Finding Motivation, and Staying Motivated

Two of the essays in part IX of Telling True Stories stood out to me.  Stewart O’Nan’s Not Stopping: Time Management for Writers, and Susan Orlean’s A Passion for Writing.

O’Nan begins his essay with a quote from Joseph Conrad.

There are only two difficult things about writing:  starting and not stopping.

While there are certainly other difficult parts of the writing process, I do agree that forcing myself to write is really one of the more painful parts of the process.

I first started writing when I was about 15.  I guess what I was doing was keeping a journal, but I didn’t really call it that.  I would write every so often, maybe every two weeks, sometimes more time would lapse, and I would write about things going on in my life.  My entries would usually start off with a description of some event, a soccer game, a party, etc.  but somewhere in writing about some event I would usually come across some new fresh almost philosophical idea.

Not that these entries would mean anything to anyone else, but my favorite part about writing was going back and reading previous entries before creating a new one.

I never would make myself write, I would only sit down and write if I had an idea that I needed to put on paper.  But I always enjoyed my own writing, and would find these new ideas other from what I sat down to write.

So I guess there are countless ideas I could have stumbled upon had I forced myself to write more frequently.

Susan Orlean writes about her passion for writing.

Susan Orlean image courtesy of www.susanorlean.com

Occasional discomfort, both physical and emotional, is one of the burdens of being a narrative writer.  This isn’t a desk job.  As much as I might resist getting out there, it’s the only thing that works.  Every time I push myself out the door, I try to remember that there will be a payoff.  Often when I’m out reporting, my deepest desire is to go home.  By forcing myself to stay out there, I usually discover something on which the whole story turns.

Orlean writes about taking pride in her work.  I’ve heard reporters talk about loving being out there chasing a story, being in a new setting everyday.  My passion for writing more closely resembles Orlean’s.  I like reading my work, well I do when it’s good, that’s why I started writing for fun when i was 15 and why I chose to try and pursue it as a career.

Whatever grunt work goes into it, it is important to remember that something is going to come out of it that you will be proud to have your name on.  That is what I took from Orlean’s essay, and I couldn’t agree more.

It’s Britney Bitch

Alright, I went back and forth deciding whether or not I really wanted to write about this, but it truly was one of the more interesting television documentaries I’ve seen in a while. And I am being serious.

Last night I caught one of the many replays of MTV’s Britney: For the Record. This hour-and-a-half special first aired Sunday night, two days before the release of Britney Spears’s new record Circus on Tuesday December 2, the singer’s 27^th birthday.

The special consists of footage from the past couple of months, chronicling the pop-star’s latest comeback, and provides an interesting insight into mega-fame in our celebrity obsessed culture.

At times Britney seemed to be a prisoner of her own celebrity. All of her decisions seem to be made for her, by her father and a team of managers, lawyers, and handlers. I believe that her father may still have some sort of legal mandated guardianship over her, but this was not explained during the television special that produced by Spears.

“Even when you go to jail you got the time when you know when you’re getting out,” said Spears in what seemed to me as one of her more sincere moments.

She described her life as “too in control, no excitement, no passion. It’s like Groundhog’s day everyday.”

But what I found so compelling about Spears in what was supposed to be a true insight into her life, she seemed to be a contradiction, not able to make up her mind. While one minute she was saying her situation was worse than being in jail, she also refused to admit that her life wasn’t normal, and continually claimed she loves her job.

“Normal is different for everybody,” said Spears. “It could be a lot worse, you know what I mean. I think to myself there are people out there who have it a lot worse.”

“I used to be a cool chick. I feel the paparazzi has taken my cool side away,” Britney tells us at one of the moments when she isn’t a pop-icon, but just a girl with a crush. “I miss the days of going out and hanging out with a guy.”

Spears and her choreographer have traveled to New York to see the Broadway musical In the Heights. Afterward two of the actors join them for dinner. Britney likes one of them and spends the evening flirting, giggling, and having fun. As the dinner ends she describes how part of her life is missing. She knows she can’t pursue this guy. Dating isn’t a part of her life anymore.

Britney describes the evening as being like a dream. A dream that you know is a dream, but you don’t want it to end, you don’t want it to be a dream. And then you wake up and it’s gone.

Can someone be oblivious one minute and borderline profound the next? What is normal?

I remembered a profile I read written about her by Chuck Klosterman, and went back to read it. The piece titled Bending Spoons With Britney Spears appeared in Esquire in November 2003 and also can be found in Klosterman’s book IV.

Britney's November 2003 Esquire cover photo by James White

Klosterman describes his encounter interviewing Britney as a series of contradictions. She refused to acknowledge that she was a sex icon, even though she was being photographed for the cover wearing only a sweater that did not quite cover her lower half.

Klosterman says that Spears refuses to deconstruct herself and in doing so achieves a balance that she either consciously strives for or sustains without even trying. She is all things to all people. Her statements on the surface seem insane and superficial, but are also neutral and contradictory.

She’s able to achieve what politician’s spend their careers trying to perfect. A double-speak that seems unquestionably sincere. Maybe that’s why so many people are so fascinated with her, why she is the most famous person in the word, the most internet searched 7 out of the last 8 years.

At the end of Britney: For the Record, the director that we never see but whose voice we hear from time to time asking Britney questions during the interview portions, asks her what she wants her fans to know about her, what she wants people to take from this documentary. After a long confused silence she concedes with a whisper “I don’t know.”

After 90 minutes of telling us one thing, then another, playing the victim one minute, and the girl who loves life and loves her job the next, she has nothing to say. It’s up to us.

It was perfect.

Obama Names Richardson Secretary of Commerce

In his most recent appointment President-Elect Barack Obama named Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico secretary of commerce.

Obama has named about half of his cabinet positions so far.  And sees the secretary of commerce as an important position, not a consolation prize for Richardson who some speculated as Obama’s possible secretary of state.

From NY Times:

“Commerce secretary is a pretty good job,” Mr. Obama said, after being asked by a Hispanic reporter about the appointment of Mr. Richardson to a post not considered among the cabinet’s more prestigious or influential. 

“I think the notion that somehow commerce secretary is not going to be central to everything we do is fundamentally mistaken.”

 

President-Elect Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo: Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

Media Coverage of Plaxico Burress Shooting

 

A year and day after Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was murdered in his home, New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress accidently shot himself in the leg.

Burress was out with teammates in a Manhattan nightclub when a handgun he was carrying went off and wounded his right thigh.

In the days since there has been much media coverage about the questionable judgment of Burress. 

Plaxico Burress (Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Sportswriters and former players alike have been critical of Burress.  And I agree he did not act in the most responsible way, but where is the mention of the need of high-profile athletes to protect themselves.

I feel the media coverage shows a common theme in sports coverage.  I find that most sportswriters or former players come analysts foster a resentment towards today’s players and their high salaries. 

Sean Taylor was murdered a year ago.  On September 25, 2000 Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce was stabbed 11 times in the face and neck at a nightclub in Boston.

I am not saying that Burress was acting responsibly, but maybe the NFL should adopt a program that educates players on personal safety and security.

Burress was carrying a weapon he did not have a permit for, there is no excuse.  But I am saying I understand his concern for personal safety, and wish that someone in the media might also bring this up.

23-Year-Old Blogger Lectures Class

“If any of you are ever offered a job covering politics and asked to start the day before Election Day, don’t do it. It’s a bad idea.”

Jimmy Vielkind, 23 of Troy, NY, spoke to a group of journalism students tonight at UAlbany. Vielkind, former cops reporter for the Times Union, recently took a position as a blogger for politickerny.com. Vielkind covers all things upstate New York politics for the site.

Vielkind admits that his recent career choice has its risk.

Jimmy Vielkind image courtesy of timesunion.com

“I left the Times Union, bastion of stability and important part of community, to join an online media outlet that might not be around in 153 days,” said Vielkind.

Some of his colleagues at the Times Union thought he was nuts, but Vielkind would argue it was a well-reasoned move.

“Online media appeals to me. I’m convinced online media is the way to go. Every morning you wake up and get the newspaper delivered to your door, its state of the art technology as of 100 years ago,” said Vielkind. “You don’t have to just use words; you’re not constrained as a writer to just use words. It’s a more powerful medium.”

The new challenge of using photos, links, and videos to supplement his work is not the only perk of his new job. Vielkind said that during his time at the Times Union he worked the night time cop shift from 4 p.m. to midnight.

“The only people I would socialize with were the old women at the library where I would check books out in the morning,” said Vielkind.

His new job at politickerny.com offers him more regular hours.

Overall Vielkind couldn’t have seemed happier with his new job, and his optimism about the field of online journalism was inspiring to the room full of students.

“I’m seriously convinced that this is the future. As we as a society figure out how we are going to consume news and information in the future, and we as journalists are deciding how to report news in the future, I want to be a part of it,” said Vielkind.

Voter Fraud

Lead singer of Tool thinks of himself as greatest singer of rock era.

So Rolling Stone has released a list of top 100 singers of the rock era. I spent a few minutes browsing through it a few days ago and thought it was pretty interesting. The list features a number of testimonials written by other artists. For example Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy praises Michael Jackson, number 25 on the list.

A conversation with my brother led my back to the list today to see whether or not Etta James made the list (she did at number 22), and I found a more interesting feature. Rolling Stone released the ballots of 24 of their voters.

Here are my favorite ballots. Check out the ego on these four: Courtney Love, James Blunt, Sebastian Bach, and Maynard James Keenan.

Aside from these four, Rolling Stone did put together a pretty interesting list of credible voters.  I wonder if these four feel any embarassment about having their ballots posted for all to see.

Do not add. Do not deceive.

 

In my time studying journalism, the most talked about topic in each of my different classes has been ethics. 

The book Telling True Stories devotes a section to ethics with passages from a number of different writers.

I have never seen the issues journalists face described so simply and as completely as Roy Peter Clark has in his essay “The Line Between Fact and Fiction.”

“Do not add.  Do not deceive.”

image courtesy of Poynter Online (credit- Bob Croslin)

I really think that most any ethical debate or dilemma can be resolved by following these two principles.  If a journalist has created a tone to a story that is meant to deceive the reader, if photos are altered in a way that is meant to deceive the viewer, or if any quotes or facts are added, it is wrong.

I think that journalist should always keep Clark’s words in the back of their minds while working on a story.

I don’t think Debra Dickerson’s essay “Ethics in Personal Writing” belongs in a section of Telling True Stories devoted to ethics.

Dickerson tells a writes about a story she wrote about her own nephew who had been shot.  She ended her story about her nephew’s shooting with a terribly personal few sentences.

“Alone, lying in the road bleeding and paralyzed but hideously conscious, Johnny had lain helpless as he watched his would-be murderer come to stand over him and offer this prophecy: “Betch’ou won’t be doin’ nomo’ wavin’, motha’ fucker.” 
Fuck you, asshole. He’s fine from the waist up. You just can’t do 
anything right, can you?”

I don’t agree with what Dickerson did.  I think that she was being exploitive of her nephew.  It is a story that deserves to be told by an impartial writer.  And it was a terrible tragedy.  Certainly a journalist who is not personally connected to the victim could still show the reader what a sad act of violence this was. 

What Dickerson did was make the story about her.  She put her personal feelings in it in a way that overshadows the story itself.  The reader is forced to react to how she feels, not decide how they feel themselves.

Finally one of my favorite passages from the section on ethics in Telling True Stories is the short passage written by Katherine Boo.

Katherine Boo writes about ethical decisions in choosing who or what to write about.   She writes about colleagues telling her that they can’t walk in certain neighborhoods because they wrote something unflattering about that area.  Boo’s response is that if one can’t face their subjects then they should ask themselves if they really told the truth.

I think this is a great test for a journalist.  I don’t ever want to write something that I am ashamed of and can’t stand in front of someone and own it. 

 

Obama and Media Coverage

On Tuesday November 4th the people of the United States elected Senator Barack Obama their 43th President.

This was a truly historic election. For the first time the people of the United States elected a black President, an accomplishment of equality that many people doubted would happen in their lifetimes.

The media coverage of Obama’s historic campaign and victory has proved to be very interesting. On the day after the election most coverage focused on the historic relevance of the election. And all of the coverage I took in was very positive.

First Reaction

From New York Times November 5^th:

But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.

Whether they voted for Obama or not, I don’t think anyone can deny that our country took a positive step by electing an African-American President. I think it is an important step towards further civil rights equality, and the media coverage recognized this.

Candidate of Change

Now a week later the media has continued its coverage of President-Elect Obama, but is focusing on different themes.

Obama ran his campaign focused on change. From today’s Washington Post:

Barack Obama campaigned as an anti-Washington candidate, and the leader of his presidential transition team made it clear that the president-elect would seek to build on that theme over the next two months.

This story shows Obama working to live up to his promise of change in Washington. I found it to have a very positive tone. It seemed hopeful, hopeful that Obama would bring the change that the American people count on him to.

My Favorite Story of the Past Week

Barack Obama’s victory was very successful in changing the way America is perceived in other parts of the world.

This from France (and the Boston Globe), the country the Bush administration urged us all to hate, well because they hated us:

A manifesto published Sunday – subtitled “Oui, nous pouvons!”, the French translation of Obama’s campaign slogan “Yes, we can!” – urges affirmative action-like policies and other steps to turn French ideals of equality into reality for millions of blacks, Arabs, and other alienated minorities.

Our country has quickly become an example of racial tolerance to the rest of the world. Who would have imagined that?

My Favorite Quote from the Past Week

So I guess some people weren’t encouraged by Obama’s victory and have rushed out to buy guns:

He’s a gun-snatcher,” said Jim Pruett, owner of Jim Pruett’s Guns and Ammo in northwest Houston, which was packed with shoppers on Thursday.

“He wants to take our guns from us and create a socialist society policed by his own police force,” added Mr. Pruett, a former radio personality, of President-elect Barack Obama.

This story is from the New York Times. I find the idea OF Mr. Pruett and his friends with all their newly purchased guns a lot more frightening than being ‘policed by his (Obama’s) own police force.’ But maybe that’s just me.

My Favorite Election Joke from the Past Week

It comes about 3:30 in: ’senior-citizen and woman beaten by black man.’

Campus Reacts to Obama Win

Last night Barack Obama won what was being billed as the most important election of our lives. 

Nearly 24 hours later some students on UAlbany’s campus are still feeling the excitement, while for others it’s just another day.

Kyra Pearson, 20 of Mount Vernon NY, had just woken up when she heard about the results last night. “I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t. My eyes were dry.”

Pearson joined a celebration of students in the Empire Commons section of campus.

“I ran outside yelling and screaming. There were a lot of people outside.  It was pretty crazy,” said Pearson.

Students also celebrated by the Campus Center.

image courtesy of barackobama.com

“I have never seen every single person in one place so elated,” said Fola Badejo, 20 of Hudson NY. “people were running and dancing by the fountain.”

Badejo was not registered to vote.  “If I could have I would have voted for Obama 100 percent. I cried for 20 minutes last night,” she said.

Badejo got the good news via text message.  “When I woke up this morning I cried again,” she said.

For Max Rubinstein, 19 of Marlboro NJ, it was just another day on campus. Rubinstein voted for John McCain over a week ago using an absentee ballot.

“I was a little disappointed. I expected it to be closer,” said Rubinstein. “Some people seemed pretty happy about it, for me it was just another day.”

Will Jackson, 19 of Houston Texas, also voted for McCain. “It’s like a silent majority. It’s taboo for young college kids to not like Obama.”

Holly Smith an 18-year-old freshmen has a unique perspective on the election. Smith is from Staffordshire, England. “I couldn’t vote. Back home we all wanted him to win though. He has gotten all the press.”

Smith thinks that Obama’s win might help how European countries feel about the United States.

“I think it will make people more attracted. I don’t like America being the world police. And I don’t think Obama will act that way,” she said.

Obama: Primetime

At 8p.m. Wednesday night Senator and Presidential hopeful Barack Obama could be seen on every major television network.

In a brazen attempt to hijack all things media for a day, and blatant showing of his campaign’s incredible financial advantage over Senator John McCain, Obama shelled out 1$ million per network to be seen for 30 minutes on CBS, NBC, ABC, and FOX.

image courtesy of barackobama.com

“Before tonight I already had my mind made up“, said Justin Macy who caught the tail-end of Obama’s part-ad-part-live-speech hybrid.  “I think it was important.  Part of it is to not be complacent.  If he wasn’t going to continue to push it would be letting up.”

Macy added that he thought Obama wanted to be sure to win both the popular and electoral vote by a significant margin. “It will give him a higher mandate of authority as a President if he can win convincingly.”

Justin Lam half-watched Obama while shooting pool with friends.  “I don’t know if we will see candidates do this again in the future.  I wouldn’t be surprised.  I honestly don’t know” he said.

Lam said that it definitely helped Obama and was important even with his lead in the polls.  “It’s important in anything, to not underestimate how stupid the general public can be.”