broadcast outcast

On Friday, I was the “extra” web editor, meaning I was effectively in control of what showed up on the Medill Reports home page.

Things didn’t start out great.

Without going into details, the concept of “extra” web editor was new–and I was the very first to do it.  Needless to say, some quirks need to be worked out.  Stuff that I thought would take me maybe an hour took closer to two and a half.

Two buttons popped off my shirt.  That wasn’t good.  I sewed them back on later, but still.

The story I was working on that day fell apart when sources didn’t call me back.  That sucked.  It was about a deadline that day, but ended up not really being a story.  Again, it sucked.

I was in the newsroom until 5:45 on Friday.  I was done with class at 12.  That sucked.

I found out some time in there that my grandma had less than 10 days left on this earth.

So that night, I went out for a drink with some friends from school.  We were in Andersonville, keeping it low-key.  I felt bad because one of my friends is now seeing a girl I go to school with, who happens to be close friends with the girl I was seeing before.  Not wanting to deal with that whole situation, I reluctantly didn’t call back, figuring they’d all be together.

I get to the bar, and my friend is not there, but the girl he is seeing, along with the girl I was seeing, are there.  Begin awkward dynamic.  Others told me after the fact that they felt uncomfortable.  I tried to play it cool and talked to other people.  Apparently things still need to be ironed out.

Saturday and Sunday were spent watching football.  Good.

Monday, I had the day off and ran errands.  Good.

Tuesday, my brother called me on my way to the newsroom to say my grandma had less than 48 hours left.  That didn’t start my day well.  By noon, she was gone.  That wasn’t easy to deal with.  I carried on through my day and told a couple of people that she had died, but I finished the story I’d been working on Friday.  I didn’t want to cause a scene.

Wednesday I covered a CTA protest, but was more or less backup for another reporter, since it was in his beat. I didn’t want to step on his toes.  I tried to film video and take still photos, but neither turned out well–you can only do one or the other.  Not both.  I turned my pictures into a slideshow, which I ended up unhappy with.  I had to take audio from the video I’d shot, chop that, export audio only, convert the audio, open that in Audacity, chop that, edit down, export for Soundslides.  Needless to say, with all the technical difficulties on top of being distracted, my project wasn’t crisp.  It wasn’t even good.

Then, I couldn’t get my story uploaded for about an hour.  The CMS was so slow.  I was going nuts.

Today, I flew home to be with family and to bury my grandmother.  It has been a tough 7 days.  Will I get through it?  Surely.  I’m not one to stay down long.  But I was near my breaking point about 36 hours ago.

I spent the day moving furniture from my grandmother’s room in the old folks’ home.  It wasn’t fun.  But it had to be done.  This is what you do for family.

One of the few people on this earth I can say I love with no reservations was taken away this week.  That hurts.  But I will make her proud in the coming weeks and years.  She wouldn’t want me to mope over this.   And I don’t plan to.