Today was again a busy one! I sent out at least half a dozen emails to everyone from the chair of the Durham County Board of Commissioners to the Durham mayor. I got quotes back from multiple sources on multiple topics (I sent out a few emails for each of the stories I’m working on, the story on participatory budgeting and the story on crime). It’s weird because it feels a lot like what I do for yearbook: Skyping middle schoolers about their experiences playing on Blue Basketball is a lot more similar to Facebook Messenger-ing Durham residents for their takes on the city’s budget than you would think.
Perhaps the most funny thing to me– who, at the beginning of my junior year, was nervous to Skype said middle schoolers– is that I’m getting much less intimidated reaching out to people I don’t know. When Thomasi asked me to email the mayor today, I copy-pasted my question pack from OneNote without batting an eye. (Okay, maybe I batted an eye, but only a little bit.)
On the topic of said quotes, I also got a few really great ones back for my story on participatory budgeting. My mess of a Word document is shaping up into a story that’s weirdly close to my heart. I’ve found myself starting to care quite a lot about an initiative that I hadn’t known about before this week, and the stories I’ve heard from the people I’ve reached out to have been incredible to hear and write about.
And write I have– in fact, I’ve been working on the story for the last hour or so. I literally have three versions of it pasted and labeled on different pages of a Word document. I’m planning to ask Thomasi and a few of the other staff writers which version they like better tomorrow. I’m crossing my fingers that this story will actually make its way to the online pages of Indy Week– a lot of stories get scratched– but either way, I’m so proud of the work I’ve done.
OH– and I didn’t even mention the best, most important, most wonderful part of my day. It might just have been the highlight of my week.
My boss Jeff brought his dogs to work.
Their names are Sebastian and Belle, and they’re some of the sweetest puppies I’ve ever met.
Did I hold Sebastian on my lap during an entire staff meeting? Yes. After said staff meeting, did Jeff ask me to watch both dogs while he went to a meeting? Yep.
Did I agree and spend at least twenty minutes cuddling with them? Absolutely.