Where to Begin

I could begin with my laptop being stolen, out of our new apartment, a few weeks ago, while Eric was home. It was certainly a...memorable event. I lost tons of documents and photos. It partly explains why I've not been easy to get a hold of for a bit. But no, that would be a negative start.

Perhaps the crazy cabbie airport escapade instead? In which, on the way to the airport for an 11:00 pm flight to Chicago, our reckless taxi driver, whose English we only occasionally understood, blew a tire while going 80 in the fast lane on South 101 and careened out of control for 6 seconds before skidding to a stop and blocking traffic for miles. We called 911 and were placed on hold for about 5 minutes, which we spent watching through the rear window as car after fast-moving car slammed on its brakes to avoid hitting us. We then had to hail another cab, from our first cab, by flailing our hands out the window. Both cab drivers overcharged us.

But I'd say the most important recent event was the END of my first semester of J-school. I don't mean to sound bitter. After all, I am in graduate school by choice, and am lucky to even have the option. It's just that I was simultaneously swamped and unhappy with what I was up to this semester. I really don't like reporting. At least the kind of reporting that makes me feel like I'm parachuting in to someone's troubled situation, demanding that they tell me what's going on in 300 words and then taking off to tell everyone else what they said. Death, illness, theft, corruption, real estate... please, no more. I do not want to be the one to deliver these news bits as soon as they've occurred. Send me in later, to reflect on the aftermath, to get to know the people and tell you about them, but lordy, don't make me cover BREAKING NEWS. Ick.

Enough whining. The much better news is that I've got a great January planned. After spending the holidays here in Chicago, I'll head down to Managua, Nicaragua, with my friend and colleague Mary, who heads up Round Earth Productions, a non-profit radio production company. We'll be doing stories on youth gangs in Nicaragua, then a Mayan rock band in Guatemala. Stay tuned for dispatches from down there. I'll be taking photos with a nice SLR camera I'm borrowing from school, and practicing some new techniques I picked up from a fantastic documentary photographer on the J-school faculty. I had her criticize a number of the photos I've taken until now, and her main point was that they are WAY too symetrical. She wants me to interact more with the people I'm shooting, and to frame things in less predictable ways. We'll see how it goes.