SEC Update

Update with SEC transition for University of Missouri by Mike Alden, Director of Athletics at MU:

ARTICLE

Stories!!

Well it's opening ceremony day at the Olympics!! And, the profile on Dr. Lucas is finally out!! Check it out here!

Also, check out the Loyal Vaulting Equestrian Show at Boone County Fairgrounds on 63!! See them here!

Donate to this causE!!

See the donation box in my article!!CLICK HERE

Worth the wait?

Is a story worth the wait? An image?

Yes, usually it is. Today I learned that you may have to wait a long-while for the even to happen due to weather or something else.

Was it worth it? OH yeS!

Loyal Vaulting

Wish you had a cooler life? The Loyal family has an incredible one!!

Go see this family of four--Tim, Elizabeth and their two young daughters Aurora and Suri, perform acrobatic and vaulting tricks on horses in the Loyal Vaulting Equestrian Show.

It's at the Boone County Fairgrounds at 5:30/6:30 pm, 7:30 & 8:30 pm.

An article with great pictures by the Missourian will be up soon! Be sure to also check out their facebook page for pictures by yours truly and to see what they are up to next!! :)
Loyal Vaulting home page with links to their facebook sites

Is Twitter really that powerful?

So we spoke of the power and danger of social media last week. Take a look at this recent posting about Greek Olympian, well FORMER Olympian now, triple jumper. She tweeted without thinking and has now been taken off the Olympic team for Greece... Well I guess that's just more evidence of the  growing power of social media.

Check out the piece here!

Interviewing

Interviewing? Hmm....it is to reporting what polarized sunglasses are to fishers...ESSENTIAL

The most important thing about interviewing isn't the simple questions, what, how, why or when, but to shut up! Let your subjects talk! More often than not, the subject talks and keeps talking and moves from subject to subject or expands on one subject beyond what you expected just because you let them keep going. Sometimes shutting up can reveal something that they didn't necessarily mean to say "the SO what" factor changes etc....

Thus, the most important thing about interviewing, is really to just be quiet and let your source talk. When they're done, then you can throw another question at them.

New Stories....part 1

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/18/highschool-motocross-rider-doesnt-let-summer-heat-stop-him/

reporting....

sometimes when you know you have days and days of continuous reporting coming up....a day off is much called for

July 17th

journalists today should ALL be down with the new technology of texting.....it makes life so much easier for us hard of hearing people

Articles:

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/17/desoto-falconer-promotes-sport-and-helps-birds-prey-survive/

bowfishing piece!!

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2012/07/16/fish-robin-hood-bowfishing-missouri/

Lessons Learned by July 16th

Ok, so when reporting there are important rules to remember--these are lessons I've learned so far:

1. ALWAYS have a notebook and pens/pencils with you (even if you are just galavanting off to the lake with your girlfriends)
2. ALWAYS have a camera, even if its a tiny digital one, ON HAND--(even if you just plan to take pictures of you and your girls trying to catch fish with your hands in the lake and drinking terribly sweet spiked pink lemonade)
3. FOCUS your ideas while reporting, it helps when writing a story. Why do this? So you don't get yelled at by your editor

Try new things!

OH! One last thing....
go BOWFISH!! It's amazing...even girly girls and gamer boys will love it!!!

Loyal Vaulting

Everyone needs to go to the Boone County Fair in two weeks and check out Loyal Vaulting!! This amazing family performs together with their equestrian partners to perform acrobatic and incredible routines that wow the audience. Horses are incredible creatures, and I feel so fortunate to be able to go speak with them when they come to town and experience their life first-hand.

July 11th flashback

Ok, so  I got to experience something really cool July 11th. I drove a little over 3 hours to DeSoto, Mo. to meet with Dennis Samnee, President of the Missouri Falconers Association. His home is amazing! I got to see and interact with 5 different birds of prey, a talkative Macaw, dogs, chickens and geese. Look for the story about Samnee and falconry coming soon!


Lesson: never be unwilling to go to great distances for a source---you never know what story you will uncover

July 9th

Cool things about reporting? Getting to honor amazing people via the written word
Although, it does take over your life....

But, anyways!! HOpefully you will be able to watch this week for two-three articles I will be doing.  I'm also interview Wednesday on Falconry (really excited :))) and then a horse-show on Saturday :)

July 7th

Day 2 of fishing--no fish really BUT tons of fun with Guy Robert! Look for a multimedia article with Emma Kessinger and Nate Atkins on Bowfishing coming soon!

Word to the wise! GO TRY IT! :))

In other terms---sometimes it can be difficult working on an article for a long period of time--you just want to be done. Don't rush it though, because that extra bit of effort can make the article incredible--don't succumb to giving up even if your editor keeps throwing changes and new questions for you to ask and the sources are hard to contact...keep going! Perseverance is key!

jumbling stories= good! Jumbling BIG stories= not so easy !

Best day of reporting so far! July 6th

Attention!! Why do reporting?
Because 1) you get to meet famous Olympic historians
and 2) you get to go bowfishing and get all bloody, gutsy and dirty and catch fish Robin Hood style

Caught 3 fish today and landed a total of 4 (the first one slipped off the arrow before we could get it in the boat). Thank you Jeff and Nathan!
Going again tomorrow....and gearing up my own bow for it this summer


Lesson of reporting: always be prepared to try new things and never place anything or anyone in a pre-concieved story plot or view---you will always be surprised.

July 4th flash back 2012

How did you spend July 4th?

watching fireworks? eating grilled food? by the pool? drunk at bengals? (yes you were many )

What does reporting do to your life on the 4th? It take its over....last night was spent driving all around Columbia taking pictures of places and meeting random people for an Orientation Assignment....wasn't too happy about spending the 4th like that or burning oh a total of $40 in gas for this assignment....

note to future journalism students--if you hate driving, traveling and otherwise giving up your life---don't be a reporter

Something from reporting this week

Alright second week in, have huge stories in the works and not published yet--why? because of the numerous sources, photography needs and the awful difficulty of setting up meetings in order to finalize that last source you need to finish the story

lesson learned: sometimes you have to be patient and not freak out about not having a story published immediately in the week

July 5th

Week 2 of reporting:

Fault lines, framing and sourcing---overall lesson: BE CAREFUL!

today: working on Title IX, fishing story and olympic story

Orientation Assignment

Gans Creek REcreation Area, July 4th

Discovery Ridge, July 4th

Nifong Park, July 4th

Pinnacles Youth Park, July 4th

Columbia Regional Airport, July 4th

Father Tolton Catholic High School, July 4th

Boone County Court House, June 28, 2012

Shelter Gardens, June 28, 2012

Daniel Boone City Building, June 28, 2012

Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, June 28, 2012

Boone County Government Center, June 28, 2012

Hinkson Creek, June 28, 2012

Activity and Recreation Center, June 28, 2012

Columbia Cemetery, June 28, 2012

Rainbow Softball Complex, June 28, 2012

Orientation Assignment

Sarah Bricker

J4450-Summer 2012

Orientation Assignment

People:

·      Angie Jaco

o   Boone County Courthouse

o   June 28, 2012

o   She’s a juvenile probation officer. Spoke of her job and weather, and she says they always have a lot of cases”

·      Kate Bryant

o   Boone County Government Center

o   June 28, 2012

o   Spoke about her job and that she graduated Mizzou. She’s been in her current job for six months and interned last summer.

·      James Herndon           

o   June 28, 2012

o   Rainbow Softball Complex

o   Asked what we were doing taking pictures

·      “Anonymous”

o   Shelter Gardens

o   June 28, 2012

o   Spoke to a security officer because he said my truck was in the way, and while he’s never been interviewed before he didn’t wish too either.

Essay:

            Well this assignment basically took me on a tour of Columbia. I had already been to many if not all of these places except for Discovery Ridge and the two high schools. I learned where these places were and how to find them. And , I also learned it is important to be able to find these places quickly if a story should ever arise at them. I also learned that driving all around Columbia burns my gas tank, and that in the future when working for a paper or any job to be sure to include gas mileage compensation in my contract. Otherwise, the last thing important to this assignment was getting more experience talking to new people—event the ones that don’t want to be interviewed.