Lea at Large

Journalism 101: How to Salvage a Bad Interview

2025-08-13T19:05:00.000-05:00

You look at each other, neither one speaking. You shift nervously in your chair, tapping your pen and searching for your next move – or the nearest exit. You’ve just found yourself in the middle of The Worst Interview in Journalistic History, and you’re wondering if you’ll ever work again.

It happens. It happens to cub reporters interviewing their first celebrity, and to veteran journalists with their own talk shows. It’s every journalist’s worst nightmare. It doesn’t have to ruin your story, however. Even the most disastrous interview can often be salvaged, and even result in an insightful, readable article your audience will actually enjoy and learn something from.

Do Your Research

So, the first and most important tip actually isn't about how to save a bad interview, but how to prevent one in the first place. Start by doing your research. Get to know your interviewee and the topic in-depth. Don't ask basic questions that you can easily find the answers to on the internet, in the company's literature, the person's bio or other places. People often find it insulting if you come to the interview with no knowledge of them or the issue, and they may think you're not taking the subject seriously. Use this background research to develop targeted, informed questions that will help you gather information that hasn't already been covered.

Have a Plan B

You can often prevent a bad interview simply by having a backup plan. I make a list of my most important questions, but I also include several “in case of emergency” questions to help me get an interview back on track. These include questions that, while not essential, are interesting and can be used if the source is providing only brief answers to my key questions. They’re often offbeat questions, something seemingly irrelevant or that I know hasn’t been discussed in other interviews. While they may seem irrelevant, that’s part of their power. They help me catch the source off guard and get them thinking. Some of my best material comes from these “throwaway” questions and they’re also a great way to get the source to loosen up and be more conversational. Once I get the other person talking, the interview makes a turn for the better, and sometimes I can revisit the questions that didn’t go over well the first time.

Push Reset

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. Unless the interview has deteriorated so badly that you and your source are shouting at each other, you may be able to take a step back and change the tone of the conversation. You can always just acknowledge the awkwardness, for example by telling the other person you feel like you got off on the wrong foot and you'd like to start over. If you feel certain questions are pushing the person's buttons, you can try veering away to more benign subjects until the person is more comfortable. You can also try reframing questions. For example, your interviewee may feel as though the questions are confrontational (even if they're not) and this may make them defensive. If you ask a city manager "How much will sales tax go up to fund the new community center?" and you get pushback, take a step back. The person probably knows that increased taxes won't be well-received by the public, and they may think you're slanting the article in a negative way (again, even if you're not). Instead, ask what kinds of things will go into building a new community center and what things the city needs to consider. From there, you can ease into asking more specific questions about money.

Be Flexible

Knowing specifically what you want from an interview is crucial. You need to make sure the conversation stays on track, and that you get the information you need. However, if you can’t seem to save the interview, sometimes it’s best to go with the flow, at least temporarily. If the subject doesn’t want to open up about the topics you most need, but is willing to talk about something else, let the conversation wander. I’ve often gone into an interview with a specific angle, only to find that the person I’m interviewing takes the conversation in a more entertaining and informative direction than I had planned. Sometimes the information they give me is even better than what I had in mind. If there's information you absolutely must get, you can keep coming back to it until the subject opens up. Sometimes, however, you have an idea about how the story should go, only to discover that the subject gives you an even better story.

Stay Focused

Finally, no matter what happens, concentrate on your responsibility as a journalist: putting together a solid, informative, engaging and accurate article that has value for your readers. This is also the one thing you can control. If you find yourself getting flustered or intimidated, try to take a deep breath and remind yourself that this isn't personal. Interviews go off the rails for several reasons, many of which have nothing to do with you. Maybe the person you're interviewing is worried about their reputation or their company's reputation, maybe they've had a bad media experience in the past, or maybe they're just having a cruddy day. Remember that your first duty is to your readers, and that even if the interview goes south, if you can manage to write an engaging, informative and impactful story, you've fulfilled your obligation to your readers.

A Journalist Prepares

2025-08-09T09:52:00.000-05:00

U.S. Department of State, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The obnoxious journalist waving a microphone or a camera in someone's face is a long-held cliche that has some truth to it but is also exaggerated. Sometimes reporters have to be assertive to get the information they need to inform and educate the public. And sometimes, they're just, well, obnoxious. They want to get the scoop, they want a byline on the front page. Maybe they want a big payday for selling their story or photo to a national outlet. If you believed what you see in the movies, you'd think reporters spent their days rushing from one breaking news story to the next and doing it all in a very confrontational way.

The truth is more mundane. Even if you're covering a live event, such as a meeting or a press conference, it's likely a significant amount of behind-the-scenes research went into it. Rather than dashing across town fueled only by cigarettes and coffee, I typically spend most of my time staring at a computer screen and consuming copious amounts of tea and chocolate.

This week, for example, I covered a local city council meeting. I'm a freelancer so I'll get a small check for covering the meeting, which will likely last about an hour or hour and a half. But prior to that, I'll be researching the agenda items to ensure I can write the most relevant and in-depth story possible. Sure, I could just show up and report on what was said, but I'll likely omit crucial context and backstory the readers need to understand why these items were on the agenda in the first place and what they mean to the community. In fact, I may spend many (unpaid) hours staying on top of what's going in the community.

Here's a breakdown of everything I do prior to showing up at the meeting with my notebook and camera in hand:

I'm the only one covering the meeting, so I have to balance taking notes with getting good action shots.

Step 1: Review the agenda.

The city posts the agenda prior to the meeting, but it's just an overview. They send out a much more detailed agenda to news outlets. Critical thinking is crucial here, because I need to determine what items are likely to make the best stories. I usually have a good idea what I'm going to cover even before I go to the meeting. I don't just look for what seems most attention-grabbing. I have to consider if the issue has already been covered and a new story would be redundant. I also consider things like, what issues are already a major topic discussion among the community? I belong to several community Facebook groups, so I'm often already aware of hot-button issues. Most importantly, I have to look at which stories have the most significance to residents. There have been topics that I found fascinating, but I knew probably would not be relevant to most people's day-to-day lives.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission from US, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Step 2: Plan My Strategy

How much information does the agenda provide? What questions do I need to ask to fill in the gaps? What information can I find before the meeting? If there's a topic I think I might cover, I look at the city's website, search for prior news coverage, and even browse social media to see if anyone is talking about it. If the meeting itself doesn't provide the information I need, I then have a good idea of who I need to follow up with and what questions I need to ask.

I have to know which stories I need to get photos for - I usually have an idea of this before the meeting.

Step 3: Take a Picture!

Readers like pictures. Editors like pictures. We all like pictures. Not only do they break up those long blocks of text on the page, they also add depth to the story. It helps readers make a connection, by showing them the faces behind the story. Instead of just words on a page, they see the people who make the story important. When I review the agenda, I also look for potential photo opportunities. In some cases, I can be pretty sure people will get up and speak about the topic. I spend as much time planning my photos as I do planning my stories.

Putting It All Together

Preparing to cover a meeting takes as much or more time and effort than actually going to the meeting and writing the stories. I typically get the agenda the Friday before the Monday meeting, which means I have to allot time over the weekend to prepare. It can get a bit hectic, but with the journalism industry deteriorating by the minute, local newspapers like the one I write for are sometimes the only media outlets community members can rely on. Journalism, when done right, is ultimately about public service, which means I owe it to my readers to bring them the best reporting I can.

Week(s) In Review: Music lost and found, adventures in thrifting and a suicidal hitman

2025-01-03T18:28:00.002-06:00

So, I don't post for seven years, then I crawl out from under my rock and say I'm going to post every week, and then promptly drop off the face of the earth again. Sounds like me. Anyway, I did mean what I said and I still want to get this blog going again, so I'm going to practice yet another exercise in futility (how many calories d'you suppose that burns?) and attempt to resurrect this blog once more.

50 Years of Junk

I have a lot of stuff. Not just my stuff, the stuff accumulated by various family members that has somehow made it into my collection. This means I often lose track of my stuff and am buried in theirs. I also had a family member who was a packrat, and let's just say I'm not surprised by the stories of those people who die amongst their piles of possessions and are not found for many years.

Every year I try a proper spring cleaning but always run out of steam. This year, though, I have to get through it all and even through I've just gotten started I already feel doomed. I moved a little over a year ago and have two family homes full of crud that needs to be gone through and hopefully tossed. There have been a few good moments, such as finding parts of my music collection that I thought I had lost, including some old cassettes (I don't have any cassette players, though, so there's that). However, for the most part it's been excruciating.

My grandmother in her pre-packrat days.

In particular, trying to go through my grandmother's belongings. She had dementia at the nd, and left behind a mess that I'm still trying to unravel. She was a hoarder, which I knew, but I wasn't prepared for how emotional it would be sifting through her collection of thrift store purchases and various odds and ends that should have been chucked in the bin years ago. Yarn she never used, patterns for clothing and crafts she never made. When someone has dementia or Alzheimer's, it's like losing them twice, and going through the remnants of my grandmother's life was like losing her a third time. This is going to be a long process.

Another person's trash...

My wardrobe has always consisted primarily of clothes from the thrift store. It's hit or miss and definitely not for the faint of heart. It takes consistency and patience and a eye for detail - after all, you have to check for stains, tears, missing buttons and other flaws that make even the quirkiest thrift store find just not worth the money or effort. Where I lived before, there was a thrift store nearby that had 5 for $1 on specific color tags every Sunday. Once I moved to a different city, it just wasn't worth the drive, but I found a thrift store right around the corner from me that has sales ranging from 50 cents to even 10 cents. I haven't found much there, but I did snag a few 10 cent pieces I'm pretty excited about:

This is a nice, grown-up piece that will hopefully hide how immature I am. I already wore it to cover a city council meeting and I seemed to have passed for a professional. However, I have some goth/punk jewelry from when I was a teenager that I think will take it another direction altogether.

This is not quite my usual style but something about it struck me. It has kind of an '80s look that I think I can play up. Looking forward to the challenge with this one.

And then there's this one. I've had an animal print obsession since I was a teenager, and I think I'm definitely going to try to go full punk rocker here.

Movie of the Week - "The Merry Gentleman"

Many of us know Michael Keaton from his comedic, often over-the-top roles, like "Mr. Mom," which is the first thing I saw him in. In fact, there was incredible backlash when Tim Burton cast him as the brooding "Batman." Keaton has also played some serious roles ("My Life," "Clean and Sober"), but many people associate him more with Beetlejuice.

In "The 2008 film "The Merry Gentleman," Keaton plays an unlikely leading man - a hitman named Frank who wants to exit the biz. By day he's a tailor, and while he carries out his hits in a matter of fact way, it's obvious he wants out - of his job, of his life, of everything. And then he meets Kate (played by Kelly McDonald) a woman on the run from her abusive husband (who's also a cop). Kate witnesses one of Frank's hits,, and we at first assume that he'll have to kill her too, to eliminate any witnesses. Instead, he befriends her, and we watch as both characters evolve and attempt to come to terms with their lives.

Though set at Christmastime, the movie is hardly cheerful, and it's definitely not something you'd watch with the family on Christmas Eve. However, the festive setting only enhances the bleakness of the characters' lives at the beginning. Keaton also directed the movie, in which he delivers an understated, quiet but somehow equally imposing performance. You wouldn't think you could sympathize with a hitman, but in this case you do. Kelly McDonald also delivers, portraying the abused Kate as not a victim or a damsel in distress, but as someone doing everything she can to rebuild her life.

The Merry Gentlemen is free on Tubi and Plex.

Week in Review: City government, punk rock ghosts and green onions

2024-12-08T13:36:00.001-06:00

I was a journalist for about 15 years, before I spent the last 4 or so years in insurance. I recently returned to journalism on a freelance basis, and I realized how much I miss it. For a little over a year I've been freelancing for a weekly local newspaper (that still has a print edition - yay!). For them, I primarily cover events in a nearby, smaller city that traditionally doesn't get as much coverage. Mainly I report on the city council meetings there, which I thought would be excruciating, but that I have actually learned a lot from. This week's meeting was particularly scintillating, with new businesses coming to the area, an overhaul of parking ordinances, sales tax incentives...and...cupcakes!

They all got along at this meeting. That doesn't always happen.

I've been a Scrooge since I was 15, but I have to admit the city hall Christmas decorations made me want to wrap myself in tinsel.

In other news, there's a new Western wear store coming to the city, which I'm sure has everyone breathing a sigh of relief because the other one we had here just announced it will be closing. We're Okies and we need our cowboy boots, damnit.

And finally, free food, which, let's face it, is the real reason journalists do what they do.

TV Discovery of the Week

I cancelled cable about 20 years ago and I now refuse to pay for streaming services. Thankfully, there's a lot of free stuff that's actually really good, but you do have to spend some time looking for it. I'm actually glad I cancelled cable all those years ago, because it meant I had to get creative to find worthwhile movies and TV shows, which led me to shows from all around the world. I wish we required our kids to watch foreign shows, so they could see that there's a great big world out there and that the way we do things here in the United States is not the only way and definitely not the best way.

I recently down a Reddit rabbithole, as I am wont to do, and saw mention of an Australian series called "Spirited," about the ghost of a 1970s British punk rocker and an Australian (living) dentist who meet and fall in love after the dentist buys the penthouse the rocker was staying in before he disappeared in the early 1980s. It reminded me of "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," which I've long been a fan of, and I'm also a fan of anything ghost-related and all things punk rock. Also, shows from Australia and New Zealand are increasingly becoming my favorites because I prefer their sense of humor and they're nearly all full of quirky characters - "Spirited" being a perfect example. I couldn't believe the series was free online at Amazon's Freevee, because anything with that kind of cult following typically isn't.

I had never heard of the two lead actors, but I was already a fan of Angus Sampson, who plays one of the supporting characters. As always, he was right on target in this show, and in fact, the casting was incredible all around. I'm now actively seeking out other shows featuring Claudia Karvan and Matt King. The show does a great job pulling you into the love story but also makes the supporting characters engaging and relatable and gives each of them a backstory and a character arc. We follow the dentist, Suzy Darling, as she finally learns how to stand up for herself and the punk rocker, Henry Mallet, as he tries to remember how he died and as he learns to face his new reality. Henry adjust to being dead was particularly heart-wrenching.

A show's soundtrack is as important to me as the storyline, and this show's tracks excel at evoking the punk rock era. The Henry Mallet/Nerve songs sound like something I would have grown up listening to - on vinyl, and many of the songs are available on YouTube.

Check out "Spirited" on the Freevee app or for free on Amazon Prime

Adventures in Gardening

I have a brown thumb. I rarely get anything to grow, and if I do, it dies pretty much immediately. I've lost count of how many times I've watched "On a Clear Day," not just because I like the movie, but because I wish I had Barbra Streisand's character's ability to make plants grow at will. My inability to foster any kind of life would be bad enough as it was, but it was especially crushing because I come from a long line of farmers on both sides of my family, and I grew up eating fresh veggies from my maternal grandmother's and great-aunt's gardens. With the way things are going, pretty soon I'll be subsisting on dandelion salad like they did in the Great Depression, so I figured I'd better try to figure out how to grow something, anything, that can keep me from withering away and floating down the street and into the abyss.

I decided to try something a little different, because I can't start anything from seed, so instead I've been taking my veggies and then starting new plants from them. So far I've had the best luck with the green onion, and have consistently been using off these three for a few weeks now. Maybe at long last I'll have my own victory garden.

I'm Gonna Live Forever...

2017-01-15T00:14:00.001-06:00

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I've never been interested in living longer. Better, yes. Healthier, of course. But not longer. Why? Because even as a kid I saw that all that scary shit from the dystopian sci-fi novels was slowly starting to come true. In the last few years this shift has ramped up considerably, to the point where I think the Thought Police are probably watching me chuckle over the many Trump memes Moby posts on his Instagram.

Here's lookin' at you, kid... (Source: Flickr User Book Radio Via Creative Commons 2.0)

As I've entered middle age, my health has slowly begun to deteriorate, which, though it's a nuisance, was also a bit of a relief, because it meant I wouldn't be around when they started airing gladiator-style reality TV shows or burning all of our books. That's why I was devastated when I recently learned that I am probably immortal.

You see, researchers at the University of Vermont have found that eating chili peppers is associated with a decrease in mortality rates. It's just the latest study touting the benefits of hot and spicy foods, which apparently do everything from lower blood pressure to prevent cancer. In this latest study, conducted at the university's Larner College of Medicine, researchers found a 13 percent reduction in mortality. The effects were especially prominent when it came to heart attacks and stroke. This was true even though the study also found that the people likely to eat chili peppers were also more likely to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol. Damn! I've abstained from a lot of things believed to be bad for you, but could I have upped my spicy food intake and then puffed away all I wanted?

I already eat spicy food every chance I get (hello, kimchi!), and most packaged and processed foods are just too sweet for my taste buds. Why the heck do they put sugar in everything? As far as I'm concerned, the mark of a good meal is when it's so hot and spicy that it makes your eyes water and your nose run. Now that's some good eatin'!

However, I'm not too keen on seeing what happens now that we have cloning technology, realistic sexbots and mass surveillance by our governments, so maybe I'll switch to eating Twinkies and Krispy Kreme donuts all day. Mmmm...donuts....

Source: Flickr user Debra Drummond via Creative Commons 2.0

Pack Your Bags, Kids, We're Going to Mars!

2016-07-07T11:50:00.000-05:00

Credit: NASA

I call shotgun!

For years, I've been telling everyone I know that the Mothership is going to return for me really, really, really soon. Well, it's time to accept that's not going to happen, and if I want to get off this godforsaken planet I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands. And with the U.S. presidential election nearing, I need to fast track my plan.

Hmm...now where shall I put the sofa? Photo credit: NASA

For once in my life, however, it seems luck might be on my side, as scientists recently announced they've grown several crops in simulated Martian and lunar soil, and that these crops are safe to eat. Researchers at Wageningen University in the Netherlands grew everything from tomatoes to radishes, conducting their first successful harvest in March. They just completed safety and taste tests, and have concluded that plants grown in Martian and lunar conditions are indeed safe for humans to consume. Yay!

The timing couldn't be better, since NASA has said it wants to establish a Martian colony by sometime after 2030. Plus, the European Space Agency wants to return to the Moon even sooner than that. Just 14 more years...14 more years...14 more years...

"Simmer Down and Pucker Up!" It's International Kissing Day!

2016-07-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit: Tambako the Jaguar via Compfight cc

(I blatantly stole the first part of that title from one of my favorite songs, "Do I Wanna Know?" by the Arctic Monkeys.)

Yes, it's International Kissing Day, something I didn't even know existed until I saw a post about it on a random website. And because I have this weird compulsion to dig deep down into any subject I encounter, I couldn't resist a quick Internet search for strange and interesting facts about one of our favorite pastimes.

1. Romantic Kissing Isn't the Norm.
Here in the United States and other Western cultures, a good kiss is at the heart of any great romance. When we watch a rom-com, we're eagerly cheering on the romantic leads and anxiously awaiting that passionate kiss that signals they'll get their happily ever after. However, this is not a universal practice. In fact, as the Washington Post reports, less than half of cultures kiss romantically, with some even calling it "gross." This comes from researchers both at the University of Nevada and at Indiana University.

Photo Credit: martyn.morgan67 via Compfight cc

2. A Kiss Really Can Mess With Your Mind

In the '80s classic teen movie "Pretty in Pink," Andi's friend Iona asks her about her kiss with pretty-boy rich kid Blaine and says "Did you feel it in your knees?" to which Andi replies "I felt it everywhere." Not everyone has had that experience of a kiss practically knocking you down to the ground, but it turns out there's a reason why we're so drawn to kissing. As Time reports, kissing boosts several feel-good chemicals in our body, including dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin. And as Mic notes, men release testosterone in their saliva, which over time might be capable of boosting their partner's libido.

3. Kissing Has Been Banned Several Times

In today's society a kiss seems rather innocent, but there have been times and places in which it was off-limits. This includes England, after King Henry VI banned kissing in 1493 to prevent the spread of disease. Even in the U.S. there are still some strange kissing-related laws on the books. As Deutsche Welle reports, in Nevada men who have beards are prohibited from kissing.

Photo Credit: Lex Eggink via Compfight cc

4. Kissing Hasn't Always Been Cool

Just like not all cultures kiss, kissing has gone in and out of style during various eras as well. Psychology Today notes that kissing dates as far back as the Fifth Century B.C., when Heroditus mentioned it in his "Histories." However, this didn't refer to romantic kissing, but instead a greeting between men in Persia. Romantic kissing didn't get a mention until the Kama Sutra. Early Romans also kissed in a romantic way, but the practice went out of style after Rome fell and wasn't in fashion again until the 11th Century, when the practice of "courting" became popular.

I don't know about you, but I'll never look at kissing quite the same way again. Just feel lucky I didn't include a section describing all of the microbes, bacteria and other minute little things you exchange when you lock lips.

Pucker up!

I'm Not Nice...and You Should Be Glad

2015-10-06T18:20:00.000-05:00

Photo Credit: Neil. Moralee via Compfight cc

As a child, I often met older adults who were grumpy, blunt or downright rude. Were they always like that, or did age bring out the curmudgeon in them? I suspected the latter, given that they grew up in an era when manners and politeness were next to godliness. Clearly, something happened to make them abandon common courtesy. As I grew older, I discovered my gut instinct was right: Age makes you crotchety.

Up until recently, my default setting was “Be nice." Somehow, however, my default setting shifted to “WTF is wrong with you?” Getting past people’s BS trumps sparing someone’s feelings or avoiding a scene. I didn’t even realize what had happened until a customer service rep asked me not to yell at her. (For the record, I didn’t yell at her -- even though she had it coming.)

As it turns out, my disagreeableness is a good thing. A very good thing. In fact, could be a matter of life and death. And if your life is in my hands, you’ll be glad I’m a stubborn ass. As “Psychology Today” reports, “agreeable” people can be deadly.

WTF are you lookin' at?

Photo Credit: billhd via Compfight cc

Most of us have heard of Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiments of the 1960s. In a nutshell, researchers told participants to deliver electric shocks to people if they answered questions incorrectly. An alarmingly high number of people delivered shock after shock after shock...eventually dealing a fatal zap to the person on the other end. Who were these sadists? Well..actually, they weren’t sadists at all, but instead the people most of us think of as polite and genial. When confronted with an order to harm someone, they complied. The participants with more “disagreeable” personalities, on the other hand, were more likely to refuse to hurt another person if asked to. It seems that the compulsion to adhere to social expectations could, quite literally, get an innocent person killed. Less regard for “niceties,” however, seems to translate to a personality more inclined to take a stand, question authority and social standards and respect the well-being of others.

So what’s the lesson here? For me, it’s this: The next time someone whines that I’m not “nice” enough, I’ll take comfort in knowing that I’m the last person you’ll ever have to worry about electrocuting you to death.

5 Days #BelowTheLine

2014-07-13T16:13:00.001-05:00

Note: This year’s Below the Line challenge is over. While you can’t participate in the fundraiser until next year, you can help raise awareness any time. I hope you’ll consider conducting your own Below the Line experiment or donating to / volunteering with your local food bank or similar charitable organization.

The Challenge
Live Below the Line is sponsored by The Global Poverty Project. Every year, people around the world spend between one and five days eating on a budget just below the poverty line, in an effort to raise awareness of the hardships and prevalence of poverty and hunger. Participants can also raise money for one of the project's many charity partners. In the United States, the daily food budget for this experiment is $1.50. I participated for the first time this year, and here is what I learned.

Day 1
I had envisioned five days of eating nothing but rice and drinking nothing but water, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that I could eat food I like and still come in just below the $1.50 mark. For breakfast, oatmeal -- which seems to be the go-to for other BTL participants.

For lunch, a cheese sandwich with tomato and avocado. Normally I’m not a huge fan of cheese sandwiches, but I happened to find onion buns on clearance sale (something that wouldn’t have fit into the budget otherwise.)

For dinner, a two-egg omelette with half a slice of cheese, accompanied by spaghetti and sauteed onions. I also happened to catch salsa on sale, so used that liven up both.

My main concern before starting the challenge: How would I go without chocolate for a week?! Fortunately I could just squeeze in a cookie with dinner, but am already starting to have some withdrawal symptoms without my steady supply of chocolate.

Day 2
Chocolate! I need chocolate! *breathe, breathe* OK, I’m better. Anywho: Oatmeal again for breakfast, cheese sandwich for lunch, omelette and spaghetti for dinner. You know the drill. Lack of chocolate is making me slightly fogheaded, but nothing I can’t work around. Thankfully, I can fit a cup of green tea into the budget, so that helped to take the edge off a bit.

Day 3
When you eat the same thing every day, you realize how much your body needs variety. I’m more tired than usual, lack energy and overall just don’t function as well as normal. Mentally I am very fuzzy. I crave vegetables even more than I crave my treasured chocolate. I did mix it up by using bagels instead of onion buns for today’s sandwich. (These too, were purchased on clearance sale.)

Day 4
Seriously, I need a vegetable. Any vegetable. Do you know how expensive produce is? This is one of the primary reasons poor people tend to be overweight. It’s not because they’re lazy or gluttonous, it’s because the only kind of food you can afford on this amount of money consists mainly of carbs. It’s fattening and unhealthy, and still leaves you feeling hungry all day.

Day 5
One of the main things I learned from this experiment was the massive amount of planning involved to create any semblance of a well-balanced meal without breaking your budget. Many people order pizza or run by fast food when they’re pressed for time, but when you eat on just $1.50 a day you can’t do that. There’s no such thing as convenience food, and no matter how long you’ve worked that day or how many chores still need to finished, you have to take time out to cook. You also have to sit down at the beginning of each week or each month and consciously plan how you’ll eat. How many people take the time for that? Long-term planning seems to be a hardly used skill but a crucial one when you’re living on a tight budget.

Zen and the Art of Lawnmowing

2013-04-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

One of my greatest accomplishments is finally, finally one-upping the neighbors. (If you live in Suburbia, you know that “Keeping Up With the Joneses" = Survival of the Fittest.) I didn’t do it via a Clark Griswold-style display of Christmas lights, or by cruising up in a shiny new Mercedes. Instead, I put my neighbors to shame through an intimidating demonstration of sheer brute force. (Maybe you’ll think twice before stealing my garbage can again. You know who you are.)

About a year ago, I bought a reel mower, partly for environmental reasons and partly because of my notoriously bad luck with any kind of machinery. I can’t keep watches running for more than six months -- I like to say it’s my magnetic personality -- and computers crash when I so much as look at them. I have two gas-powered mowers that didn’t even make it through the summer. I fare much better with simple, old-fashioned equipment. It still breaks down, though not as often as that newfangled crap, and when it does I can often fix it.

An unexpected benefit was establishing myself as the block’s Alpha Female. Not long after I started using my mower, two of my (male) neighbors bought their own. They got about halfway through their yards before giving up, eventually hiring a lawn service. I, however, am still gleefully watching blades of grass propel into the air under the weight of my considerable strength. (“You just make it look so easy,” a relative said.)

I soon discovered another, more practical benefit: mental clarity. I already knew that sitting at a desk all day stifles my creativity and thinking, a major reason I started freelancing full-time. Physical labor, however, partially blocks out some of the nasty little voices in my head. You know, the ones that say “Who do you think you are, Agatha Christie?” or “That sentence is trite, you’re an imposter and soon everyone will know it.”

I used to get my best insights while in the shower, washing dishes or vacuuming, but now they arrive when I’m in the middle of unruly weeds and grass. It’s such a sure thing that I take a pen and notebook with me, so I no longer frighten my dogs by running through the house screaming “Don’t talk to me! I have an entire paragraph in my head and I have to get it out before it disappears!”

Which leads me to one of the most important pieces of advice I can give fellow writers and other creatives: Get out of your head once in a while. The longer you stay there, the more hold your inner critic has over you and the more you’ll stagnate. If you’re looking for an epiphany, go outside and feel real sunlight. Move your body and think about anything except that blank page waiting for you at your desk. Chances are that’s when that perfect headline, plot twist or lead will finally deem you worthy of its presence.

Photo Credit: Dan4th via Compfight cc

Adventures in Tealand: Tulsi

2013-04-02T21:03:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. End of a very long, very stressful day and I’m still working. After struggling with writer’s block all morning and afternoon, a problem exacerbated by the arrival of bad news, I’m hoping for a second wind. Thankfully, hot tea kickstarts my brain cells and I’m now sailing through my article. (The tulsi, by the way, is very smooth. I highly recommend it.)

Free Speech Friday: And Now a Word From Gore Vidal…

2012-08-03T10:13:00.001-05:00

Novelist Gore Vidal was the embodiment of freedom of speech, from his groundbreaking portrayal of homosexuality in his 1948 novel “The City and the Pillar” to his criticisms of Presidents Bush and Obama and their involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Vidal never hesitated to speak out against something he thought was unfair, unfounded or just plain stupid. When Vidal died Tuesday at age 86, we lost not only a literary talent but also a vivid representation of the importance of free speech. In honor of Vidal’s life, I thought I’d use Free Speech Friday to share some of his views on language, literature and freedom of expression.

“Fifty percent of people won’t vote, and 50 percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same 50 percent.”

This is probably one of Vidal’s most famous quotes, and one I consider having tattooed on my forehead every election year. Not a single person in my family researches the candidates or follows political coverage even casually. They’re proud “straight-ticket” voters who throw their support behind their party’s nominees regardless of how many questions are raised about their suitability. Even when a candidate is an obvious doofus, they can’t see it or don’t care. I wish this was the trend just in my immediate circle, but it seems to be the rule rather than the exception among the American public, and it makes me wonder if journalists like me are obsolete.

“The four most beautiful words in the English language: I told you so.”

This would be my response to the people in point one.

“You hear all this whining going on, ‘Where are our great writers?’ The thing I might feel doleful about is: ‘Where are the readers?’” (From Esquire)

Here again, I wonder if the role of the writer has all but disappeared. The “great writers,” the ones who question society, authority and every other aspect of existence, are often dismissed as either paranoid or as “liberal elitists” concerned only with undermining the values all Americans supposedly stand for. The writers who are rewarded are those who seek out the most sensational stories they can find or who maintain the status quo and offer us feel-good stories that reassure us there no is need to question anything.

Have a favorite Gore Vidal quote I missed? Share it in the comment section below, or offer your thoughts on Vidal’s talent, insight and what his death means to literature and public discourse.

Photo: Gore Vidal in 1945 (Credit: Carl Van Vechten)

Brain Candy: Derpy cats, texting dogs and…Keanu Reeves?

2012-08-01T19:00:00.001-05:00

That may be a strange combination. Or maybe not. This week I’m proud to introduce a new feature guaranteed not to make your life any better in any measurable way. It’s Brain Candy, and it’s something you’re going to curse me for.

I have the attention span of…hey…a squirrel! Is he wearing a monocle? What? Oh, right. Sorry, I got distracted. But seriously, did you see that squirrel? As I was saying, I can’t work on an assignment for more than half an hour before my brain either shuts down or wanders off to very dangerous places. To prevent spontaneous combustion, I take a short break by perusing some of the Web’s more obscure and offbeat sites. It usually gets me past my block, because how can you possibly be in a cruddy mood after looking at pic after pic of cats wearing sweaters?

1. Derpy Cats

Squeee! Cats in sweaters! Cats climbing window screens! Cats yawning! Cats in boudoir poses! I dare you to get any work done after one look at the site promising “only the derpiest cats the Internet can provide.”

2. Text From Dog

I wish my dogs and I could text each other. “Text From Dog” is an astute, though imagined look inside a dog’s mind, featuring text conversations between the owner and his dog, who frequently calls his human “asshole.” Though I have no proof of what dogs think, I suspect the conversations on this site are remarkably accurate, because there have been several times when my dogs’ barks sounded eerily like “asshat,” and I know they frequently get stuck in “batshit crazy mode.”

3. Keanu Reeves Quotes

“It’s still true that I am afraid of the dark, but I mean that in a real philosophical way.”

Keanu Reeves is either a quietly brilliant, misunderstood, underrated thinker or a vapid pretty boy with a knack for disguising rambling comments with eloquent but confusing language. Sometimes he reminds me of Peter Sellers in “Being There.” This site isn’t frequently updated, but a quick browsing gives you insight into what Ted, I mean Neo, I mean Keanu thinks about everything from the perfect date to the fact that "fame is a drag."

Free Speech Friday: When Free Speech is a Crime

2012-07-27T02:34:00.001-05:00

I set out to write an objective, thoughtful analysis of the line between when free speech is a right and when it is a crime.

I failed.

How can you be objective about freedom of speech? It’s what my career as a journalist is based on. It is what all of our other freedoms rely on, because if you take away our right to speak out against injustice, injustice will surely follow. But what about when free speech is committed as a deliberate and knowing violation of the law? That’s the question brought up by the case of 17-year-old Savannah Dietrich of Kentucky, who tweeted the names of the two boys who sexually assaulted her (and pleaded guilty to the crime) but agreed to a plea deal in which Dietrich felt they “got off easy.”

The two boys assaulted Dietrich after she passed out at a party, and then posted photos of the attack on the Internet and shared them with their friends.

Despite a court order that the offenders’ identities be kept private, Dietrich posted both names on her Twitter and Facebook pages. The boys’ lawyer pushed for a contempt charge, and Dietrich faced up to 180 days in jail and a possible $500 fine. However, as she told Louisville’s Courier-Journal newspaper, “I’m at the point that if I have to go to jail for my rights, I will do it.” She won’t have to, though, because her attackers’ attorney dropped the contempt charge Monday.

In speaking up for her rights, Dietrich is potentially standing up for the rights of anyone else who might be victimized by her two attackers. If you knew someone was a predator, could you stay quiet even when threatened by jail time? Could you bear the weight of that knowledge for the rest of your life, knowing your silence might put other people in danger? Along with the right to freedom of speech, isn’t there also a responsibility to exercise it when the public good is at stake?

Dietrich’s story has quickly transformed from a matter of justice for violent crimes to an examination of freedom of speech in private life. Though we rarely hear people outside the media defend the right to free speech, it is clearly important to the American public, who didn’t hesitate to speak up in defense of Dietrich’s right to tell her story. An online petition calling for the contempt charge to be dropped gathered 62,000 signatures in just one day, and representatives of the press defended Dietrich’s right to speak out, saying the contempt charge brought up First Amendment issues and had wide-ranging implications for freedom of speech.

As a journalist I initially felt compelled to present some profound, definitive answer regarding the role of freedom of speech in this case and the ethics of Dietrich’s actions. However, all I have are questions. Questions for the legal system. Questions for myself. Fortunately, it’s my job to ask questions, and encourage others to ask questions. There is no simple answer for a case as complex as this, and only by continually asking ourselves what free speech means to us can we hope to preserve it.

Image Credit: Wikipedia user Stefan-Xp

Help Me Spend My Newfound Fortune

2012-07-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

And I owe it all to my lucky four-leaf clover. (Credit: D Sharon Pruitt)

Oh, ye of little faith! I knew if I worked really hard, was very patient and faithfully said my “I am growing richer every day” affirmation, my ship would eventually come in…and at long last it has. (And no, it’s not the Titanic, smartass.)

After several months of disappointment after disappointment, and the people around me pleading with me to just give it up already, in the last week I’ve had dozens of people tripping over themselves to throw money at me. (Yes, I’ll remember all you little people when I’m sipping a Bloody Mary on my private beach. “Antonio, mon cher…could you rub sunscreen on my back, s’il vous plait? There’s a dear.”)

I’m terrible at math, but it looks like I have around $5 billion in winnings coming to me. Coca-Cola wants to give me money, as does “Facebook Lottery,” Kiva, the Australian International Lottery Program, a German widow and several Nigerian princes. All I have to do is send them a few personal details or a small sum of money, in exchange for more cash than my children’s children could ever spend. (Seriously, who sends scams like these to a journalist? We’re the worst possible targets.)

Being the generous gal I am, I don’t think it’s fair for me to hoard all this dough. So kids, start making your Christmas wish lists and tell me what you want Mama Lea to buy you. Just think of me as the new Oprah.

Free Speech Friday: What Ray Bradbury taught me about freedom of speech

2012-07-16T17:45:00.000-05:00

Ray Bradbury in 1975 (Photo by Alan Light)

Reports of author Ray Bradbury’s death were at the top of my news feed when he died in June, and with good reason: The 91-year-old author of the sci-fi classic “Fahrenheit 451” wrote more than 27 novels and 600 short stories, selling more than 8 million copies in 36 languages. To many people, Bradbury embodied the science fiction and fantasy genres. For me, however, Bradbury’s name will forever be linked with high school.

I had been familiar with Bradbury since elementary school (several of my family members are sci-fi and fantasy aficionados) but hadn’t read much of his work. Then in my senior year of high school, my AP English teacher assigned us what she called the “futuristic trilogy,” which also included “1984” and “Animal Farm.” We read them not only as literature but also as a possible glimpse into the future, a future in which the literature we so reverently studied – Hemingway, Steinbeck, Shakespeare – was irrelevant or even forbidden. This was why, out of the three novels, Bradbury’s was the one that resonated most with me. A land where books are a sin? Where firefighters don’t put out fires, but seek out books, our beloved books, and destroy them? Sacrilege.

I was already a writer, having worked on the school newspaper since the eighth grade. I’d already had one run-in with censorship my first year on the paper when someone reportedly complained about my use of the word “fart” in the humor column I wrote. Now, at 17, I already feared for the future of freedom of speech. I found it ironic that we were studying issues of free expression when we had none ourselves. I went to a school district that was especially concerned with preserving the status quo, and didn’t like it when the students didn’t conform to traditional values. In grade school, my PE teacher frowned, shook her head violently and sighed when she saw my white, glittery nail polish. “Lea, Lea, don’t you have any pink?”

It was difficult to hang on to my sense of self and my ability to speak up in an environment like that, but in “Fahrenheit 451” I saw people defy an even more oppressive government. Even though the government banned books, people memorized them. Their love of the written word outweighed their fears of a totalitarian and unfair government. I knew then that I had to abandon the status quo, continue questioning everything and strive for honesty in everything I wrote. That’s still difficult, especially in a world when even journalism, once called the “fourth estate” is now corporate and commercialized, but when I picture how the future could be, a future like that in “Fahrenheit 451,” I realize we must continue to protect these ideals no matter how frustrating. Once we stop, we may lose those freedoms forever.

Bradbury is often credited with elevating the status of science fiction and fantasy from that of second-class entertainment to respected literature. This is an important contribution, and one I’m glad of, because I think those genres, though seemingly so far removed from our own experiences, teach us a lot about our motivations, our fears and what we might become if we don’t stop to remember what’s important to us and protect those rights, freedoms and ideas.

Ray Bradbury in 1975 (Photo by Alan Light)

Anderson Cooper comes out: Were you surprised?

2012-07-04T14:10:00.001-05:00

Credit: Flickr user minds-eye

I’m not surprised Anderson Cooper is gay. Most of us have heard the rumors for years, and heard Cooper avoid directly answering the question. After all, if you’re not gay, why not say so? What surprises me is how long he waited to confirm the rumors, given how many celebrities have already come out without hurting their careers. Cooper has plenty of company: there are several openly gay television news personalities, including CNN Headline News anchor Thomas Roberts and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow.

Cooper made the announcement in an email to his friend Andrew Sullivan of “The Daily Beast.” Anderson gave Sullivan permission to share the email, in which he says “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”

Sullivan had emailed Cooper about the importance of public figures being open about their homosexuality. Sullivan pointed out that, though it causes much less of a stir than in the past when a celebrity comes out, there are still major, highly visible groups of people condemning gay people, trying to restrict their freedoms and even calling for their deaths. Gay youths are being bullied and committing suicide.

Cooper added he hadn’t addressed his sexual orientation before because he believes a journalist’s private life, including religious and political affiliations, should remain private. He also said because he frequently reports from war zones, he feels it is important to blend in as much as possible. Despite his openness, he said he still considers himself a reserved person and hoped he could continue to maintain his privacy. However, he also said “I do think visibility is important, more important than preserving my reporter’s shield of privacy.”

What do you think about Cooper’s revelation? Were you surprised? Do gay public figures have a responsibility to be open about their sexual orientation, sort of a “power in numbers” concept? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Remembering Nora Ephron

2012-07-04T14:03:00.000-05:00

Nora Ephron at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival (Credit: David Shankbone)

Screenwriter-director Nora Ephron was as much a part of my youth as Duran Duran and The Cure. I grew up watching her films, and though “chick flicks” aren’t usually among my favorite movies, “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle” are two of the movies I can watch over and over again and appreciate anew every time. Like any other fan, I was sad to hear of her death at age 71 from cancer.

While most of Ephron’s films were comedies, they also subtly but pointedly depicted many of the interpersonal and relationship dilemmas we all eventually encounter. In “When Harry Met Sally” it was the struggle many men and women face of trying to build and maintain a friendship without letting romantic feelings cloud their judgment. Of course, for that film’s heroes, Harry’s prediction that “men and women cannot be friends” proved true, as the two ended up married. “Sleepless in Seattle” touched on grief, loneliness and a longing for something more, and though both characters faced challenges in their love lives, they eventually found the kind of true love so many hope for. Unlike the typical “happily ever after” stories, however, Ephron’s characters were always more flawed and vulnerable than the usual fairy tale character, a trait that made so many fans, including me, relate to and appreciate her films.

How I Learned to Think Like a Rock Star

2010-04-23T11:32:00.009-05:00

Image by Anirudh Koul under Creative Commons license

"I'd love to go to art school. I'd love to learn how to draw. I'd love to be fluent in Spanish. I'd like to be a brain surgeon."

Billie Joe Armstrong

I've interviewed a lot of musicians (sadly, not Billie Joe Armstrong). Some have never performed outside their home state, while others have traveled the world and played stadiums. What struck me about all of them wasn't just their talent; it was their view of themselves and of the world:

They don't wait for the "right time."
Many of these artists started young, some even dropping out of school. And they took the first chance they saw, even if it was just lending a guitar lead to an established musician. And for those already well into adulthood, they didn't wait until they retired or their kids were out of school -- and they didn't tell themselves they were too old. They performed wherever and whenever they could, even if it was just an impromptu jam session on the weekend or a gig at a tiny coffeehouse no one's ever heard of.

"I may not believe in myself, but I believe in what I'm doing."
Jimmy Page

Their "job" is also their drug of choice.
I recently asked a hard rock musician what his biggest vice was. Jack Daniels? Sex? Texas Hold'em? Nope. "Rock and roll." After 30 years of performing, music is still his passion. He tours, forms new bands, collaborates with other artists. He hasn't lost that eight-year-old boy who stared at the TV, transfixed by "Black Sabbath Live in Paris." Many of my peers lost that fire five or 10 years into their careers. I think I lost it as soon as I started getting a paycheck. Where's the ache to communicate I felt at eight years old? Back then, it woke me up at 2 a.m., sending me running to my little white desk to compose poems about unicorns with my Hello Kitty pen (pink ink!) and My Little Pony stationary. Now, writing is just another item on my to-do list, along with buying kitty litter and scheduling a dentist appointment.

They know there's more to life than "the biz."
It would be easy to forget there's a great big world outside the music industry. It is a competitive, crowded world, after all, and succeeding there requires everything you think you have and then some. But if you give all that away, what's left? I envy how the musicians I've met give as much to their families and their hobbies as they do to their careers. One singer-songwriter I interviewed is a pinball and crossword addict. Others teach philosophy or sociology. Many also have spouses and children. Like Billie Joe Armstrong, they're fascinated by everything from art to science. Even when their musical careers thrive, they continue to nurture their other interests. No doubt these extracurricular activities provide them with balance and emotional well-being (crucial to surviving in the entertainment industry), as well as plenty of material for new songs.

They don't expect a fairy tale.
We love an overnight success story, don't we? That, and the "getting your big break" myth. The musicians I've interviewed never expected that, even though they liked the idea of fame and fortune. They just realized they'd have to work hard to get there. (That old-fashioned notion of "paying your dues.") They tour relentlessly, sometimes acting as their own roadie, bus driver, and anything else they must. They gladly open for other bands. Some even take day jobs in between tours. And when something goes wrong -- their record label drops them, they lose a band member -- they don't take to Twitter or their website and blame God, or Satan, or their critics. They just get back to work.

Certainly, there are a lot of divas out there. They perform drunk, show up late to concerts, frequently indulge in public rants. I've been lucky enough to meet the kind of musicians who view a music career as a lifelong adventure and trek. They are perpetual students, sometimes learning a new instrument or genre mid-way through their careers. They don't label themselves. They blur lines and break rules. And they've changed the way I view success, talent and creativity.

Lady Marmalade, I think I love you, even if we are just living on a prayer...

2010-02-28T12:19:00.001-06:00

"What's your musical guilty pleasure?"

That's a question I've asked several interviewees (all musicians) lately. My favorite response so far: "I feel no guilt for musical pleasures." Nice. Very nice. Music is entertainment. It's meant to be enjoyed.

I dislike most Top 40 music. I prefer obscure and experimental bands. Or early jazz and blues performers. Basically, anything besides what I hear on the radio every day. However, there are several radio-friendly tunes I adore. The kind you turn up so loud you blow out the speakers in your car. The kind you sing at the top of your lungs while you're cleaning the cat boxes or loading the dishwasher. Here are a few of the songs that I have, until now, refused to admit I often leave on repeat.

1. "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" -- Beastie Boys
2. "Super Freak" -- Rick James
3. "In My House" -- Mary Jane Girls
4. "I Think I Love You" -- The Partridge Family
5. "Lady Marmalade" -- LaBelle
6. "Don't Stop Believin'" -- Journey
7. "Humpty Dance" -- Digital Underground
8. "We're Not Gonna Take It" -- Twisted Sister
9. "Living on a Prayer" -- Bon Jovi
10. "Eye of the Tiger" -- Survivor

So...what's your musical guilty pleasure? Do share, won't you? We promise not to laugh.

Related posts:
Albums I can listen to over and over and over...
My Life According to The Cure
Movies that ALWAYS put me in a good mood

Two Little Words

2009-10-15T15:24:00.001-05:00

Being a decent writer is a useful skill -- like when writing witty status updates for Facebook and Twitter, for example. But there's one area where it does nothing for me: telling the people closest to me how I feel. I already knew this, but really felt it when a friend recently lost a loved one.

I wanted to send this friend a note, but when I sat down at the keyboard, no words would come. Suddenly I was no longer this person's friend; I was a Writer. I felt this pressure to say just the right thing, something that would ease my friend's suffering and let them know how sad I was for them. Something deep, poetic, profound. I started and stopped several times, but everything I typed sounded pretentious, or preachy or like something you've read in a thousand different sympathy cards. At the time, I talked to this person practically every day, about everything from work to relationships. So why was this so hard?

I realized a couple of things. First, I was trying to imitate everything well-intentioned people say to you when you lose someone. About the person being in a better place, about there being a plan, etc, etc. Maybe all that's true, but it never helps me when I'm grieving. All I know is I'm hurting. Talking to me about some larger plan just makes me feel selfish or wrong for being sad.

Secondly, my friend and I didn't have that kind of relationship. We didn't sit around and wax poetic, or talk about the meaning of life and death and suffering or anything like that. We talked about pop culture. We complained about coworkers. On occasion we exchanged very inappropriate jokes. If I tried to pretend I had answers or insights into why bad things happen, it would just seem insincere.

Yes, I did finally send a note. What did I say? The only thing that wouldn't seem preachy or insincere, the one thing that couldn't be misconstrued, the one thing that would simply express empathy: "I'm sorry."

The Thursday 13: Movies that ALWAYS put me in a good mood

2009-10-01T10:25:00.003-05:00

Most of these wouldn't be considered "art." They don't necessarily have some huge message. But they make me laugh. And sometimes that's all that matters. Most of these also fall into the "movies-I've-seen-so-many-times-I-can-recite-the-dialogue" category.

1. So I Married an Axe Murderer
2. Better off Dead
3. The 'Burbs
4. Pretty in Pink
5. Back to the Future
6. Grease
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's
8. Moonstruck
9. When Harry Met Sally
10. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
11. Beetlejuice
12. Fletch
13. La Cage aux Folles (and the Robin Williams version, "The Birdcage")

Other "Thursday 13" Posts:
Albums I can listen to over and over and over...
Mental Vacation
Things I Promise NOT to Do to You on Facebook
Some of My Favorite Addictions
Why I Like Being a Freelance Journalist

My Life According to The Cure

2009-09-29T10:28:00.002-05:00

This is one of those "notes" that's been circulating around Facebook. I thought it would make an interesting blog post. Here are the rules: Pick one artist, and answer the following questions using titles from their songs. I chose The Cure, which may have been a mistake because they have SO many titles that fit me.

Are you a male or female?
Bird Mad Girl

Describe yourself:
Out of Mind

How do you feel:
In Between Days

Describe where you currently live:
Fascination Street

If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Where the Birds Always Sing

Favorite form of transportation:
Mint Car

Your best friend is:
Pictures of You

What's the weather like:
The Last Day of Summer

Favorite time of day:
10:15 Saturday Night

If your life were a TV show, what would it be called:
Cut Here

What is life to you:
Grinding Halt

Your fear:
Never Enough

What is the best advice you have to give:
Let's Go to Bed

Thought for the Day:
More Than This

How I would like to die:
Just Like Heaven

My soul's present condition:
Doing the Unstuck

My motto:
To Wish Impossible Things

The Thursday 13: Albums I can listen to over and over and over...

2009-09-24T10:00:00.001-05:00

There are more; these are just the first 13 I thought of. And they're not necessarily in order. And some I only have on vinyl so I can't listen to at all.

1. "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" soundtrack
2. "Disintegration" by The Cure
3. "Bloodletting" by Concrete Blonde
4. "Shake These Blues" by Pinkie and the Snake Shakers
5. "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack
6. "Promise" by Sade
7. Sue Saad and the Next (self-titled)
8. "Strong Persuader" by Robert Cray
9. Chris Isaak (self-titled)
10. "Grace" by Jeff Buckley
11. "Dummy" by Portishead
12. "Chimera" by Delerium
13. "You've Done Lost Your Good Thing Now" by B.B. King

So maybe I should appreciate my job a little more...

2009-09-22T10:15:00.002-05:00

Sometimes (OK, a lot of the time), I complain about my job. Freelance journalists don't earn enough, don't get much respect, and of course there's the no benefits/health insurance/401k disadvantage that comes from being self-employed. And much of the time I feel like I'm writing "fluff" pieces, or articles that probably won't even be read. But every now and then something reminds me why I became a journalist.

I just finished an article about two women who adopted children from another country, and who are now starting a charity to help that area. During the interview I'm already feeling a little guilty about how I complain about my sluggish computer, or the two digital cameras that don't work, when I'm hearing about the thousands of people who live in fear of constant violence and may not always even have food. At the end of the interview, the children want to say hello to me. One thanks me for writing the article and "helping people in the Congo." I may communicate for a living, but I had no idea what to say to this teenage boy. Sure, I was excited about writing an article about a good cause. But I just thought of it as interesting story about the benefits of adopting from another country, or about the dedication involved in starting a charity. I never thought of my article as something that might directly help people halfway across the world. Equally surprising, I realized that sometimes, the best reward is just a "thank you." And I feel I owe him, this boy half my age, a thank you for reminding me not to complain so much.