the pink politic

Columbia J-School: Day 103

As one of my faithful readers pointed out yesterday, I haven't posted in quite some time. So today, instead of working on my final RW1 story (a long piece that I've been playing around with for more than a month), I thought I'd post an update on how things are going after the first 100 days.

I'm already done with some of my classes this semester. Art of the Profile concluded last week with an evening at my professor's Harlem brownstone (she is a writer for The New Yorker). I turned in the last of my three profile drafts, but came away fairly disappointed with the final product. Either way, I do feel that I learned a lot from the course as far as choosing a subject, long-term reporting, and writing using themes and literary techniques. I'm going to try to get the piece published, but we'll see. I also completed my New Media Basic Skills class. I actually have something to show for this course, which was a fun diversion from reporting and writing. I made this website from scratch. It's not done yet, but I'm pretty proud anyway!

I chose classes for next semester, as well, but won't know until mid-December whether I got them. I tried for Columbia News Service, it's a wire-service through the New York Times that syndicates feature stories to 400 newspapers nationally. I'd have to write six features over the course of the semester that would be of interest to readers from New York to California to Kansas. I think it would be a fun challenge (and I already have some ideas!). The other major course is a seminar called Immigrant America. It's on covering immigration issues and immigrants in the U.S. It's taught by a Cuban immigrant (just like my dad!), and sounds like a really fascinating course.

It's tough to get back in the swing of things after a relaxing, but too short, Thanksgiving break. My Master's Project is still coming along nicely. I attended a Muslim women's study session where the topic was Muslim marriage and made some amazing contacts! Don't know if I'll be posting any pieces from it on here for awhile, I'm concentrating on interviewing now. The first draft is due in the middle of January! Ahh! I have my last RW1 piece due Friday, then the Journalism, Law and Society final next week, then it's all Master's Project all the time until Christmas. I'm psyched for that because I (unlike more people than you may think) chose a topic I'm really loving.

Oh, I applied to a bunch of summer internships, too. You'd think that after j-school I'd be able to get a job in journalism pretty easily, but not so! The marker, especially in NYC, is not so great for journalists right now (papers and staffs are shrinking). On the advice of an editor, I'm considering skipping a summer internship in favor of a Spanish-language immersion course. I think it might benefit me more in the long run to really get the language down now, instead of trying to learn once I'm already in a job, and then try to find work. Anyone know of any good, and not toooo expensive, Spanish immersion courses?

posted by Tina @ 12:20 PM