El Fin

Well, 15 weeks later and I'm finished.

Before I could really say I was finished though, I needed to get an interview with someone at the U.S. Department of Labor and let me tell you... that was at times very challenging, but I finally got it and I think it really made my story so much better.

Overall though, I really did enjoy this project.
 1. I loved learning about deeper ways to search for things on the Internet
 2. I loved exploring a different part of the Manhattan community, one that I didn't really know existed
 3. I liked learning about Job Corps and what they do for so many young people
 4. I loved hearing lots of personal stories for multiple types of people
 5. I really like the way my story turned out

As much as I enjoyed this process, I'm glad it's over. It was stressful, time-consuming and hard-work, but hopefully my story can make some sort of impact, that would be awesome. Even if it only impacted one person, that's still one person.


Everyone has a story. What's yours?

The In-between

It's almost the end of the semester. I can't believe it - seems like just yesterday I was in Doc's class for the first time. Funny how those things happen..

Since it is the end of the semester, my brain has been nonstop. So much to do and so little time. Maybe I procrastinated too much, or maybe I just didn't anticipate how much work writing this story would be. Either way, it has to get done - and by next week.

I turned in a first draft of my main story and once I got it back from Doc, I was a little terrified/shocked. Actually I was a lot more emotions, but we'll just stop there. But, after spending so much time on something and then getting it back with edits all over, is a little disheartening for me. I know it's all to make me a better writer and my piece better overall, it just kind of stung. But, then I think about where I would be if I only made first drafts of everything - probably not very far.

It's been a few hours since I got back my first draft back and can now think about how I want to make it better. It's not going to do anyone good if I just sit and don't make the needed changes.

So, here I am. Ready for round two. Hopefully it's not a knockout.

Procrastination, Procrastination...

It's been entirely too long since my last blog, so here I am.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot done for my story over Thanksgiving break. Partially because I was busy doing some stuff with my family and mostly because I simply wasn't feeling it.

But now, I'm back to reality and I'm in crunch time. I feel safe in saying that my sidebar piece is done, minus a few changes (hopefully), that way I can put my entire focus on my main piece. Our teacher told us before break it'd be a good idea to turn in a rough draft of our main story on Wednesday, which is fine except for the fact I haven't started!

I know you're probably saying, "Wow, she need's to get moving!" Trust me, I know. Even though I haven't started with my main story, doesn't mean I haven't put any thought behind it, because I have! Woo, go me!

I think I'm going to split my story up into five different sections, but I don't want to tell you what each section will be about, because then it wouldn't be a surprise! So you have to wait a couple weeks for the final piece.

Now, I need to go write my first draft. Ta-ta for now. Wish me luck!

"It's a Journey."

"Wow."

That was the one thing I could say to myself after my interview with the Flint Hills Job Corps student. I went in there not really knowing what to expect, but I came out with a girl's life's story. I'll tell you about the interview in a minute but I just want to make note of something real quick: isn't it fascinating the different stories/lives people have. This interview and my visit to Job Corps made me realize just how much, or I guess how less, I deal with diversity in my life. So, this was a nice way of showing me that I need to put myself out there more often, even if I am uncomfortable at first.

After that quick thought, let me tell you how the interview went. I met with this 17 year-old girl who is a culinary student at the Flint Hills Job Corps. We first started talking about her background, like why she is at Job Corps, why she chose culinary, etc. Then, I asked the simple question, "What has been your best experience at Job Corps?" She excitedly responded by saying, "The state test for the G.E.D." This was the kind of success story I was looking for, but she quickly went on to say, "Well... the journey to taking the state test." Now, I don't want to give away the journey she went on to tell me about, you'll have to wait and read my sidebar for that, but let me tell you, it's going to be worth waiting and reading it. It's really powerful and I was so thankful for her to opening up with me about one of the worst experiences in her life.

After the interview, she asked if I'd send her the final piece and a copy of the video (I recorded the entire interview), and I gladly said, "yes." If she could open up to me about a horrible thing that happened to her, the least I could do was send her the finished piece.

I did finish a first draft of my sidebar and am still waiting to hear what my teacher thought of it. It was so hard to write, which hopefully you all will see when you read it in the future, but after I was done, I felt proud of myself for handling an issue this big.

P.s. Incase you didn't know... Life's a Journey.

Facing the Challenges

Let's start with some good news! I have finished my multimedia for my Job Corps piece. I decided to do a Google map of all the different Job Corps centers in the United States and Puerto Rico. I think it looks really cool now that it's finished, but let me tell ya, it sure took a long time to find all those places on the map and then separate them all into the different Job Corps center regions. My other multimedia piece is a wordle. For this I decided to directly link the wordle with Job Corps Fraud Blog website. It's filled with words that are used the most on their site. It'd be interesting to compare that with a wordle from the official Job Corps website. Maybe I'll do that just for fun and see the differences...

Anyhoo, I still haven't been able to meet with the Job Corps student, but I'm supposed (not getting my hopes up at this point) to be getting a rental car this afternoon and I've scheduled to go to the Flint Hills Job Corps tomorrow afternoon for the interview. Hopefully all goes well for this, because this might be my final interview  I need for my story. Unless, of course, I want more later... but probably not.

Also, I called the guy working at the Department of Labor and had an, uh, interesting interview with him. After about ten minutes of tense conversation, he decided to tell me he doesn't work directly for Job Corps anymore, like I thought he did. Not only did I feel stupid, but I'm sure he saw it as a major waste of his time, too. Oh well, what can you do? I was going to try and call someone who actually works for Job Corps this week, so I'll keep you updated on that.

I'm feeling kind of behind, since I don't even have my sidebar done, but hopefully with my Flint Hills Job Corps student interview, I can get that knocked out of the park and put all my focus on the main piece!

"Iceberg! Straight Ahead!"

The past few days have been a roller coaster, to say the least.

On my way to go interview the Flint Hills Job Corps student, I got in a car accident and am now without a car for a little while. It's weird how one minute you can be super excited for something and then the next your emotions are a complete mess. That's kind of what happened this weekend. That's life though, huh? Now my challenge is trying to find a way over to Job Corps to get this interview I'm supposed to already have. Oy vey!

In happier news, I've heard back from another person I can interview for my story. He's a reporter for a newspaper in New York and has been covering his local Job Corps for a little over six years, so I'm sure he'll have some good things to tell me.

One thing that has surprised me throughout this process is how badly people want their story to be heard. It's funny that people love to talk about themselves and their stories. I personally love it from a journalistic perspective.. it makes my job much easier!

Here's to finishing up my interviews before Thanksgiving!

Good Things Come in Twos!

I can't believe it's been over a week since my last post. I found myself sitting at the computer doing research and remembered I must continue on my blogging adventure! I wouldn't want any of my adoring fans to get upset because my blog stopped, so the show must go on.

Anyways, I received two forms of good news today. First off, I got confirmation from a Flint Hills Job Corps student to go ahead and come interview her tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to hearing about her story and what she thinks of Job Corps. This would be a great way to make a local-connection in my Job Corps story. Not only will it be my first in-person interview with an actual Job Corps student, but it will be my first time ever going inside a Job Corps center. So, hopefully the interview goes well and I get loads of information from her that I can use in my story. Heck, while I'm there, I might even try and meet with the Director of the Flint Hills Job Corps Center while I'm there... you know, if he has spare time for someone like me. We'll see..

My other good news that I received was in the form of an email. In my last post I mentioned that I needed to start getting in contact with experts to interview for my piece. Well, it took a few days and a couple email reminders later, but I got my first response today from Brian Kennedy, the Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Labor. WOOOO! I'm really excited to call him next week (that's the next available time for him to talk) and see if I can get some good responses from him. I have a feeling he'll have a lot to say..

I'll be sure to post a follow-up blog on how these two interviews go and talk about my findings. To be continued...

Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About

The days keep flying by it seems, I continually have less and less time to do things. But, don't fret, the journalism lords hath no fury over me.

So far, my investigative piece on Job Corps problems is coming along smoothly. I've already gotten three good informal interviews out of the way. Two of the interviews were from Job Corps students and the other was from a couple parents of a Job Corp student. I've got to say that through just these few interviews and my research thus far, I'm learning about a whole other dimension to Job Corps, one that probably a lot of people don't know about either. I have to keep telling myself that even though there are bad aspects to Job Corps, there is still a lot of good about it too, I'm just not writing about that part.

Anyways, now that I've gotten a few informal sources, I really need to get the ball rolling with setting up my expert interviews with people. I probably should have already started at least emailing these experts to see if they are even interested in being interviewed, but what can I say, I'm a busy college student!

So, here's to a week with success and procrastination, maybe even an expert interview!

Broadening My Horizons

The wheels have started turning - my story is under way! I've been doing some research now for a couple weeks and I've learned a couple things in the process.

1) There are so many more ways to search something on the Internet instead of simply using Google or Yahoo!. Before this class started, I didn't use much of anything besides Yahoo! for searching things. My professor would call this type of searching, 'surfing the web.' Since then though, I've learned to 'dive into the web.' By using library databases, advanced searches, blogs, Twitter, etc., I've been able to do some really awesome research for my story that I probably wouldn't be able to do beforehand.

2) After a while of searching the same search terms in any website, you a lot of times get the same results. I guess I could thank the wonderful Internet for this, because it's made me be a lot more creative about what I'm trying to search and find. It has also helped me make my story topic a lot more specific. At the beginning of this class, I wanted to write simply about Job Corps in general. After my hardcore research thus far, I've learned that there is so much information on the problems with Job Corps, specifically with crime-related problems, which is my topic now.

At times all this researching can be a nuisance, but I'm enjoying the process thus far!

Here's to more (hopefully) happy posts.

Let's Get It Started!

Oh, the adventures.

I guess I should start out by telling you who I am and why exactly I'm here. First things first - my name is Kate Harness and I'm currently a junior at Kansas State University persuing a Bachelor of Arts in Digital Media. In one of my classes this semester, MC 316 Computer Assisted Reporting,  I've been assigned to write a story about a topic that is "out of my norms," if you will. More technically, a story written about an issue of a multicultural perspective. I know you must be dying to hear what I chose to write about, so I'll make you wait no longer!

As part of a service project for one of my spanish classes this semester, I'm working with a group of students from Job Corps. During our time together, the Job Corps students and I talk about life, family and their futures. Still wondering what my topic is? Well, I thought I'd be nifty and 'kill two birds with one stone' I'm writing about problems with Job Corps, more specifically the crime-related problems.

Now that I have my topic selected, I can start the lengthy research portion of this assignment. Oy vey.....

P.S. Come back again. Please.