always the journalist, even on vacation

I don't usually preview events in my blog, but this is a sweet exception.

I'm headed to New York City tomorrow! It's all pretty exciting, and I anticipate being exceedingly busy while I'm there. I'll be spending a ton of time with my girlfriend—my reason for going—and just generally enjoying my spring break. However, interesting occurrences always beget interesting blog posts, so look for those soon-ly.

This will be my first time ever in the city. I'm eager to experience it for myself and stop referencing my friends' experiences or the media "Big Apple." While I'll no doubt do touristy things, my girlfriend also has a list of "underground" or "local-only" things to show me. I'll probably end up sharing them with the world via blog. Because that's what journalists do, right?

Casablanca complex

A recent article in the nytimes has me thinking about the role of the letter in our society.

Apparently, Obama used a hand-delivered letter to open communication with Medvedev in Moscow over the conflict-prone missile defense system. Awesome. Not only should we be talking with Russia and trying to foster a mutual friendships — I may be bias here, having visited and loved the country over the summer — but the protocol involved ignites the more romantic side of imagination.

Why use a letter? The most probable reason was probably to cover Obama's "paper trail" — of course, I use paper metaphorically here — which could have made the letter much easier to find and traceable. However, I'm more intrigued by the aethetic element of his move.

Today, letters have a distinctly film-noir feeling. I'm flooded by images of the iconic dark streetcorner, a man in a wet, brown trenchcoat leaning against a lamp post that casts an eerie cone of light just obscuring his face.

A second figure approaches. The first reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a letter, passed in a fluidly nonchalant movement. A shared nod.

The romantic idea of old-time diplomacy fascinates — three-piece suits, fedoras, long rain coats, the warm, full sound of significant footsteps. It's all a black-and-white film for me. So it goes without saying that for a high-tech president like Obama, I'm just astounded by this low-tech, vaguely romantic idea of deplomacy.

the best party ever, sources say

My opinion ran on Monday this week, but I was just too busy to blog until...NOW!

I'm finding it harder to have pure, theoretical opinions; that is, to talk abstractly about an issue. No doubt, I've developed the lazy imagination of a reporter.

While reporting takes a ton of time and effort, the reporter him/herself doesn't need to contribute much. Most good, well-reported stories will write themselves after skimming through your notes, assembling the strongest quote and outlining the narrative progression. The most difficult part—and any journalist can attest to this, regardless of whether they agree with anything else I'm saying—is coming up with a lede (the first sentence or paragraph, designed to capture the reader's attention). Ledes are often the biggest test of a writer's skill. If you've done enough good reporting, the rest of the story should come easily.

That's why writing opinions can, at times, be challenging. I'm lucky; I'm usually present for enough exciting/controversial events and issues that I can use my reporting skills in writing my opinions. However, I can't imagine being an opinion writer trapped in an office building or other such non-inspirational setting. At times, I struggle with this in school already. When classes start slicing into my time, and I'm stuck studying instead of going to events or lectures etc., coming up with an idea can be excruciating.

It creates a definite conflict between performing my job as a journalist and still keeping up with academia, but, right now, I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds, a good balance between class time and adventure.

It really is incredible how much I've experience being a journalist; my world has expanded so much. Over the past two years, I have developed a gigantic list of contacts from all over Phoenix. They are the people I've contacted at one time or another for an article. My friend Joe and I joked yesterday that I should have a "thanks-for-helping-me-with-an-article-at-some-point" party, where everyone who has ever contributed to my work gets to meet and talk. It would be a big party—lucky I have contacts in the food business.

two birds with one Matsuri

Another opinion this week.

Matsuri was last weekend—also the subject of my opinion.

If you can get past the rampant anime/cosplay invasion, there are still plenty of awesome vendors, bonsai trees, origami and yakisoba.

School has really kicked in, so I'm falling behind on the blog.

photo finish in Phoenix

Today in my Online Media class, we ran all over downtown Phoenix on a photo scavenger hunt — BEST CLASS PROJECT EVER!

Our teacher justified the event by saying we needed to get accustomed to using the Sony camcorders. Whatever. I partnered with Tess and we headed toward Roosevelt, hoping to grab something artsy and unusual. We never made it. On the way, we discovered tons of awesome photos, including a baby with his two understanding and hard-to-freak-out caretakers.

I also had to sprint to catch up with this guy, but it was worth it.


It's amazing how many photo opportunities you can come across if you simply look for them. Downtown Phoenix is more alive than people think.

Jimmy Carter @ Changing Hands

This week's opinion was on Jimmy Carter's visit to Changing Hands Bookstore on Friday.

I had a blast talking to people and benefiting from my status as a member of the media — I used my AZ Republic badge to help persuade the lady guarding the door to let me in. Once I was in, Holly, Changing Hand's friendly PR woman — who knows me pretty well from all the events I've covered for them — called me over and set me up. She's so helpful.

The best part, however, was talking to the people assembled outside. I always feel like a real in-the-trenches journalist talking to people at big events.

Mill Ave. Inc.

Things have been busy, and I've fallen behind on the blog. I still wanted to link to my column, though.

This one turned out great. I even convinced my editor, who was pretty excited by the topic, to give me a small deadline extension so I could contact an official source. Going to j-school and having "get both sides of the story" drilled into your head so much, I get satisfaction when I actually do "get both sides." Of course, it's an opinion so real, balanced journalism doesn't apply in the same way, but it still makes me feel like I've done my job.

I have a vague idea for next week. We'll see how it turns out.