic, transportational experience.
This is an interesting change from story building in Washington to doing so in Minneapolis. The software and team are new to me. I mentioned, in the prior post, that ProTools was confounding me. I have a different and new learning and working curve.
The good news: I’m free to pursue and file stories and use the skills and knowledge that I got from NPR. The bad news: I haven’t the familiar support network, expertise and software that was my advantage at NPR.
05 January, 2008
01 January, 2008
Moving from National Public Radio to KFAI radio.
Wright’s Journal and I are at a cross roads. Some new and old friends check Wright’s Journal as they would their old favorites. I wrote at the beginning of my internship at National Public Radio (NPR). That was in September. Upon arriving there, I worked and noticed the learning curve. I found that it was wiser to just keep my nose to the grindstone than to wonder whether a posting was going to jeopardize my time at NPR. There are rules and customs to web log journalism that I don’t understand yet; I haven’t found the real or proverbial manual yet.
I’ve returned home to Minneapolis. I will resume classes at the University of Minnesota; when I do so I plan to independently study at KFAI radio. I want to identify, report and file stories so I can continue to learn by doing. A part of this process will be me reflecting on what I’m doing and how well it is going at KFAI. I will write these reflections here. This, so that my advising instructor will have reliable updates.
I’ve noticed already that producing stories at KFAI will be very different than doing so at National Public Radio – Pro Tools is a pain to learn! NPR’s Dalet system wasn’t easy to learn, but I did have a bunch of great people whom I could ask for help. I don't relish changing sound editing software just when I had become competent with one!
I mentioned a cross roads; I see myself as a traditional “top down” story teller. I’m accustomed to sending queries to editors and following up with them to publish stories. I understand, however grudgingly, the attraction of having a web log.
I find it lazy and absurd to keep drilling the name of a web-based journal or column down to one syllable though. I suppose people think it’s cool and hip to dumb the name down.
Some people have a special or even unique journalistic voice and they can self-publish that for free and earn a following, credibility and a career. I’m happy for them. I have only recently had that light of realization go on in my head. A decisive question popped into my mind: what is the difference, time line-wise, in sending and following up on queries vs. simply writing well–informed and well-reported stories on a web journal? Either path can take just as much time when you’re building a resume, a reputation and a career.
I don’t know what my next step is.
I’ve returned home to Minneapolis. I will resume classes at the University of Minnesota; when I do so I plan to independently study at KFAI radio. I want to identify, report and file stories so I can continue to learn by doing. A part of this process will be me reflecting on what I’m doing and how well it is going at KFAI. I will write these reflections here. This, so that my advising instructor will have reliable updates.
I’ve noticed already that producing stories at KFAI will be very different than doing so at National Public Radio – Pro Tools is a pain to learn! NPR’s Dalet system wasn’t easy to learn, but I did have a bunch of great people whom I could ask for help. I don't relish changing sound editing software just when I had become competent with one!
I mentioned a cross roads; I see myself as a traditional “top down” story teller. I’m accustomed to sending queries to editors and following up with them to publish stories. I understand, however grudgingly, the attraction of having a web log.
I find it lazy and absurd to keep drilling the name of a web-based journal or column down to one syllable though. I suppose people think it’s cool and hip to dumb the name down.
Some people have a special or even unique journalistic voice and they can self-publish that for free and earn a following, credibility and a career. I’m happy for them. I have only recently had that light of realization go on in my head. A decisive question popped into my mind: what is the difference, time line-wise, in sending and following up on queries vs. simply writing well–informed and well-reported stories on a web journal? Either path can take just as much time when you’re building a resume, a reputation and a career.
I don’t know what my next step is.
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