journalism

Just keep walking

Posted on by Mollie Barnes

I am so incredibly glad that this week long story is over. It turned out to be so simple and so straight forward, but it required so many interviews that were complicated to get only for one little bit of news… but it was actually rewarding to find out some news that no one had. I think the story should be pretty good, and it’s scheduled to come out Monday.

With moving this past weekend, and just added stress from that and the squished feeling I’m feeling as the summer session comes to a close, I would say this week seemed like I did horrible, but looking back it was actually alright. I got three articles done (phew) and now I just have to keep my cap on for one more week, ONE MORE WEEK! And then it’s time for sorority recruitment and then classes.

** Let us all take a moment of silence in memory of Summer 2013 **

I had a job interview yesterday and I really really hope I get it. I suppose it’s time to bust out the big guns and write them a hand written thank you note. The interview seemed pretty positive, though!

I’m singing the hump day blues

Posted on by Mollie Barnes

Today is going to be a struggle I can already tell it. It doesn’t help much that Nick is going to the Lake of the Ozarks and I’m stuck here in class! Although it’s probably best he’s gone because Isabel is moving in with me for the remainder of the Missourian class because she’s homeless.

I have two stories in the works, and although this is the final countdown for the class, I’m feeling slower and less productive/creative than ever. Either people are being trickier about giving me interviews, or I’m running out of energy to chase them. Probably a mix of the both.

Although it was pretty neat to see analytics of the Missourian yesterday and see that my story about the two little libraries was the second most read last story in the past couple of weeks with about 1,200 original views!

I also have a job interview tomorrow that I should prepare for! Eek. I must start thinking of goals I have accomplished and my weaknesses so I can answer those questions I can never seem to answer at interviews. Wish me luck!

Becoming a little hypercautious

Posted on by Mollie Barnes

The second time I tried to use the microfilm at the Journalism school library was definitely not a success. The librarian girl couldn’t even get it to work so she asked me to go to Ellis (the main library). Once I got there though it was infinitely better because the equipment there is so much nicer and works a billion thousand times better.

So I actually got the flood stuff finished in about 40 minutes, and it was actually okay because I learned some stuff about the time when I was only a mere five months old! There were people! And news! And not everyone was a baby. It was nice to feel young and even better to finish working at 5 so I could go on a bike ride on the glorious day. 🙂

Later on at night it was strange because I was riding my bike and I saw a house on Ash Street with a lot of people and caution tape all around it and I thought about getting on my reporter face and going in, but I was wearing my workout clothes and with my boyfriend, Nick. I guess sometimes you just have to be a regular citizen. But it turned out that it was a search related to an ongoing homicide investigation.

It was strange because I feel like working at the Missourian has made me so much more hyperaware of all the crime that happens locally that later that night when I was putting my bike up in my apartment complex in a hallway under the staircase, and Nick was around the corner taking the bike rack off the car I heard a series of shots.

My heart seriously stopped and I slowly walked around the corner and then I saw Nick moving around still fussing with the bike rack and realized my mistake that it was just a bunch of firecrackers going off. Phew. I suppose my dad would be happy though that I’m a little more aware of my surroundings and cautious than I used to be.

Or at least that’s what he told me last time I got scared of an event in the news. After all that stuff in Miami about the guy eating someone’s face because of bath salts, I really flipped out and asked my dad to start leaving the light on for me when I was coming home late at night, because he usually just turned it off when he went to bed. He was glad and said, “good I’m glad you’re finally afraid of something, maybe it will teach you to be a little more cautious.”

Parents have the most twisted logic sometimes.

Getting swooped

Posted on by Mollie Barnes

P.S. Sorry for the blog barf today readers… I’m a bit behind on reflective blogs for class so I’m trying to catch up!

Today I had my 3rd GA shift today… and since I haven’t had anything to do for the last two shifts I thought I would look up something to do for it this time. Of course the meeting I found to go to John had already handed out to someone. But that led me to the wonderful adventure of using the microfilm in the library so it wasn’t so bad.

Except at this meeting they talked about the new CVS which was a story that I had been working on, so now it seems another reporter is going to be working on the topic that I had originally been covering. I guess that’s what happens when mystery meetings don’t post their agendas…

I was also really excited to go to the fair, but then I remembered I had a GA shift here until 7:30 so I couldn’t go to that tonight either. So here I am writing a billion blogs.

I suppose if they had corny feelings on WordPress like they do on Facebook now I would be feeling journalistically deflated.

Think of it as Nicki Minaj representing life popping all my journalistic ideas.