Interviews?...hmmmmm

How far do you go to get an interview??? I was sending emails before going to bed as I was finishing my last glass of wine. One of the emails I sent out was another attempt to set up an interview. Low and behold I did not expect to get an immediate response or more so the response, "Let's do it now" Obviously as real reporters we have to get accustomed to going to great lengths to getting an interview and sometimes it will take you to some strange places. But what are the boundaries? What is the appropriate etiquette to keep our professionalism and integrity in tact?

Media Law Conference

Well I attended my first conference relating to Journalism on Friday and it proved to be a worthwhile experience. I was only able to attend the second half because I scheduling conflicts, Fridays I have a group counseling session I run with juvenile prisoners at TGK. I arrived for lunch (Thank God cause I was hungry and had no time to stop) and participated in all the afternoon sessions. Defintely a worth while experience.

Hey I can do this!

Well my hard work trying to search for and contact Luther Campbell aka Uncle Luke payed off tonight. I was still at work cleaning my bar when I checked my phone and saw I had an email from Luke himself. It was a very gratifying moment for me. I had spent a couple hours the previous two days trying to find as much contact information on him as well as gathering some basic information. My efforts payed off and it seems I have learned a thing or thing or two in school on finding people. So while a date and time has yet to be determined I will be interviewing Uncle Luke on his community activism in Liberty City. I won't lie until recently I was unaware that he was so active in the community and was quite intrigued when I came across his latest blog entry: Rebuild Liberty City and Overtown Instead of Tearing Down City Commissioners.
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/03/rebuild_liberty_city_and_overt.php
Further reading into his blog, Luke's Gospel proved to be very interesting as well. So after responding to the email I rushed to finish closing my bar so I could come home and do the prep work I need to do. As much as I may have been an Uncle Luke fan and 2 Live Crew fan, I am from an expert on Luther Campbell. I realized that to do a proper interview I would have to spend a few hours gathering a basis from which I can formulate my questions and conversation with him. So here I am on my computer and have been for the last three and half hours doing just that.

Compliment to a Young Journalist

I received a very endearing and intriging compliment while I was bartending tonight. My barback was complimenting what a hard worker I was, stating that I was the only bartender that he worked with that they didn't ask things of him. I replied that he did everything that I needed him to do for me (Indeed he is the best barback there) and that if I needed anthing I was not afraid to ask. He then began to ask me if I went to school and that began an array of questions from major to internships and all sorts of other bits. He finally apologized for asking me so many questions, which amused me since as I told him questins never bothered me. In fact I have been known among family, friends and even boyfriends to always be full of questions. Its the Journalist in me I suppose. Its been there as far back as I can remember. Even as a little girl my family says I ws full of questions and always being nosey. However as I shared with him asking so many questions has been a turn off at times in my love life for some guys I have dated consider it a turn off. Don't get me wrong I don't put any pottential boyfriends through an interogation or anything, but certain conversations just get be fired and there have been a time or two I heard "Why so many questions?" "Its the journalist in me" has been my reply. A friend suggested I need to learn how to seperate the two. I have yet to figuire out if and how that is possible. This prompted of course a related and interesting conversation on relationships and communication between me and my co-worker tonight. In the end however he explained why he was asking me so many questions. He said he didn't ask so many questins to just anybody there but that I seemed like an interesting person. Someting about the way I carried myself he said showed I had more integrity than anyone else there. His comments which I thanked him for immediately left me thinking. Of course it is an amazing feeling when someone you do not know that well says things like this about you by mere observation at work. But it left me thinking for a few moments and then again on the car ride home. Other parts of our converstaion led him to conclude that certain triat about me would make an excellent journalist. In the end it was nice to be admired for the very qualities that not only have gotten me ridicule in the past but also are the basis for the kind of journalist I hope to become. This conversation certainly brightened my day. It is not suprising to me then it was followed by good news , all those good energies I suppose.

Jessica De Leon...Published Newspaper Woman

Well Friday was a milestone for me, a very small one yet significant in the career I hope to build. Through Liberty City Link in the South Florida Times my name appeared on a byline of a newspaper outside of school. I was very excited. Family and friends very proud. To some it may seem insignificant, but to anyone who knows better knows its a step in the right direction. I've had many family members and friends run out to buy the paper or jump online just so they could see my byline and then proceed to read my work. It is very gratifying when people take an active interest in your work like that. No one just glanced at it but rather they took the time to read each word. They made comments and I conversations, received emails and text message not only congratulating me but commenting on the material itself. I received comments and question about the different pieces. Until recently I did not really realize how much work goes into not only establishing a new publication ( as small as it may be) but the amount of reporting necessary for the smallest of pieces that in the end is condensed so small.
As a final not I would like to thank South Florida Times and more importantly our fearless leader and professor Neil Reisner for giving myself and all of us this amazing opportunity to bring this project to life.

NFL Center supports young people
http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4074&Itemid=144

Film examines happier side of inner city
http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4076&Itemid=144

The News Never Sleeps

Well this concludes Spring Break which certainly was not a break. Yet Liberty City Link did not go on break, well not all of all of us at least. A great lesson learned is that the paper always has to go out no matter what is going on in the world around you. While one of us may be on break does not mean are whole staff can be. Certainly break or not does not mean we disconnect. It's a career we have chosen and part of it is that you can't always completely disconnect from the world. While I'm sure journalists do take vacations, I'm sure most, at least the good ones, don't go long without watching the news and checking email. Liberty City Link is still in its early stages and how far it will go certainly depends on its creators and how much hard work is put in. Of course there is not I in team. We have been given an amazing opportunity that other FIU Journalism majors have not been given. Now we have to own up to it. Needlesss to say I was a little upset when professor/editor tried numerous times to contact as a whole and I saw only a few of us, the same ones, continue to respond. The silence was embarrassing for a group that seemed so enthused. I'm not to say that I am the most available person for I too have a very full schedule, that includes this project, school, full time job, internship and a social life, but I try. Why because I realize the opportunity that has been given. Very few classes offer you the chance to get real experience and clips and accredation that you can put on a resumee or in a portfolio. For someone who has been in school for a long time due to personal reasons, this class has offerred me a way not only to learn the skills I need to finally graduate but also to get the experiece I need to compete in this very competeive field we are going into. It istime to get out of the student frame of mind if a journalism degree is going to mean anything. Trust me I have been working on getting mine along with a second degree for a few years now. One thing being the eternal student has taught me is to appreciate those courses and professor that actually teach you the tools that will help you make it where you want to, so you can have a career you love not just a job that pays the bills. This week's lesson to me certainly has been the news never sleeps. Had it not been for a handful of us Liberty City Link staff members that bothered responded to emails and working on what they could and a very persistent and caring professor, Liberty City Link would have crashed and burned in only its second week. Hopefully the rest of the staff will step up to the plate so that next's week need not be so dramatic and disappointing.

Liberty City Link at the presses!!!

At this very moment the Liberty City Link in the South Florida Times is at the printers. In a matter of hours it will circulate around town and our project will make its debut. Our hard work will finally be actualize. Some of us will see our name in print. Most importantly perhaps is the Liberty City will finally a publication focusing on their community with more than just the latest shooting. Two months ago at the beginning of the semester I never envisioned that we would be here. I feel privileged and lucky. Of the rest of the staff and our leader Neil Reisner, I am very proud of what we have created and look forward to see how far we can take it.