Last Day!

Last day at the NJ. Weird!

I finished up 3 stories this week, and I'm working on one more before I leave today. I feel like a high school senior about to graduate, but my teachers keep giving me more homework.

I brought in donuts for everyone this morning and I have a card for Betsy. It's been like a little dysfunctional family here, so I really am a bit sad I'm leaving.

I can't believe how much I learned here. I never realized how quickly I can finish a story if I need to, how well I'm able to speak to people on the phone, how sharp my interviews can be, or how much I like writing features.

It's been such a great experience, and I only hope it will lead to bigger and better things. I think it will.

Adios!

Helping People

I just have to add to my earlier post today--

I got the best phone call a few minutes ago. A woman named Jane (who had a fabulous accent...sounded sort of Jamaican) called me to compliment me on my volunteer article and ask how she could get involved. We had a little conversation and she said my article made her want call me since she knew I would help her. She kept saying, "Bravo, young lady!" as she asked me more about my work here (I don't know how she knew I was young...) and was just gushing about my article. She said, "I bet your momma will be so proud of ya!" (She is.)It was so great to hear from someone who actually feels inspired by something they read, and has something positive to say in spite of negative comments the paper gets online or otherwise.

Reflecting back, I feel like I really have helped people here, and people have so many good things to say. I get so many calls and emails complimenting me on stories or asking me for more information because people want to help or be helped. Writing about volunteer organizations like Forgotten Cats, or inspiring stories like Amporn Vasquez's, or Kaz Sortino's 5K charity...it all makes me feel very positive about humanity.

One of the funniest responses is from my grandmother's friend, Dorothy. I guess my grandmother showed the women in her building my articles, and Dorothy emailed me after my first one to say some nice things. She said that she used to write for The Review when she went to Delaware (she won't tell me how long ago it was, but the paper was called the Blue Hen Review back then). She emails me after almost all of my stories are published with hilarious little comments and congratulations, and I feel like she is so excited to live vicariously through me.

I really feel like my final two stories (about the nonprofit/volunteer organizations Cleaning for a Reason and No One Dies Alone) will make me leave here on such a positive note. It's funny that I wrote so much about volunteer organizations in the state. So many of my articles were about people helping others, something that is very close to my heart. I find it really inspiring, and it puts the biggest smile on my face. That's what I like so much about features--often they are stories that bring our focus away from negative news and highlight all the good things to which we so seldom give our attention.

:-)

Last Week!

Today is the first day of my last week at the NJ! I can't believe it. I actually counted (like a geek), and there were 38 days total that I came into the office. That seems like so much fewer than I thought. I mean I was here for 2 months, and minus weekend days and my one week off I guess it makes sense, but I honestly feel like I've been here for many months.

Last week, David Ledford, the executive editor here, had a big dinner for all the interns. I was honestly hesitant about going at first, because I really have not met any of the interns all summer, and thought it might be a strange thing to sit down to a dinner with people I haven't met all summer, even though we have been working together.

Anyway, I was apparently in the same boat as everyone else, as when all the interns arrived at David's house, pretty much everyone was being introduced for the first time too. I had expected hamburgers and hotdogs, but David was grilling salmon and asparagus, and had brie and crackers and tomato and mozzarella cheese appetizers--a really impressive spread. His wife even made homemade fruit tarts and creme brulee for dessert. He made us feel very welcome, and we all bonded a lot over stories from our summers and eachother's advice. It was really nice.

One of the higher-ups here, Greg, who I didn't know even knew me, also came up to me at the dinner and told me what a great job I was doing, and so did Betsy, and David mentioned how excited he was to read my volunteer story. It was so great to know that my hard work is being noticed here.

Last week I did get to pop into an intern meeting as well. Only one other intern was here (we are all steadily beginning to leave the NJ), and we learned about databases and how to use Excel and Access to compile info.

Also, Betsy came up to me one day last week and asked me to cover a breaking news story. Very exciting. I talked to the editor of the section, and it was to be a story about military personnel arriving home, so I would be able to go speak to them and their families in Smyrna. The problem was, it was already 10 and it would have taken me two hours to get there and back, plus the time to write the story, and I have to leave the office by 2. I had to pass on the story which really stunk. It really is a downer sometimes that I'm not here as much as full-time interns are. I do so much in the time I'm actually here, but when I have to pass on stories because of my other job, it is a disappointment.

One of the coolest things I'm learning about myself here as a reporter is that I don't really need to write down interview questions anymore. I used to plan out my interviews meticulously with questions, but now I just sort of go with the flow and see where the interview takes me. I mean I obviously have some questions in mind and know where I want to go with the interview, but I'm learning to just conduct an interview like a conversation, and it's becoming much easier for me.

Whew-long post. I'll do one more before I leave!

More Stuff...

Finishing up the volunteer story today/tomorrow, and I pitched 2 more stories to Betsy for this week. One is going to be a about a brand-new volunteer organization in DE called NODA-No One Dies Alone. The volunteers are on call 24/7 to come to Christiana Care hospitals if a patient is dying and has no family or friends with them. The volunteers basically sit with people as they die. I think it's a heartbreaking but amazing story. I found out about it as I was researching information for the volunteers story, but thought that NODA was too much of a stand-alone story to include it. It's cool when one story leads to another like this. Betsy was very happy with my pitch, which was encouraging.

Tomorrow, all the interns are invited to a dinner at one of the staff member's house. It will be nice to sit with the other interns and talk about our summers. My regret is that we didn't really get to know one another throughout the summer. I talk to one of the interns, Chris, a little bit, but I don't even know who the other interns are. I wish someone had introduced us to one another--besides the very first intern meeting I went to at the beginning of the summer (only 3 of us showed up) I haven't been asked to any other intern meetings. I think one was held while I was out for the week. I wish I hadn't missed it.

Along with the NODA story, I'm doing a piece on Cleaning for a Reason, a group that works with maid services in every state to have the houses of women with cancer cleaned for free. This is close to my heart, as my next door neighbor, who I was very close to, died of breast cancer, and I remember how difficult it was for her to maintain a clean and cozy home for her family while she was going through treatment. I think it will be great to talk to some of the people who have worked with cancer patients.

Betsy originally said I might rotate to another desk at some point in the summer, but I only have 2 weeks left, and Features is like my home now. I would have loved to get an experience at another desk, but I like that I really got comfortable here. Maybe my next internship experience will be with a news or business or even sports (not sure I would be great there, ha) desk.

I was going to stay at the NJ until some point after Summer College is over (Aug. 14), but my family has arranged a week-long vacation right after I'm done SC, and right after that, classes start, so I told Betsy my last day here would be Aug. 13. I hate to cut my internship a little short, but of course I have to roll with the unexpected. Betsy said she would call my mom and dad to yell at them for taking me away. I will have been here for 2 months exactly by the time I leave. It really flew by. I think I'll wind up with 10-15 big Life stories (most of which ran front-page of the section) and a bunch of little clips from 55 hours as well.

I have to say, I'm very proud of myself. I worked really hard all summer, and it wasn't easy between the NJ and Summer College. I learned so much here.

Only a few more posts left on the old blog before I'm outta here!

Getting There

Only 2 weeks left here at the NJ!

All the stories I've been talking about for the past week or so are finished (wallpaper story finally ran today...gel manicures ran a few days ago...) and I FINALLY found someone for the fedora story to talk to, and today I'm finishing up my volunteerism story. Next, Betsy wants me to pitch something to her.

I'm thinking of asking to write a story about authors in Delaware who self-publish. I've always been curious about how people do that. I think it would be interesting to talk to people and follow their journey from idea to publication. We'll see what she thinks.

I did a great interview for my volunteer story with a 95-year old named Molly who has been volunteering since the 50s. She was adorable, and her family is so excited to see her story in the paper. She must have felt a little famous; I went to see her while she was on the job at Christiana Care, and a photographer and a videographer came too--all eyes were on her!

One of the guys here is having a dinner for all the interns next week so we can talk about our experiences here. It seems weird that it's almost over. I have so many clips from interning here, and that's my tangible proof of all my hard work, but without them it feels like I just breezed in and out of this office for an hour. I'll have worked here for 2 months by the time I leave. Seems short, but I learned so much in a short amount of time.

Keeping it Going...

Had my interview with the great Paula Deen yesterday! I was so starstruck talking to her. She was GREAT-so friendly, funny, charming and fabulous. She has a laugh that's about two thousand times louder than normal, and she loves to curse, which I think is hilarious. She kept calling me "darlin'" and saying "ya'll," and her whole personality just made me want to go out on the town with her. She is so excited to come to Delaware, and I really got the impression that she loves what she does. Why wouldn't she--she gets to play around with buttery deliciousness all day. The story is going to run tomorrow or Thursday.

My Forgotten Cats story ran today, and I've already gotten 2 calls from people who want to use their services because they read my story. It's nice to feel like what I've written influences people, even in some small way.

A bunch of other stories I've finished are going to run at different points this and next week, so I'm getting plenty of clips.

Right now I'm working on the longtime volunteers story. It's hard to find people that have been volunteering for 20 years or more, but two of the places that I've found sources are The Grand and a program called Foster Grandparents. I called one woman from Habitat for Humanity who has been volunteering for six years, but Betsy told me that's not long enough for this story. I called back and apologized for not being able to use her interview--sometimes it's tough spending time talking to a source and then not being able to use them. She was very understanding, though. I've left messages with tons of people, and I've been making phone calls all morning--no one seems to want to answer their phones today. Also, three of the organizations I've called have directors named Kevin. Weird!

I'm sure the volunteer story will take me all week to work on, and after that I might be working on one about moms who use online forums to ask questions about motherhood--still have to talk to Betsy about that one.

It's business as usual here at TNJ.

Craziness

It's nearing the end of my first week of working at both Summmer College at UD as well as TNJ. Craziness! It's pretty hard to do both. I work from 9-2 at TNJ and then I have to be back at UD and ready for SC activities by 3. I don't really get much free time on the weekdays. It's just another learning experience about how to balance everything. It's kind of good the way it worked out, because in the morning (when I'm tired) I'm at the paper, sitting inside and not exactly doing physically strenuous stuff; in the afternoon, I go to SC and do outside activities and games all day. At least I don't have to be energized and ready to go in the morning, because I never am!

I took a 5 Hour Energy this morning, and don't feel like I'm slowly slipping into a coma at my desk like I have been feeling the past couple days. So that's a bonus.

Anyway, I finished a story about the group Forgotten Cats, Inc. this week. I talked to the president/founder, a volunteer, and a man who has used the organization's services. It's funny, even if I don't need to, I always try to use 3 sources in a story like I'm used to from journalism classes at school. Once, a story really only needed the two great sources I found, and I was still struggling to find a third, and Betsy told me I didn't need it. It was weird.

So with that story pretty much done, I am trying to work on this story about the popularity of fedora hats. I got a great interview with a professor of apparel studies or accessory studies (can't remember now) at FIT in NYC, but I really need to talk to people that actually buy/wear these. It's tough. We even put a little ad on the site saying "if you wear fedoras, call Kala!" But only one person got back and it wouldn't really have worked. Since I've been in Newark, I've been looking around trying to notice what people are wearing, but I'm not really finding anything. Ugh. Frustrating. I might need to just go to a store that sells them and see if anyone's buying them.

Next week is my interview with Paula Deen! I had to send her PR person some questions I could possibly ask (and I wasn't sure--is that a good idea? Do journalists always have to do that? I didn't want to be a jerk and say no, but it felt sort of like giving them my story before it was even written...) and the PR girl told me there are too many, because the interview is only supposed to be 15 minutes, and apparently, "with the way Paula talks, you won't get through them all." So we'll see. I feel like I could talk to her for hours, I just think she's so funny.

The next story I really want to work on is one about lifelong volunteers, i.e., people who have been volunteering for an organization for years and years. I love stories like this about people's personal experiences. I sort of felt like some of the stories I've been getting (manicures, hats, wallpaper) were fun and interesting, yes, but also lacking a bit in substance. I think a story about actual people who have dedicated their lives to working for others would be great. I'm also just really into volunteering myself, so I'm a little biased.

I want to start pitching stories as soon as I get all these ones I have lined up over with. I obviously want to finish the ones Betsy's assigned to me, but after that I'd like to come up with some of my own. Now I just need to think of some!

Week Off

I'm almost through my week off from the NJ for my other job training. It's weird not going in for even a couple days; I've become so used to it.

Last week I had 4 story assignments from Betsy that she wanted me to finish. I can't even put into words how hard I was working and how much I was bothering people for interviews, but I only got 2 completely finished-- the other two I had JUST BARELY finished save for one or two interviews I needed. So frustrating when stories rely on just a few key people or things you need before deadline.

Betsy asked me what I learned that week, and told me she loaded me up with stories as a bit of a test, which I was thankful for. I really learned so much about how to work under pressure. At school, I would only work on one story in a week, with plenty of time to figure things out, and people were getting back to me. Last week, it was almost 4th of July weekend so no one was around, plus I had 4 stories and countless sources in the mix. I had to become comfortable with moving from one story to the next in the span of 10 minutes. I usually like to start and finish one thing in a few hours, but that's not possible at a paper most of the time. I adapted and developed an insane note-taking speed and organization strategies.

Betsy told me that she thinks I did a good job with everything I was given, and told me she has faith in my potential. I was really happy to receive her compliments. It was a crazy week and I wasn't actually able to go see people and talk in person, which was a challenge, but I was really glad I got the experience, even if the stories weren't "hard hitting" news (nail polish and wallpaper= so girly.)

In my week off I think at least one of my two stories will run, but when I get back I'm going to finish the other 2 I haven't already, and start some more new ones. I'm really loving this experience. I work well under pressure.

Here's the link to my NJ page with all my stories so far. It's updated every time a new one is posted:

http://search.delawareonline.com/sp?aff=1100&skin=&keywords=mikala%20jamison

Southern Cookin', Ya'll

I'm going to interview Paula Deen from the Food Network! She's coming to the Delaware State Fair July 23 and we are going to do a story on her before then. I'm excited--my first celebrity interview, and with the queen of deep-fried, butter-soaked comfort food. Love her.

My crazy week is just about over. I'm in the process of finishing my third story this week. So exhausting. I've been learning so much about how to manage my time and get what I need, though. It's becoming less stressful for me to just get on the phone and figure everything out with people.

I'll be glad to put this wallpaper story behind me, and I finished the manicure story really quickly today to get it out of the way. My story on Forgotten Cats Inc. is becoming a hassle because the contact had some trouble getting back to me. I finally have all the photo requests in order, thank goodness. It will be nice to have a little break next week, but I can't really call it a break since I'll be training for another job all day. I've just become so used to being here, even if I leave at 2.

I introduced myself to another intern today that sits near me, since we all don't really know eachother. He's from Louisiana. I can't believe coming so far to work in Delaware. Maybe I've missed out on the allure of this state since I've been here my whole life. But hey, it has its moments. I'm certainly discovering more of it by working here, and also discovering, by way of reader phone calls, how many angry people are in this universe--I got an insane call earlier from a woman in response to my self-defense story. She didn't want to gripe about my story, she actually said it was informative, but just wanted to talk to me for 20 minutes about how her daughter was on trial for swatting at a guy at a bar who was physically harassing her. She was nice, but the conversation had nothing to do with anything I could possibly do to help her. Sigh. There's got to be a way to get out of those kinds of calls without blatantly smashing the receiver down...

Can't wait to talk to Paula and for all the other things coming up!

More Stories (and goodies)

Finally found someone to give me a customer for the wallpaper story- it's like the never-ending assignment. It's almost the holiday weekend so people are busy and don't want to help me. Ugh. The copy is done but I need to get the photo assignment in. It's interesting working with photographers to try to tell them what your story is about so they can get photos. Some of them do some really good work.

Now I have in the works like 4 more stories for this week alone, since I'll be out of the office all next week. One is about an organization that rescues and rehabilitates homeless feral cats- Forgotten Cats, Inc. I got a good interview with the president, and we need to get some photos of the volunteers in action.

Another story is about the resurgence in popularity of fedora hats. A fashion story! I've never done one. (Though I do love fedoras and own one myself that I put on when I'm feeling feel particularly fashionable). I have to run around trying to find people that wear them...off to Main Street I go to talk to hipsters.

I'm also doing a story about these "gel manicures" that nail salons are doing. They use some weird technique but apparently if it's done wrong it can be kind of dangerous. One woman's story I found online was about the nerve damage she got from it. Yikes. Prof. Fallik, it makes me think of the story you told us about with the little fish pedicures...so many weird nail techniques out there.

I've been enjoying working in features very much. I started this summer a few weeks later than some other interns, so while they are now switching around to different sections, my editor Betsy wants to keep me in features since I haven't been here as long. I'm glad. We had a little features staff meeting yesterday and it felt cool to feel needed in the section and a part of the team. I'm the only intern here anyway, so sometimes I feel like the baby. In a good way-- they really help me out.

Betsy loves the bright (and I do mean bright) orange nail polish I've been wearing the past few days, and today she randomly gave me a bright pink MAC nail polish to keep. Love it.

Third Week

It's my third week here at the NJ, and it's business as usual. My story that's in the paper today is about the self-defense class I went to cover. It was pretty cool being sent on assignment to actually be a part of the story I was covering. The story is my fourth to run in the "Life" section since I've been here, along with a few other little clips about events that I've done. Last week I actually got to eat a Milky Way "Simply Caramel" bar and evaluate its tastiness as part of my duties. What a tough life...

Right now I'm working on my "wallpaper is coming back" story. We need actual people who have wallpaper in their homes to let us in to take pictures, but that's proving rather difficult. For a story that some might not find too interesting, it's key to get some great photos. I'm working on it! I have a few cool stories in my queue of stuff to work on, so I'm never short of things to do. I'm actually off next week since I'll be training all day for my other job at school (I'm a Program Assistant for Summer College, so I live in the dorms with high school kids), so I have to try to get everything organized for that week I'll be out of the office.

I feel like I'm learning a lot about writing under pressure. I have to find out very quickly what the most interesting part of a story is, and get to it. My editor, Betsy, is really quick to tell me not to buy into some of the b.s. that people try to feed reporters, and that it's my job to find out what's really important to the story. She helps me out a lot here--she's tough, but absolutely gives me credit when I do a good job.

I'm going to leave the NJ with a bunch of clips to add to my collection, which I think is great. I want to start thinking of ideas to pitch, since that's apparently encouraged, but for now, I have too many other stories to worry about!

Busy, busy

I'm swamped right now in a good way! My third story in less than 10 days was published today. I'm so happy that interns have the opportunity to publish stories frequently. I mean hey, the paper is getting free reporting, and we are getting good experience, so everyone wins. Right now I'm working on so many different things, among them: a fashion story, a story about self-defense, a story about wallpaper, one about volunteers...the list is getting pretty huge and I've started prioritizing quite a bit, of course. I just got back from an interview in Wilmington (I got lost, but have chosen not to share that embarrassing information with anyone in the office...) with a wallpaper guy for our story about how wallpaper is "coming back." Who would've thought? Not something that interests me too much, but his personality was so friendly and welcoming that I started asking him questions that I personally wanted to know about wallpaper. Wallpaper design is so much more ridiculously involved than I would have ever thought. It's fun to talk to people who actually want to talk to reporters (of course some of them are business owners who I'm sure don't mind having their businesses promoted in the paper...) since sometimes, at school, students aren't the most friendly or informative.

My story that ran today was one I had a great time with. It's about the exec. chef at Pizza by Elizabeths and her story of escaping from abuse in Thailand, working a million different jobs, and finally learning the culinary trade. It's more in-depth and inspirational than that description, but I loved talking to her and thought the story of her life was tremendous. Of course some person on delawareonline.com commented that the story was "seedy," but what do they know? I honestly don't even really know what that means. The comments on some of the stories online are VICIOUS. Another intern here wrote a story about Miss Delaware, which I thought was a great story (it was a huge piece on the first page of the section), and the comments online got nasty-- calling it a "duh" story and things like that. I guess some people have nothing better to do.

Someone ordered pizza in the office today, which I'm eating as I sit here, because I've been so busy running around that I haven't had time. It's a new feeling, this being busy in the summertime stuff...

Second Week Assignments

Today is my first Monday at the NJ. I've been very busy! I have three stories in the works right now. One is about a DMA student with cerebral palsy who is organizing a 5k to raise money for a camp in Delaware; one is about the fascinating story of the executive chef at Pizza by Elizabeth's who escaped from Thailand when she was young; and one is about self-defense classes women are taking to help protect themselves from the rapes that are happening in DE. For that story, I'm actually going to take the class myself and then report about what happens in the class. I'm really happy that I have all these assignments- never a dull moment.

For the story about the Thai chef, I filed a photo request and Suchat Pederson was going to be the photographer. He is Thai as well, and was very interested in the story. The chef's name is Amporn Vasquez, and when I went to the restaurant to interview her, I was so charmed by her personality. She is so funny and positive and has lived such a full, interesting life. I hope the story will end up reflecting that.

We haven't had any more lunchtime intern meetings, and I hope we do soon, because I haven't really met any of the other interns; I don't even know which people are interns when I look around the newsroom. I think my "mentor" here, Ginger, might be taking me to lunch today, so I'm looking forward to that.

First stories

The NJ is going really well. On my first day, I got right to work. I was assigned a little clip for an event going on in Arden, Delaware that will run in the Sunday 55 Hours section of the paper. Then, I was assigned my first big story. This being features, it was all about the restoration and renovation of a historic site in Delaware called the Read House. I was immediately sent to check out the house, and while I was there, I got a great interview with the director, Michele. I just happened to be in the garden of the house at the same time as she was! I was on deadline for the next day at noon, so for the rest of my first day and through half of my second, I was busy with that story-- calling people, researching, and fact-checking. My supervisor, Betsy, helped me a lot with the story because my lede was too "bogged down." I feel like that's one of my biggest weaknesses as a journalism student; I tend to write and embellish way too much. It's hard to go from English-major detail and voice to such clipped, concise writing in a newspaper, even in features. It's hard for me to get used to, even after three years of learning it in college. I'm supposed to be getting another story assignment sometime this week. My mom came into my room with today's paper with my Read House story in it, and it was on the first page of my section with some great pictures. Very exciting stuff.

The people here are helping me out a lot. The guy in the desk behind me, Peter, is my hero. He seems like he really cares that the interns feel welcome, especially because we kind of get thrown right into the lion's den the first day (not knowing how to use the systems on the computer, not having a key to the building, etc). I finally got my own badge with my photo on it that lets me into the building. I feel so official. I met two other interns yesterday in a little interns meeting one of the staff members ran. He was talking about breaking-news and the prevention of libel. It's nice to get advice from them and be treated like adults here.

Can't wait for my next story...

First Day

My name is Mikala Jamison, and I'm a University of Delaware English major with a minor in Journalism. I'll be a reporting intern this summer at the Wilmington News Journal. This is my second internship, my first being with Out&About Magazine in Wilmington, Delaware. I'm excited to see the differences between interning with a magazine and a newspaper.

Today is my first day at the Journal. I came into the office around 9 AM, but hardly anyone else was here--I always come in too early on the first day of a new job--lateness paranoia, I guess. After a few minutes, my internship coordinator, Alison Kepner, showed me around the newsroom and introduced me to a few people. The newsroom is pretty much as I expected it--a sea of desks cluttered with papers, news clippings, and works in progress. She led me to a desk that will be my new home for the summer, and I'm sure it will end up being just as chaotically unorganized as every other one. As of now, I'm waiting for my Features supervisor (I'm working in the Features section of the paper, which is great since I was Features editor in high school and love feature-type stories) named Betsy Price to come in to get me started up.

One of the things I'm excited for here are the "lunch and learns" the interns will be having starting tomorrow. We all gather to have lunch with one of the higher-ups here who guides a discussion on reporting tips and ways to improve our work here. I think it's going to be a great chance to learn a lot.

My only concern is that I won't have enough time here everyday; I'm only "part-time" interning here, because I'm holding two other jobs this summer. I have to leave the Journal at about 2PM each day, which means I do miss out on a chunk of the afternoon. I obviously plan on working as hard as I can while I'm here (and if/when I cover assignments at home and over the weekend) so I don't miss out on any reporting experience I can get.

Alison is going to be introducing me to Betsy and the other interns soon, and I'll be updating on how everything goes. This internship seems like anything but a "go and fetch coffee" experience, so I'm really excited.