The Trials and Tribulations of an Inspiring Journalist by Daniel Posey

Well, well, well my friends, the time hath come.  I am typing the second blog of my life, but I feel like I've typed more than 50 of these.  Maybe it's because I used to type stories on computers a lot as a kid.  I find it fun.  Then again, I was always that person who asked "Why read what is on somebody else's mind?".  Needless to say, blogging has grown on me.  Thanks to facebook and it's tool of learning about people 24/7.

Anyways, here I am, sitting in my room the morning the first package is due in my Broadcast 2 class.  In just 7 more days I will probably be in the same exact place (hopefully with some different clothes on), typing about my experiences as a budding journalist.  To give a quick rundown, my package/story idea this week was "How Preschools/Daycares are Handling H1N1 in their Facilities".  I focused on how the daycares and preschools are battling this flu, and I'm also checking to see if the schools are doing anything different than previous years due to H1N1.

So, I shot my package last week and watched the raw footage in class.  I wasn't happy with the footage (well, let me back up; I wasn't happy that I didn't get some footage I set out to get).  So what do you know, I went back out.  I started calling around to preschools and daycares, asking if I could shoot some footage at their facility.  So many were extremely nice and said "Yes", but I couldn't shoot footage with children.  Well, at the beginning of this week, I found a daycare and a nice lady that allowed me to gain the footage I wanted.  All is well then, right!?  Well...yes.  However, I get a strange feeling every time I get good footage of something, that the writing will turn out horrible.  I just don't want to slack off and think since my video is good, I don't have to have as stellar (yikes, that a strong word.  Let me go with, quality) writing.

This is the part that I turn my head down and shake it.  I have learned within the last year that broadcast journalism is changing at an unprecedented rate.  Therefore, not only do broadcast journalists need to shoot well, they need to write well.  I spent a lot of time critiquing my writing this last summer, and now I do feel more confident.  That still hasn't taken away the fact I'm a perfectionist who can waste a lot of time trying to make extremely small changes.

The bottom line is that every time I have an extended period of time to work on something, for some reason, it doesn't turn out as well as something that I've worked on in a shorter period of time.  Maybe it's the pressure, but I seem to create better stories when I have less time.  My dilemma for my first package is my thoughts that since I've had two weeks, will it turn out of lesser quality than I hope?  I don't think so.  Not this time.  I feel good about it, although I could use some real food (the last time I ate something other than a cookie was for lunch yesterday), a little sleep, and another story...

Actually, I started thinking after I worked on this story.  How many daycares are managed/run by fathers/male figures?  Maybe this story has been done before, but I did not talk to one male who was running a daycare.  I talked to many, but perhaps I just didn't call to any of those daycares.  I think that's my next story idea:  Daddy Daycare!

The Future of...Cars?

So at the beginning of the week, I read an article about GM releasing a car that can travel more than 240 miles on one gallon of gas.  I know that cars like this have been conceived of in the past, but after reading the article I felt as though this car is the beginning of the future of cars.

Well, skip ahead a few days to the end of the week, and I read this little article:

http://autos.yahoo.com/auto-shows/frankfurt_auto_show_2009/1106/Volkswagen-L1-Concept

I didn't feel as impacted by this story as the one I read earlier in the week.  However, I still thought this is the direction that all new cars are taking.  The 240+ mpg sounds wonderful, and even though the car(s) will cost a load of cash when it's first released, the price will come down in due time.  Something that I always look for in car articles (especially for new cars) are pictures of what the cars will look like.  So, I was thrilled to see that Yahoo!/Car & Driver had a picture of this VW to go along with the story.  I noticed the design of the car and realized how Jetson-ish the VW car looks.  I had to laugh at myself for thinking of the cartoon and relating it to this new VW.  That's just my imagination getting wild again...or is it?

Then I started to ponder on this issue.  This is a futuristic car, so how will the general public react to these cars?  Are cars like this to last?

Although I didn't answer my first question (I have a feeling that will be an extended period of time type of question), I did however say "yes" to my second question.  At the turn of 2000, I remember car companies trying to make car models and designs that were revolutionary to the time.  The cars look cool, but there really was no promise.  It seemed illogical at the time.  However, I now feel like this is changing.  Right now.  We will begin seeing more cars like this on the market in the near future.  We will also begin seeing more articles like the one I posted.  The times are changing, and times like this, I have to tell myself we're living in the future.