Monday, September 27, 2010

Nervous anticipation

Last week was a fine work week. I finally finished all my interviews for an article about the history of the art gallery.

I had no problems interviewing the art gallery curator. However, I wasn't sure what to write for the lead. I spent about three days trying to figure out what the lead would look like. It ended up with a opening sentence about the gallery turning 39 years old.

I think I did pretty well, although I am very nervous about how my professor will grade it. I shouldn't be this nervous--I can crank out articles like hotcakes.

Anyhow, I'm moving on to the next story--a soundslide project. I wasn't sure where Gary Kohatsu's office is, so I ended up checking out a regular point-and-shoot camera. Hopefully nothing goes wrong.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Back to online journalism school...again

I am Jonathan Oyama, a former journalism graduate from California State University Long Beach. Although I'm already writing for patch.com, an online publication owned by AOL, I'd like to find a better job. Unfortunately, I'm having a tough time finding a job in this current economic recession. So I figured that if I improve my multimedia skills, I might find more opportunities for work.

I feel a little out of place in a community college course, but this is a perfect opportunity for me to hone my computer skills.

Last week, I was struggling to figure out what articles I should write for my multimedia class. At CSULB, my editor usually gave me stories to write, so I didn't worry about getting ideas. So I tried to try asking students at the club rush for the contact information.

Most of my ideas were a little vague, because I wasn't sure whether the article would end up as a short brief tidbit, or a long feature. At least I came up with some interested ideas for profiles. I think that's what my professor wanted.

Anyhow, I'll keep people posted on my progress in writing online entries.