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.