Thursday, May 6, 2010

The Last Post

For those reading, this will possibly be my last blogpost on this page, as I’ll be graduating in due time. Let me start by saying this: HALLEHUJAH! I’M FREE!

Anyway…

Much of what I’ve learned in this class I have already applied to my writing at The Mirror, learning how to write concisely without much clutter. I’ve almost managed to overcome my struggles with writing quick-but-printworthy stories. I’ve also learned how to organize a story, which I haven’t really done in the past. This has helped with writing quickly; since I have a structure set up, all I need to do is fill in that story structure, rather than think on my feet.

My time as a JMC major at UNC was a good ride, to say the least. There were times where I was asking myself if this was the right path to take in my life, and now I can say, “yes, it was.” I owe a debt of gratitude to the professors, Mirror editors, writers and managers who helped mold me into the person I am today. Because of these people, I now have the tools to do what I love doing – writing – for a living. And for that, I say thank you.

~JW

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Elections and Concerts

Much of my time for the past week has been spent working on assignments for other classes, as well as JMC 410. However, I have managed to keep tabs on stuff happening through the Student Activities office.

The big news in the Student Activities office is the 2010 Student Senate Elections. Matt VanDriel, former student trustee, will be taking over for Justin Puckett’s position of Student Senate president. Taking over VanDriel’s position will be Michael Johnston, the vice president of finance. Ryan Shucard and Azhia Long both keep their current positions, vice presidents of university and diverse relations respectively. Check out the rest of the election results here.

There was also the Boys Like Girls concert that happened on April 11; it was one subject I briefly touch on in an upcoming story about the University Program Council, which put on the show. At the time I had interviewed David Nawrocki, he talked about how he originally wanted to host a big music festival but didn’t have the budget to pull it off. He told me that if he couldn’t do that, he wanted to have at least “one solid band to hang out hats on.” While I didn’t attend the concert, I’m pretty sure it was something that students will not be forgetting.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Busy week

For me personally, not a lot had happened in regards to my beat this week. Much of my time was spent doing a story on the University Program Council, where I talked to David Nawrocki, Kindal Konechne, and Ria Vigil about the UPC, their roles in the organization, and the work going into organizing the Boys Like Girls concert on April 11.

Some of the stuff I couldn’t cover included the Off-Campus Housing Fair on Wednesday. I wasn’t even aware of it until I made a quick visit to the UC and some chick handed me a cup full of Mexican bubblegum and taffy. Later on, a friend told me earlier in the day they were giving out beach balls. What that has to do with off-campus housing I have no idea, but the woman's opening line was, "Hi, do you plan to live off-campus?" (I already do.)

There was also a guest speaker Monday morning that sounded pretty interesting. The UPC had Gabriel Bol Deng at the UC ballrooms, talking about his experience escaping south Sudan to Ethiopia. Alas, I was working on my own UPC story so I couldn’t attend.

Monday also had an Open Mic night, which I wasn’t aware of until I interviewed Nawrocki. (He told me it was his idea.) It would make a great story to do in the class, and sounds like a lot of fun. Who knows, I might just go check it out on March 22, maybe contribute something to it.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Thoughts on the DITL assignment

I just completed one of the assignments of my class, a day-in-the-life story. My subject was about two of the guys in charge of the Student Senate, Justin Puckett and Alex Bradford.

The only difficult parts of the day-in-the-life story involved scheduling conflicts. The first was when Puckett, my original subject, changed his office hours on me. The day I was to shadow him, I had an exam I couldn’t blow off, so I had to reschedule.

The second was when Puckett called me back to tell me he had a meeting to attend and that he would have to cut it short. However, he agreed to let me shadow another office member, Bradford.

Aside from those issues, the whole assignment was a cakewalk for me. I spent a half-hour chatting with Puckett on a range of issues regarding school, jobs, our personal lives and an upcoming project about a UC convenience store. Afterward, I attended an APC meeting Bradford was at that, while boring, was fairly informative about the minute details of how the campus works. Assignments like this remind me why I enjoy journalism – the interaction with official representatives and the way the university works.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Just a little about me

There are two reasons I’m writing this blog. The first is to practice blogging , which shouldn’t be hard for me because I’ve maintained two blogs before. (More on that later.) The second reason is to chronicle my growth as a writer/journalist and watch my writing style progress.

I have been into writing since I was very young, and I never found the right outlet until I was in middle school. In seventh grade, I started writing for the new student newspaper, primarily doing humor columns and special interest stories. After two years of that, I had enough articles to get selected for the high school paper, and subsequently spent the following four years writing for the newspaper, acting as an editor, and also leading the school’s Web-broadcast department during my junior and senior years. I won a couple of awards for my writing and a third-place award for overall best newscast for the Web-broadcast department – one of the proudest moments of my high school career.

During high school, I also wrote for The Tribune’s education page during the summer. (At the time, it was The Greeley Tribune.) It was here that I learned a lot of things regarding format that I still use for writing, such as using only said for quotes.

After high school, I applied for a position as a photographer at The Mirror, UNC’s student-run newspaper. I soon took another position as a writer, and the following year decided to dedicate myself to news writing. I haven’t looked back since.

For my beat in this class, I’m following Student Activities at the University Center. I chose this because it’s not much different from what I do at The Mirror – I cover special events around campus, including a couple at the UC. I already know a lot about the UC, the Student Activities office and what goes on there, as well as people who put together and hold events there.

One of my weaknesses as a journalist is writing feature stories. I’ve attempted these in the past at The Mirror, and often they’re no different from the traditional stories I write. I also have trouble writing quickly – it takes a while for me to write a decent story. Technically, I can write a quick story, but they’re usually not print-worthy, in my opinion.

As far as my blogging experience goes, I maintain another blog for my other interest – filmmaking – and use it to promote some of the short films I post on my Youtube page. I also occasionally post video blogs on YouTube, either responding to viewers or showing behind-the-scenes work on films.



As a filmmaker, I appreciate blogging because it allows me to have an additional platform to showcase my work. As a journalist however, I generally turn my nose up at blogs, because often those that claim to be news sites are of poor quality, opinionated and unreliable. I usually hold blogs proclaiming to be news sites in the same category as tabloids and talk radio. I’m not anti-blogger; I’m just much more critical of “news” blogs in general. Maybe this blog will help me appreciate blogging as a journalist.