I just got home from an interview. I've never been so jazzed up about a story I've worked on. I walked into my house with the jitters, trying to figure out how to express the energy I felt because of my excitement. Then it hit me. Duh. Write.
So here it is. I'm not going to give away the full story, you'll have to wait for it to be published by the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, but it's a great one. My partner, Olivia Morrissey, and I spent an hour at the Holton Youth and Family Center in the River West neighborhood with one of our sources, listening to him share his stories. A former gang member who now works to better his community, he walked us around the neighborhood where he grew up, and showed us the house where he was raised.
Every person we passed on the street called out to him, and many of them inquired about the two reporters following him around his 'hood. One of them called back to us as he walked away, "You could write a book about this man, it would be a bestseller!" I do not doubt that.
This man's passion for his work as a member of the community who is making a positive change for himself and his neighbors is inspiring.
"I don't make anything up," he told us. "But I remember a lot."
Sometimes, even after seven years after beginning work as a journalist, the profession scares me. Calling a source or venturing into a new neighborhood makes my stomach flip. There are some days when the last thing I want to do on a Sunday afternoon is venture out of my comfortable sorority house and interview an ex-gang member. But experiences like this afternoon remind me that those stomach butterflies are completely worth it.
Journalism is about sharing stories. One of the coolest things about being a journalist is that you get to hear even more stories than the people who will read, view or listen your final production. Olivia and I won't publish every story or amazing quote that we heard from that man today, but we will always, like him, remember those stories.
So here it is. I'm not going to give away the full story, you'll have to wait for it to be published by the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, but it's a great one. My partner, Olivia Morrissey, and I spent an hour at the Holton Youth and Family Center in the River West neighborhood with one of our sources, listening to him share his stories. A former gang member who now works to better his community, he walked us around the neighborhood where he grew up, and showed us the house where he was raised.
Every person we passed on the street called out to him, and many of them inquired about the two reporters following him around his 'hood. One of them called back to us as he walked away, "You could write a book about this man, it would be a bestseller!" I do not doubt that.
This man's passion for his work as a member of the community who is making a positive change for himself and his neighbors is inspiring.
"I don't make anything up," he told us. "But I remember a lot."
Sometimes, even after seven years after beginning work as a journalist, the profession scares me. Calling a source or venturing into a new neighborhood makes my stomach flip. There are some days when the last thing I want to do on a Sunday afternoon is venture out of my comfortable sorority house and interview an ex-gang member. But experiences like this afternoon remind me that those stomach butterflies are completely worth it.
Journalism is about sharing stories. One of the coolest things about being a journalist is that you get to hear even more stories than the people who will read, view or listen your final production. Olivia and I won't publish every story or amazing quote that we heard from that man today, but we will always, like him, remember those stories.