TIME OUT: My Electability

Here is an e-mail I sent to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' GLBT Caucus, of which I'm a member:

I'm running for the Student Representative position on NAHJ' Board of Directors. I'd appreciate your support in helping me get the number of petition signatures via e-mail needed (25) to stand as a candidate.

For those who don't know me, I'm a non-traditional student living in Kansas. I attend Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan. and Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan. NAHJ selected me as a participant in both the Student Campus and Latino Reporter projects in the past as well as awarded me a Ruben Salazar Scholarship. The Society of Professional Journalists awarded me it's 2006 First Amendment Award for my investigation that uncovered allegations of sexual harassment against my college president and the open records battle that followed. I've also won several first place writing awards in state competitions where I also earned the Journalist of the Year award. I've participated in the Associated Press' Diverse Visions/Diverse Voices program, the National Press Foundation's Introduction to Washington program, and the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association student projects. Of course, I am also a member of the NAHJ GLBT Caucus.

If you feel that as a member in good standing you can support my efforts, please use the following template to send your e-mail to ravila@nahj.org by June 18.

I (STATE YOUR NAME), of (COMPANY THEY WORK FOR OR OTHER FORM OF IDENTIFYING EMPLOYMENT) support the candidacy of _________________ for (position) ____________________ in the 2008 election of the NAHJ Board of Directors. This statement counts as my virtual signature and I have included my full contact information below.

Thanks for this opportunity to serve an organization that has served me,

miguel

If I secure enough e-signatures to be on the ballot, I'll layout my platform points because I definitely have ideas on the direction NAHJ needs to head and how students can help the organization get there.

TIME OUT: J-lessons from NIU tragedy

I heard from Danielle Guerra, my Associated Press Diverse Voices/Diverse Visions colleague, who is now at The Northwest Herald. Danielle served as a photographer at the AP seminar/mini-internship in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2006.

After the program, she sent the group an e-mail saying she was considering moving into video. She seemed conflicted about it. I think Danielle struggled with the decision because even in the age of convergence, video doesn't get the respect it deserves. Also, there's the fear that change means leaving what you love behind. In her case, it's her passion for telling stories through images.

Clearly, Danielle still has a passion for photography as seen on her Sports Shooter page. Yet, one can also feel her passion for video.

So the lesson is that if you love telling people's stories, it doesn't matter what form it takes -- the passion will come through.

Hey guys!

Thanks for checking out my videos! NIU was very difficult to cover. I was on the scene about 45 minutes after the shooting and there such a mixture of feelings.

Nobody knew if the gunman was caught or dead, cell phones didn't work, and students either wandering around in a trance or locked up in residence halls.

The day after the shooting, the national media arrived in Dekalb. It was quite a mess just trying to talk to people one-on-one without 15 cameras behind me being shoved in their face while they are mourning.

I cover Dekalb quite a bit and our sister paper is the Dekalb Daily Chronicle so I felt I needed a different level of respect while I was gathering my news because unlike the national media, I would have to come back and cover the college past this tragedy. I remember how outraged Virginia Tech was with the media.

So I knew that one of the victims worked for the school paper and I had some student journalists sitting next to me at a press conference so I asked if I could tag along. There's only so many mourning videos, I as a person, can do. And the staff actually said that working through this and writing stories and taking pictures helped the cope. I thought they did a tremendous job going toe-to-toe with the national media and delivering the news students on and off campus needed to hear.

Other than NIU, things are great here. We were featured on Editor and Publisher for our NIU coverage. I have a project about a local brain cancer cluster up right now and my paper just nominated it for a Pulitzer in local reporting. It's exciting.

I know when I was at the workshop I was unsure of my decision to jump into video, but I'm glad a paper took a chance on me and I'm glad I made that decision.

Hope all of you are well.

NIU really put people into perspective for me, so tell people close to you that you love them.

God bless,

Danielle

NEWS: Inside the NIU Shootings

Hassan S. Ali produced and posted great 10-minute video at FRESHCUT featuring the staff of NIU's student newspaper, The Northern Star. This is exactly why I'm proud to be a student journalist.

Another video featuring the student newspaper comes from The Northwest Herald. The video is by Danielle Guerra, one of my student colleagues from the 2006 Associated Press Diverse Visions/Diverse Voices program.

TIME OUT: Pimp My Writing

"Ninety percent of being a journalist is showing up."
- Mitch Gelman, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, CNN.com

Here are a few of the topics from my presentation "Pimp My Writing" at The Campus Ledger's spring orientation.

The session covered:

• Can I ax you something? - Developing questions that are both word and hatchets
• Journalistic Bling - Style and Voice vs a hot mess
• That's tight -- literally - Writing tight and with a focus

I'll add a few notes from the discussion and the Q&A.

Below are some of the web links I mentioned in the presentation.

Websites:

• Ask the AP Style Editor
• Edit Teach
• News College
• Poynter
• News U
• No Train, No Gain

Handouts:

• Make Every Word Count
• Helping Reporters Improve Stories
• Covering Meetings
• Ten Tips for Better Cutlines
• Writing Must-Read Columns

Freedom of Information:

• Student Press Law Center letter generator
• JCCC Open Records policies

TRAINING: Cleveland ROCKS!

The AP put us into pods, meaning a writing mentor and a photo mentor each supervised a writer and a photog team. My partner was an incredible photog named David. Our story focused on Cy and Mary Buynak. They serve as hosts for the Cleveland Indians visiting clubhouse.

That week my hometown team, the Kansas City Royals, played the Tribe. The AP arranged for our all access MLB credentials. The AP journalists who regularly cover sports enviously said our access was unprecedented.

I learned to overcome my fear of sports. In doing so, I had to interview the Royals after they gave up two runs in the last inning losing 6-4 to the Tribe. I gotta tell you, talking to losing players in the locker room isn't a fun thing. Maybe because I’m so ignorant of sports doing such a thing is incomprehensible--but I did it. I feel good about my reporting but the final product didn’t meet my substandard.

I worked on a 500 word limit but other teams ended up with over 1,000 words. I feel compelled to rewrite the story. I’ll do so this week and e-mail it to David as he wants to put it on a website with his photos. I know he had to be disappointed in the final story--I was.

I wish I had gotten to know the other participants better. Being an introvert makes it difficult for me. Although I think talking to the pitcher who gave up the winning run might be a good example of walking through my fear. I also met some good AP mentors. In fact, two photo mentors work in the KC bureau.

Overall, I had a great experience and encourage others to apply for the Diverse Visions/Diverse Voices workshop.

COMMENTARY: AP Style

I'm preparing for my trip to Cleveland for the AP's week-long Diverse Voices workshop. This is a great opportunity but I have several problems with leaving Kansas City right now.

• It's finals week.
• I'll miss two Board of Trustees meetings. The first addresses selecting an interim college president. The second addresses rescinding the resignation of the vice president of Student Services.
• I have to leave the newsroom before everyone else. I don't get to say the big goodbye to several staffers.
• I lose a week of work at the library in addition to the work lost between semesters.
• I gave up key freelance work because working from Cleveland without a laptop will be impossible.

Again, I'm excited about the trip but I had to go buy some reporter clothes. I hate shopping. I usually just wear jeans and a shirt. But I need to start dressing like a reporter. It's funny because when I was a migrant farm worker, I always wanted a job where I could wear a tie.