Regardless, here we are.  The last two months of my life have been filled with work.  Would I have it any other way?  Absolutely not.  I was putting in 10 to 12 hour days during the week.

And I lived for it.

The work I was doing was compelling, fun and challenging.  That’s what I want out of my life.  I am on spring break this week and will attempt to catch some of this up.  It will be impossible to catch all of it up.  Even so, I will post the stuff I was churning out as a journalist and to give an idea of what my professional arc has looked like.  You can see, however, that from week one to week 10, I made vast strides.

At present, I feel comfortable with who I am as a journalist and have found my voice.  Some people may never get to that point.  It took me less than six months to get there.  I cannot tell you how much it pleases me.

So this will be brief, I have other things I am about to do.  But I will be posting this week and making sure that renewing my domain was not a worthless $10 for 2010.

Posts forthcoming.

Regardless, I am enjoying reporting to a great extent.  I’m absorbed and engaged.  There’s lots to do, and I feel like I’m accomplishing things.  I will be reporting on stimulus spending this quarter.  Looking forward to it.  Here is the first story I published on the first day of reporting:

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=153354

Enjoy.

From  9-1, I have a broadcast producing class.  From 1:30-4:30, I have global journalism.  It’s a lot of class in one day, for sure.  Not to mention, it’s the only time I’m up in Evanston, and there are plenty of administrative things to take care of–getting my new CTA pass, paying the deposit on the camera for broadcast, buying books, scheduling a doctor’s appointment–whew.

So yeah, that was a kind of long day, but the real meat and potatoes of this quarter will be spent in Urban Reporting.  There I will function as a full-fledged reporter in the city of Chicago.  Day one was spent going over administrative stuff and figuring out what sorts of beats we’d like to be on.  I chose the community/politics beat.  Specifically, I will focus on stimulus spending.  I’d like to see where the money is being spent.  It should be a good challenge, and will help me do some good stories.  I am very pleased about that development.

Furthermore, my desk setup is fantastic in the newsroom.  There are a couple of undesirables, I guess you could call them, and they are nowhere near my desk.  Instead, I am surrounded by a number of friends.  I laugh a lot at my desk between periods of doing work.  It’s terrific.

Last, but probably most important, our professors are the best I’ve encountered yet.  While my broadcast professor seems kind of like a dick, and global is a bit dry, reporting professors are incredibly charismatic.  Marcel Pacatte and Steve Duke are the urban guys, and damn if i’m not excited to work with the both of them.  Already I’ve developed a rapport with Marcel.  I can tell he will be my mentor–even more so than my peers.  Yesterday, I cracked a number of jokes with him, and this morning I sent him a haiku.  He said it really made his day.

This quarter I will become a better reporter.  I look forward to it more all the time.