So I am now officially a published writer! On Friday, June 3rd, my article was posted on the OC register website, here is the link:
http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/mallory-303109-poetry-poet.html
In addtion to that, my article was published in the actual paper yesterday (Sunday, June 5th) as well, which is pretty cool since I've never had anything published in a "real" newspaper before, to answer Tess. I definitely consider Spring at Sage a success since getting published was one of my primary goals for the week. My other main goal is to put The Bolt online next year, so more people can access the newspaper.
I can't wait to bring everything I have learned to The Bolt next year!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Day 4: So much to do, so little time
I spent the entire morning writing my article and making sure I included all the main points. The challenge was taking a large amount of info and creating a focus to let a story emerge. By early afternoon I had a pretty solid draft so I e-mailed it to Jeff. While I was waiting for him to share his thoughts I made some phone calls to the contacts that Lee Mallory gave me while I was on the phone with him yesterday. Two of the contacts answered the first time I called and I got a few quotes from them about Poetry at Alta (the name of the reading), and their thoughts on Mallory. One of the poets actually called Mallory a "poetry pimp" in the sense that he knows where all the good poetry venues are.
Mallory called back around 4 like he said he would to take any more questions that came up since the last time I spoke with him. He clarified a few things for me and even read me one of his more popular poems that audiences love to hear at readings. Titled, "The Laundry Poem," it is a fun poem that he dedicated to his fiance when he wrote it.
I also checked my e-mail, and it turns out that cast members will not be available for interviewing. Jeff explained that sometimes if an event already has a lot of publicity (the Glee concerts are already sold out), then they don't really need another publication. It was a little dissappointing that I won't have the opportunity to interview someone as famous as a Glee actor but i'm still glad I had the opportunity to do an interview at all.
I finished my article around 6 45 and sent the final version to Jeff to edit this weekend. He will be e-mailing me on Monday or Tuesday to let me know if there is anything else I will need to do, and hopefully it will be published online by next friday 5/3. He also told me there is a very good chance that my article will end up in the paper as well by May 5th, which I am extremely excited for.
When I wasn't working on my article I was looking further into the issuu site. I can't wait to be back on campus next week so I can try and work with the other Bolt editors to get the newspaper online next year, that would be such a huge achievement for me :)
Ill be sure to post the link for the online article when it gets posted, but for now I can say that spring at sage has been a great experience!
Mallory called back around 4 like he said he would to take any more questions that came up since the last time I spoke with him. He clarified a few things for me and even read me one of his more popular poems that audiences love to hear at readings. Titled, "The Laundry Poem," it is a fun poem that he dedicated to his fiance when he wrote it.
I also checked my e-mail, and it turns out that cast members will not be available for interviewing. Jeff explained that sometimes if an event already has a lot of publicity (the Glee concerts are already sold out), then they don't really need another publication. It was a little dissappointing that I won't have the opportunity to interview someone as famous as a Glee actor but i'm still glad I had the opportunity to do an interview at all.
I finished my article around 6 45 and sent the final version to Jeff to edit this weekend. He will be e-mailing me on Monday or Tuesday to let me know if there is anything else I will need to do, and hopefully it will be published online by next friday 5/3. He also told me there is a very good chance that my article will end up in the paper as well by May 5th, which I am extremely excited for.
When I wasn't working on my article I was looking further into the issuu site. I can't wait to be back on campus next week so I can try and work with the other Bolt editors to get the newspaper online next year, that would be such a huge achievement for me :)
Ill be sure to post the link for the online article when it gets posted, but for now I can say that spring at sage has been a great experience!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Day 3: Hard at Work
HUGE day for me at the Register. The day started out slow at 10 am with updating my blog and reading the review online that Paul Hodgins wrote about the Royal Danish Ballet. When he came later in the morning he talked with me about why he wrote certain things and where he got his sources. I got a pretty good idea of how a review should be written and how to focus the review so it will be useful to a large range of readers, not just someone with a knowledge of dance.
Paul also mentioned that his wife is an editor for Orange Coast Magazine, and he gave me her name and number just in case I ever want to look into the magazine side of writing, which I will definitely have to look into.
Then I attended the 2 o'clock meeting, where editors discuss the weekend newspaper and looking forward to next week. What I really liked about the meetings is how they started off by asking the editors if there was anything especially good going on in their teams, and they took turns remarking on the creativity of specific writers or how well some staff members reacted to breaking news to write an article in time. It was really funny to see how that the title of this section in the notes was labeled "good stuff."
A few of the staff members had been asking me the same question: "Is this what you expected when you came to intern?" My answer within the past 2 days of hearing the question has become more solid, and I've decided that the work place is certainly what I imagined, but the similarities stop there. I expected that there would be more hustling and more crazy in general, and I expected to see a lot more communicating between different newspaper sections. Instead, everyone seems to be in their own world, getting the work done and sending the articles through the system as soon as they are ready. There is also more waiting around than I anticipated, but it would be different as a full-time writer because I discovered that there are breaking news articles, but there are also long term articles that are assigned way ahead of time and so they can be worked on whenever someone is waiting for a phone call to be returned. Since I had no long-term assignments the most I could do was check my e-mail again and read over more Register articles.
After the meeting I took some time to look at the blogs of other students with independent projects. Reading about all the different topics my classmates chose has given me a whole new perspective on how rewarding Spring at Sage already is, and the idea of pursuing anything we desire even just for a week is amazing.
With nothing else to do for the moment I sent another e-mail to the tour publicist of Glee Live! hoping to get an interview with one of the cast members tomorrow, since they don't have any concerts scheduled. I figured that in order to get a better idea of what to ask said cast member about, I should watch the Glee finale, so I passed the time watched the finale on my laptop. The 5 o'clock meeting finally rolled around and I walked back over to the meeting room. Not 15 minutes into the meeting my phone finally rings with the person I have been waiting to talk to: Lee Mallory.
As soon as I answered the phone I quietly left the room and began to converse with the poet that would enable me to write my first professional article. I talked with Professor Mallory for nearly two hours, from talking about the 20th anniversary of Poetry at Alta, his second performance poetry group, to his fear that communication will eventually be lost along the newest technology and that poetry is one thing that he believes will revive this communication. I also had Lee give me some contacts that will be useful for getting quotes on Lee and his poetry performances. Tonight I am beginning to organize my notes and put together a draft of a story that can be published online at the Register.
Hopefully I will be able to get at least this one article published but it would be amazing to have the tour publicist for Glee Live! get back to me tomorrow and give me the interview I need to write the concert preview. I told Jeff Miller today that the reporting world reminds me of my life at school: Some days there is absolutely nothing going on and it seems like I am wasting time but sometimes even the very next day life can get out of control with the work I suddenly have. I know that all this hard work will pay off in the end.
Paul also mentioned that his wife is an editor for Orange Coast Magazine, and he gave me her name and number just in case I ever want to look into the magazine side of writing, which I will definitely have to look into.
Then I attended the 2 o'clock meeting, where editors discuss the weekend newspaper and looking forward to next week. What I really liked about the meetings is how they started off by asking the editors if there was anything especially good going on in their teams, and they took turns remarking on the creativity of specific writers or how well some staff members reacted to breaking news to write an article in time. It was really funny to see how that the title of this section in the notes was labeled "good stuff."
A few of the staff members had been asking me the same question: "Is this what you expected when you came to intern?" My answer within the past 2 days of hearing the question has become more solid, and I've decided that the work place is certainly what I imagined, but the similarities stop there. I expected that there would be more hustling and more crazy in general, and I expected to see a lot more communicating between different newspaper sections. Instead, everyone seems to be in their own world, getting the work done and sending the articles through the system as soon as they are ready. There is also more waiting around than I anticipated, but it would be different as a full-time writer because I discovered that there are breaking news articles, but there are also long term articles that are assigned way ahead of time and so they can be worked on whenever someone is waiting for a phone call to be returned. Since I had no long-term assignments the most I could do was check my e-mail again and read over more Register articles.
After the meeting I took some time to look at the blogs of other students with independent projects. Reading about all the different topics my classmates chose has given me a whole new perspective on how rewarding Spring at Sage already is, and the idea of pursuing anything we desire even just for a week is amazing.
With nothing else to do for the moment I sent another e-mail to the tour publicist of Glee Live! hoping to get an interview with one of the cast members tomorrow, since they don't have any concerts scheduled. I figured that in order to get a better idea of what to ask said cast member about, I should watch the Glee finale, so I passed the time watched the finale on my laptop. The 5 o'clock meeting finally rolled around and I walked back over to the meeting room. Not 15 minutes into the meeting my phone finally rings with the person I have been waiting to talk to: Lee Mallory.
As soon as I answered the phone I quietly left the room and began to converse with the poet that would enable me to write my first professional article. I talked with Professor Mallory for nearly two hours, from talking about the 20th anniversary of Poetry at Alta, his second performance poetry group, to his fear that communication will eventually be lost along the newest technology and that poetry is one thing that he believes will revive this communication. I also had Lee give me some contacts that will be useful for getting quotes on Lee and his poetry performances. Tonight I am beginning to organize my notes and put together a draft of a story that can be published online at the Register.
Hopefully I will be able to get at least this one article published but it would be amazing to have the tour publicist for Glee Live! get back to me tomorrow and give me the interview I need to write the concert preview. I told Jeff Miller today that the reporting world reminds me of my life at school: Some days there is absolutely nothing going on and it seems like I am wasting time but sometimes even the very next day life can get out of control with the work I suddenly have. I know that all this hard work will pay off in the end.
Day 2: Watch and Learn
The first thing I noticed when I walked in yesterday at 1 pm was how many more people were around compared to yesterday, I guess most of the entertainment staff was off-site yesterday. I also was personally introduced to Dennis Foley, the internship coordinator that I had been in contact with for my Spring at Sage independent project.
I also spoke with I got the e-mail of the publicist for the TV Show Glee to try and get an interview with one of the cast members for Glee Live! In Concert. She gave me the tour publicist's e-mail and if all goes well I will have the chance to speak with one of the Glee stars about the live tour (Pretty cool huh?). I spent some time writing down some interview questions to ask the cast member, so I will be prepared if I have the opportunity.
I also sent the ScotsFest organizers another e-mail, but I still haven't heard from them. I met with Paul Hodgins, the theatre/dance critic that I went to the Royal Danish Ballet with. He showed me the importance of proof-reading with an article from LA Weekly that claimed the Danish Ballet dates back to 400 years ago (ballet didn't exist in the 1600s!).
I mentioned to Jeff Miller how I was looking to put the school newspaper online, and so he introduced me to Kevin Sablan, a member of the Register i-pad team. When I explained to Kevin what I was trying to achieve, he showed me this great website called issuu, a site for uploading documents and creating high quality online versions. I am planning on contacting Mr. McCandless this week (our newspaper advisor), to let him know about the site.
at 4:55 Jeff Miller introduced me to Rebecca Allen, the OC Register features editor. I went with her to the daily 5 o'clock meeting, where they discussed the front page for the newspaper the next day as well as all the main articles for other sections. Then a member of the i-pad team gave a presentation of the next day's feature, which was on 3-D TV and how 3-D works. After the meeting Rebecca showed me a program that is used for their international news. We talked about me possibly interning on weekends next year at the register as well, which would be a great experience.
At around 7:20, before I got my ticket at will call for the Royal Danish Ballet, I recieved a call for Lee Mallory, the poet I am hoping to do an article on. He told me that although he had a graduation to be at the next morning, he would be happy to call back in the late afternoon so I could interview him, which I am really looking foward to.
I met Paul Hodgins at my seat in the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The hall was crowded because it was opening night. I didn't know much about Danish Ballet, but earlier in the day Paul showed me his article with his interview of the production's director, Nikolaj Hubbe. I learned that Hubbe used to be a really famous dancer himself in New York, before becoming the director of the company he had first performed for before moving to New York in the first place. At the first intermission I followed Paul to the door of the theater, where the Director was standing to ID dancers that Paul thought were particulary good (or bad). Paul told me he looks for how well the dancers understand the technique of the dance, and how well they execute those techniques. He talked with me about adjectives he would use to describe the ballet, and how important it is to think in a way that any reader could understand, whether they no nothing about dance or if they are proffesionals.
Here is the link to the finished review:
http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/-301911--.html
I personally did not expect the ballet to be so modern. Aside from the first piece, the rest of the night was a modern spin from the choreographers, and the last piece didn't even look like ballet at all, it was more of a tribal dance that involved a dynamic of quick and slow movement and dynamic music to match. Towards the end ofthe second intermission I also talked with Paul about my interest in journalism. He reccomended I take a look at Columbia College in Missouri and Cal State Fullerton, two good journalism schools I hadn't yet considered.
I had some big accomplishments today and hopefullly tomorrow will be even better
I also spoke with I got the e-mail of the publicist for the TV Show Glee to try and get an interview with one of the cast members for Glee Live! In Concert. She gave me the tour publicist's e-mail and if all goes well I will have the chance to speak with one of the Glee stars about the live tour (Pretty cool huh?). I spent some time writing down some interview questions to ask the cast member, so I will be prepared if I have the opportunity.
I also sent the ScotsFest organizers another e-mail, but I still haven't heard from them. I met with Paul Hodgins, the theatre/dance critic that I went to the Royal Danish Ballet with. He showed me the importance of proof-reading with an article from LA Weekly that claimed the Danish Ballet dates back to 400 years ago (ballet didn't exist in the 1600s!).
I mentioned to Jeff Miller how I was looking to put the school newspaper online, and so he introduced me to Kevin Sablan, a member of the Register i-pad team. When I explained to Kevin what I was trying to achieve, he showed me this great website called issuu, a site for uploading documents and creating high quality online versions. I am planning on contacting Mr. McCandless this week (our newspaper advisor), to let him know about the site.
at 4:55 Jeff Miller introduced me to Rebecca Allen, the OC Register features editor. I went with her to the daily 5 o'clock meeting, where they discussed the front page for the newspaper the next day as well as all the main articles for other sections. Then a member of the i-pad team gave a presentation of the next day's feature, which was on 3-D TV and how 3-D works. After the meeting Rebecca showed me a program that is used for their international news. We talked about me possibly interning on weekends next year at the register as well, which would be a great experience.
At around 7:20, before I got my ticket at will call for the Royal Danish Ballet, I recieved a call for Lee Mallory, the poet I am hoping to do an article on. He told me that although he had a graduation to be at the next morning, he would be happy to call back in the late afternoon so I could interview him, which I am really looking foward to.
I met Paul Hodgins at my seat in the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The hall was crowded because it was opening night. I didn't know much about Danish Ballet, but earlier in the day Paul showed me his article with his interview of the production's director, Nikolaj Hubbe. I learned that Hubbe used to be a really famous dancer himself in New York, before becoming the director of the company he had first performed for before moving to New York in the first place. At the first intermission I followed Paul to the door of the theater, where the Director was standing to ID dancers that Paul thought were particulary good (or bad). Paul told me he looks for how well the dancers understand the technique of the dance, and how well they execute those techniques. He talked with me about adjectives he would use to describe the ballet, and how important it is to think in a way that any reader could understand, whether they no nothing about dance or if they are proffesionals.
Here is the link to the finished review:
http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/-301911--.html
I personally did not expect the ballet to be so modern. Aside from the first piece, the rest of the night was a modern spin from the choreographers, and the last piece didn't even look like ballet at all, it was more of a tribal dance that involved a dynamic of quick and slow movement and dynamic music to match. Towards the end ofthe second intermission I also talked with Paul about my interest in journalism. He reccomended I take a look at Columbia College in Missouri and Cal State Fullerton, two good journalism schools I hadn't yet considered.
I had some big accomplishments today and hopefullly tomorrow will be even better
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Day 1: Patience is a virtue
Great day yesterday, I am already getting a feel for how a working newspaper like the OC register works. I checked in at 9: 45 and waited in a chair by the front desk until Jeff S. Miller, the editor of the entertainment/arts section came down to meet me. He took me up to the 3rd floor of the building, where he gave me a tour of the office and gave me an over view of the different sections of staff (a lot more people compared to our school newspaper). Then, I borrowed the desktop of Samantha Gowen for the day because she was out sick, where I used her desktop for the tasks at hand.
While I familiarized myself with the Register website, Miller found a possible event I could write a preview for, as my main goal for this week is to get something published. The subject of the article was this weekend's ScotsFest at the OC fairgrounds, but aside for the e-mail address there was no reliable phone contact.
I then took some time to find some upcoming events of my own, and I found some possible topics that would be interesting to write about. When I told Jeff about a poetry reading contest this weekend, he told me about an e-mail he had recieved from Lee Mallory, who wanted to inform the newspaper of a poetry performance event that would mark the 20th year of spoken word that he's been running in Newport beach. I sent him an e-mail and left him a voicemail, letting him I was interested in following up for a possible article.
I learned today that in the newpaper business, patience is a necessary skill. As of now, Mallory hasn't gotten back to me, but hopefully he will contact me by the end of today. I will get the opportunity to go to the Royal Danish Ballet tomorrow night with Paul Hodgins, a staff member of the entertainment section! I am hoping to learn some things about writing a performance critique and what I should look for when writing a review, which will come in handy during my writng career on the school newspaper and in the future.
While I familiarized myself with the Register website, Miller found a possible event I could write a preview for, as my main goal for this week is to get something published. The subject of the article was this weekend's ScotsFest at the OC fairgrounds, but aside for the e-mail address there was no reliable phone contact.
I then took some time to find some upcoming events of my own, and I found some possible topics that would be interesting to write about. When I told Jeff about a poetry reading contest this weekend, he told me about an e-mail he had recieved from Lee Mallory, who wanted to inform the newspaper of a poetry performance event that would mark the 20th year of spoken word that he's been running in Newport beach. I sent him an e-mail and left him a voicemail, letting him I was interested in following up for a possible article.
I learned today that in the newpaper business, patience is a necessary skill. As of now, Mallory hasn't gotten back to me, but hopefully he will contact me by the end of today. I will get the opportunity to go to the Royal Danish Ballet tomorrow night with Paul Hodgins, a staff member of the entertainment section! I am hoping to learn some things about writing a performance critique and what I should look for when writing a review, which will come in handy during my writng career on the school newspaper and in the future.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Getting Started
To whoever is reading this blog,
This blog is part of an experimental progam at my school called "Spring at Sage," where each student is encouraged to pursue a passion of theirs for a week and gain some knowlege from a new perspective. While some students are traveling around the world, or staying on campus to participate in some intriguing seminars, I will be pursuing my passion as a writer by interning at the OC register from May 23rd to May 26th. I will be checking in at 10 am on Monday to meet with Jeff S. Miller, the editor for the Entertainment/Arts section of the register. From there everything is a surprise, but I know that whatever I will be doing will be an amazing experience to finish off my junior year before I head into the summer.
My goal this week is not only to get a sense of what it's like to work in a fast paced writing career at a newspaper, but I ultimately will try to get something of my own published. What I write about is still a mystery, but hopefully I will get some inspiration within the week.
Until next week,
Heather
This blog is part of an experimental progam at my school called "Spring at Sage," where each student is encouraged to pursue a passion of theirs for a week and gain some knowlege from a new perspective. While some students are traveling around the world, or staying on campus to participate in some intriguing seminars, I will be pursuing my passion as a writer by interning at the OC register from May 23rd to May 26th. I will be checking in at 10 am on Monday to meet with Jeff S. Miller, the editor for the Entertainment/Arts section of the register. From there everything is a surprise, but I know that whatever I will be doing will be an amazing experience to finish off my junior year before I head into the summer.
My goal this week is not only to get a sense of what it's like to work in a fast paced writing career at a newspaper, but I ultimately will try to get something of my own published. What I write about is still a mystery, but hopefully I will get some inspiration within the week.
Until next week,
Heather
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)