Archive for category Spilled Thoughts
The Highs and Lows of a Journalism Intern
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on August 6, 2010
They, you know the famous “they” tell you to never assume things. This “assuming” thing makes you look bad and maybe me too. Isn’t that how the saying goes? Well this girl assumed her summer internship would be a breeze.
Maybe they’d let me write a couple stories after a few weeks had passed. Maybe I’d have to take a few pictures. Maybe I’ll be my editor’s sidekick during the experience. All assumptions of course. All wrong. Within the first hour of arriving for my first day of work, I was sent head first into a story by myself. This rapid motion, even for a weekly, never seemed to cease.
And I loved it.
The best part of my internship was the everyday challenge. Each day I’d come into the office and I’d have instructions waiting on my desk. The job never got monotonous or boring. Each day, it was a surprise, who I would be meeting next or who would be my next interviewee victim.
With such excitement everyday, I cannot remember a day I sincerely dreaded a workday. But I did dread the 40-minute commute to work and 40 minute drive home. The drive was easily the worst part of my internship this summer. After wearing out every CD I owe, pumping too much gas and still yet to find a morning radio show I like, I am excited to go back to walking five minutes to class and work every day.
Being from the county just next door, I never realized how much I didn’t know about my neighbor. I learned the vast differences and everything that I had been missing out on from the amazing people to the amazing family owned restaurants. I learned how to talk to all different types of people in all different types of scenarios. I learned how to design pages using InDesign and how a weekly functions. The most important thing I learned is maintaining relationships with your sources. If you say you’ll send them a picture, send them a picture. If you say you’ll follow up, follow up with them. So many times those sources are at other events or helping me find my next story.
Those same sources are the ones sending me thank you cards and e-mails I after stories I’ve written. For years I had been told that journalism is a “thank-less” career, but in Union County, I was spoiled enough to be put on a pedestal for the job that I do. The kindness of the people of the county and the city of Morganfield is something I’ll remember fondly.
I discovered this kindness in a hard way one scorching hot day in June. I was sent to Uniontown’s Magistrate, Jerri Floyd, to do a story on an ordinance the city was considering passing. I talked to Jerri for only a few minutes when he told me he had some residents that would be good for me to talk to. I followed him in my car while he drove to the neighbor’s house. When we arrived to talk to the sources, I left my keys in the ignition and locked my car. I locked my car WITH my keys inside.
The realization hit me right as I was shaking hands with the former mayor and his wife. I finished the interview in one piece, but as soon as I was out the door, I told the man I arrived with, “Yeah… my keys are in there and my doors are locked.” It cost me embarrassment, 40 dollars and a sunburn. But good ol’ Jerri knew exactly who to call and made the key retrieval a painless process. At every city council meeting since Jerri is sure to slip in my stupidity into conversation.
Through all the frustrations and smiles after being thrown head first, sink or swim, into my hopeful future career, I have loved every second. I am extremely thankful for the internship opportunity and looking forward to my next adventure in this strange newspaper world in which we live.
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Things I have learned about Union County-ians:
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on July 2, 2010
With 6 weeks into my internship at the Advocate in Morganfield, Ky. I have learned quite a few about the people I call Union County-ians. Here is my list based on my experience here so far.
- The Feed Mill Restaurant is the place to eat.
- The wait at the McDonald’s drive-thru is not worth it.
- People are proud of their grandkids.
- Once you go to leave leave the county, you should probably start planning to come back here to retire.
- Post offices are a big deal.
- Golf carts are a bigger deal.
- The Sturgis Rally is the biggest deal.
- Even if you don’t like sweet tea, you’ll learn to like it.
- Somehow everyone has family in Webster County, Ky. as well.
- The four way stop in Sturgis is a landmark for all directions.
- When it’s Union County fair week, fair books are like gold.
- People will do anything for you, (this includes helping you break into your own car when you locked your keys inside.)
- Local restaurants are huge.
- Everything goes on at John A. Arnold Arena.
- No one seems to come to a complete stop
- When driving your car, you’ll get waved at by everyone you pass.
- Being in 4-H is pretty dang cool.
- They love their local newspapers.
Uh… can I speak to Nike please?
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on June 8, 2010
“But don’t tell me where the road ends,
Cause I just don’t wanna know,
No, I just don’t wanna know.”
Whoa. Now, here we are.
Into the next round of the Nike Field Reporter contest.
Must… keep… from… throwing… up.
Okay, sorry about that. Wow, I’m in the top 30 people in the nation to have an paid internship with Nike. I can’t think about it for too long or I start hyperventilating.
I received a fancy e-mail in my inbox late last Thursday night with the first lines reading, “You’ve done it!” And that, my friends, caused me to run downstairs from my bedroom, catapult myself onto my parents asleep in bed and begin screaming with excitement. Effect: My dad half-asleep thinking I had crashed my car and began barking out orders like the former Marine he is.
Then shortly after explaining myself, I began calling, texting, facebooking, tweeting, you name it, to all of you!
The next phase of the contest is having phone interviews with the fine people of Nike.
Yesterday at 4:20 CST, I made the phonecall to my interviewers and answered a range of questions from my favorite celebrity to the three words that best describe me.
Emily Patton is personable, honest and passionate. Gosh, I hope I chose the right words.
Another smack in the face AH-HA moment that always appears in one of my rambling blog posts, well, words are everything to people.
Sure, actions speak louder than words, but what you say about your actions, that’s a pretty big one too. Maybe that’s why I like this little thing called journalism. Hmm…
The interview went pretty smoothly. I find out things about myself all the time. You’d think after almost 21 years being me, I wouldn’t have to learn anything new, but of course I do. On the phone interview, there were about 6 people from Nike asking me questions. One person asked, “Well what’s Western Kentucky University? Where is that?”
I did the natural thing. I described the school by its sports programs, AKA how many Sweet 16 appearances, our new football coach Willie Taggart and our geographic location compared to surrounding sports venues.
Yes, I know I’m just a tad different, but maybe that’s what I have going for me.
In a few days, I’ll be receiving an e-mail with perhaps another interview or an update on where I stand in the contest.
It’s me vs. 29 other girls. Just a little better than me vs. thousands. If this is as far as my road goes, its been an amazing ride and experience getting to feel the support of the community, family and friends.
I just know I’m going to this this run along this road as far as I can.
Why hello there, Union County.
Posted by Emily in Journalism 101, Spilled Thoughts on June 3, 2010
What my planner looked like my first 3 days of my internship
If you want to find me this summer, you are going to have to look.
Most consider where I live, Webster County or outside of the small town of Dixon, Ky. to be “in the boondocks.” (Don’t bother looking on a map if you don’t know where that is, because it won’t be on there.) But outside of Webster, even further into the country, about 15 miles Northwest, you’ll hit a town called Morganfield.
And sure enough, that’s where I’ll be.
Last winter in the midst of a hunt for a summer internship, I received an e-mail from the editor of the Union County Advocate, Carrie Dillard, requesting me for an interview. After a few phonecalls, a trip to Union County and some conversation about where I wanted to spend my summer, I accepted the job.
Sure its roughly a 35 minute drive for me everyday, a smaller community newspaper, but I’ve never been more sure this is where I need to be.
My first day of work, I was sent to the Feed Mill Restaurant to cover a story on the Red Hat Ladies. The next I interviewed a pastor and his wife at First United Methodist Church. Then that Saturday night, I was thrown head first into Union County High School’s graduation. All in three days. All too much fun. All amazing experience for a hungry little intern.
I was especially nervous about my first day of work at the Advocate. Why?
Because when I got the job, I was told I would be doing it all. I would be reporting, writing, taking pictures, designing, working in an office and whatever else we all stumbled across together. And so far, I’ve been doing just that.
Another hurdle I feared was saying goodbye to sports writing and hello to news writing. Something I feared I would hate, but surprisingly I have loved it.
Like the Kentucky New Era, this newspaper is a real paper. Its real people trying to make real money. Its a paper that people read cover to cover. And what I’m discovering slowly is that this is a paper that is a huge part of the community.
While I know most of my journalism classmates at Western Kentucky University frowned on the thought of interning at a weekly newspaper, I know that this weekly has been a perfect fit for me. I’m learning what community journalism is all about. I’m learning how to find the soul of a place, how to understand people and how to tell stories.
I believe internships are more much than simply a summer job. To me, internships are a way to connect you to other people in the business that maybe you wouldn’t have known. Internships are a way to get that real hands-on experience. You learn if this is for you, or maybe another path is more suitable. You learn if you can handle it.
Yesterday, I celebrated my bylines with friends and family and read over my stories at least ten times to myself.
Its good to know that I’m right where I need to be.
Keep up with how I’m doing at the Advocate by clicking here.
Shot in the dark.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on May 19, 2010
Emily Patton. The next Nike Field Reporter?
“Baby, maybe I’m the one you like
Maybe I’m a shot in the dark
and you’re the morning light
Whoa
Maybe this is sad but true
Baby, maybe you’ve got nothing to lose…”
So I know a thing or two about shots in the darks.
You know, those longshots that come out of nowhere and steal the race. The kind of longshots I am most familiar with are the likes of those in horse racing… maybe like a Super Saver in the 2010 Kentucky Derby or Mine That Bird in last year’s Run for the Roses, or how about the one that rocked everyone’s race world that cleverly named, Giacomo from 2005?
What’s the cool thing about long-shots?
Well in horse racing… if you are tempted enough to put down $2 to show, or maybe if you are feeling adventurous, God forbid, $2 to win, the pay-off… well, its kind of nice. But bet on the favorite. Well, you are looking at a return of a whopping .20 cents, if you’re lucky.
So what does that say to you?
I’ll tell you what it says to me. It tells me to take the gamble. The payoff in the end will be worth the funny looks at the betting window, the muffled laughter from the doubters and nonbelievers.
The quote, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” has always stuck with me.
Its a quote that I recited to myself as a clicked “SUBMIT” on Nike’s website a few weeks ago.
Nike offered a contest nationally to be the next Nike Field Reporter, an insane job offer for young women to work as reporters interviewing the dream athletes and writing for Nike Women.com. A bit insane to think that such a dream is even something you can enter to win.
So to cut down the thousands of entries, each girl had to write an essay to break into the top 100 girls. I mean, this is a national contest, LITERALLY thousands of people entered.
I’m shaking my head right now even thinking about it.
But I made the top 100. (Ridiculous, I know!)
Next, we had to submit a video, telling why we should be the next Nike Field Reporter. To explain the stress that this caused me is already an understatement. My first video, well, let’s just say was just terrible. Then it wouldn’t upload. After a couple visits to the IT department, a couple stressed phone-calls to my oh-so patient friends, thoughts of giving up, e-mailing Gabe from Nike, and just frustration… well, I ended up having to re-do my video. Oh, yeah, all this during, Western Kentucky University’s finals week too. Yeah, I wasn’t stressed out at all!
So finally, fed up and impatient, I started over. I plopped down in my back yard and started talking. I felt like I was rambling, but really I just talked about what I am most passionate about, which conveniently enough is just what this Nike Field Reporter contest is all about. Its about being passionate about reporting and sports.
Fortunately, my full name is Emily Lynn Passionate About Reporting Sports Patton. Its a pain filling out paperwork.
In two weeks, I’ll find out if I made the top 30. They judge on the popularity of the video, ratings, comments, views and all, but also the essay I submitted previously. Its a whole big combination of things. I had to pretty much “wow” them.
Its a tad scary to think that I could be on the brink of something so incredible. All I can do now is advertise my video so people can help make it more POPULAR — a word I secretly hate, but for the next two weeks, I’ll embrace it.
POPULARITY, come on baby.
Its a shot in the dark. But its one you’ll never hit, if you don’t at least go for it.
So that’s what I’m doing. I’m going for it. Wish me luck.
Hit up my video by going to Nike Women, click on videos, then channels and the “Vote Now for the Next NFR” tab and look for Emily Patton.
Love to Learn. Learn to love.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts, The Sports World on April 16, 2010
Oh, oh no.
Doesn’t it feel like that time in the semester where a train is heading straight for you?
The 2010 Lady Toppers softball team. Photo by Emily Patton
Just imagine that terrible, awful, no good train that screams its whistle right through the valley of Western Kentucky University racing towards you head on at full speed.
Here I am desperately trying to find a way off the track as work at the math office comes to a close, the Herald and a softball season comes to an end and finals week approaches.
When this semester finally concludes, I feel like I am going to have a couple more grey hairs. Not only from the stress, but from the feeling that I have grown up yet even more.
As always, the credit for me maturing and growing… yep, you guessed it… goes to…. the College Heights Herald (applause).
I guess you could say I stepped up in my beat when I was awarded softball after covering cross-country during the fall… although I’m sure that’s debatable. Its a sport most wouldn’t jump to have a byline next to. Its a sport I had never really paid much attention to.
Nonetheless, its a sport and I’m a sportswriter.
Unlike cross-country, I have never had any experience with softball. Not in high school, not in grade school, not even in the friends I spent time with had any connection whatsoever to the sport. I never went to softball games. I once played a few innings in a church league game, but honestly, that was the extent of my ties to anything remotely related to seven inning game. In the course of one spring semester, it was expected of me to make it my life.
Senior Kelsey McCauley of the Lady Toppers prepares to bat against conference opponent, Troy, on April 2. Photo by Emily Patton
I can’t tell you how well I have done or if I have met or exceeded any expectations. I just don’t know. What I can tell you is simple. I like softball. I like softball players. I have gained respect for the sport. I know the roster in and out of the Lady Tops.
Most importantly, I have learned more than you could ever imagine.
I am watching softball for the first time in my life, gaining experience, and learning every day.
And as a student in college on the eve of entering this dreaded “real world” that haunts my future every day and prior to my first summer internship — that’s really all I can ask for.
See how I am doing keeping up with the latest Lady Toppers softball news and see the latest from the Herald’s sport staff.
My Balancing Act
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts on September 9, 2009
It’s time for you to prove,
Within your ruby shoes,
You deserve a smile with no regret,
Look at you kicking off your shoes,
Dancing for the world to see,
Now open up and see, And go be free and fly away…
I probably do not know what I am getting myself into honestly. This whole college experience journalism thing? Yeah, who was I kidding?
I thought for a few minutes there I had this whole college thing down. Freshmen year was knocked out of the park and my summer living on my own in Bowling Green was a complete success. I had figured out where the bathrooms are in all the buildings on campus, found the quickest way to master the hill from my residence hall to TCCW, and even seemed to say, “Meal Plan” with such confidence I appeared to be saying it for years.
But I guess it serves me right for thinking I had it all figured out. And how intelligent am I for thinking 15 hours of classes and working part-time at the university was just not enough?
Now here I am working to perfect that amazing balancing act I have going with class/work, (all on my head of course), putting my fancy journalism major to good use as I freelance for the Kentucky New Era and work as the newest College Heights Herald’s sports general assignment reporter.
With my fancy voice recorder in hand, pen working furiously, questions buzzing in my head, I have never done anything more exciting than the work of a journalist. From the few stories I have been involved with thus far in my brief career, I can say I have learned more from those experiences than from hours and hours in a classroom. Suddenly this whole journalism thing I have been studying for the past year has become a beautiful and real thing to me. Beautiful. Yes. Real. YES. But I refuse to sugarcoat this for you, because honestly I feel like as I am seeking truth and answers to my many questions about the industry, you are probably on the same scavenger hunt.
I’ll give it to you straight: Its not easy. Deadlines are a constant. If you think you have some time, well you are wrong. If you think an interview will go smoothly when you are crunched for time, well you are wrong. You always need more information. You always could have done more research. Each day, I feel like I have no idea what I am doing. I feel like I have everything to learn and no one is just going to pass out the answers to the test. But maybe that’s the process. Maybe its better to start out brand new, so that you can dig deeper and seek a little harder. Maybe everyone has to start at the bottom to make reaching the peak so breathtaking.
While what I do know is little, what I have learned in the past few weeks speaks volumes. This experience I am gaining right now is vital after the next few years of college pass. I am so thankful to be surrounded by amazing people, who will go to many vast places in this huge world and will inspire me to do the same. My high stress level is worth every minute.
I do not have everything figured out. Fifty years from now, I probably still will not have it all figured out. But I have never have I anticipated the small discoveries along the way more.
Office of yada-yada, this is Emily.
Posted by Emily in Spilled Thoughts on June 30, 2009
Courtesy of Nika Fadul
“You stumble down your yellow brick road
Spinnin your shoes in the air, the air–
Then you hold your breath and count to nine
Hopin that soon somebody will find you, find you.”
I am staring down an empty hallway of TCCW on Western Kentucky University’s campus. Occasionally a man with a foreign accent will come in and pass my desk (as he just did) and other times I clear my throat, ease the phone into my right hand on the second ring and say so rhythmically, “Office of yada-yada, this is Emily.” Say hi to my summer job.
The next two months seem so daunting. For starters, I am living on my own. Yes (scary thoughts). So in short that means living off of pizza rolls, eating the “Breakfast of Champions” (strawberry frosted Pop-Tarts), learning to love Ramen noodles, and truly appreciating the time I spend at home.
Every morning I am awake and ready to go by 7:55 A.M. and at the office by 8 A.M. sharp (and trust in this: waking up early hurts). Its not the best feeling to set an alarm each night before you close your eyes, but the money in my bank account is worth the painful process of opening my phone, then the main menu, organizer, and finally the alarms tab. I must note my summer’s have not normally been this way.
My “average” summer:
- At home.
- Horse-back riding every evening.
- Swimming/laying out for the majority of the day.
- A part-time 20 hr or so a week job.
- Seeing friends every night.
This summer:
- In Bowling Green.
- Trying to make new friends and hoping to see my old friends every weekend I can.
- Working 40 hrs. a week.
- Soaking up an interior lights tan as a secretary.
Note the difference? But that’s okay, I think…
(Pause as I learn how to use the fax machine.)
Earlier my Mom sent me a message on Facebook (yes, my mom has a Facebook now…) that read, “I am so proud of you Emily. This job was a huge step for you and you are doing so well.” And sure that sounds like just something a mother would say, but I will hold on to it for a little while longer. I do not know how well I am doing, but she is right. This is a HUGE step for me. Living on my own. Making my own dinner every night. Two hours from the place I consider a colossal part of what makes me who I am…
A couple years ago, the thought of dropping off a job application terrified me. The possibility of attending an interview made me hyperventilate. And for ages, I considered myself SO INDEPENDENT, but came to a rude awakening when that shiny flashy image in my head of myself [ me hopping in my yellow mustang convertible, my dark brunette hair down, speeding off into the sunset, not for a second glancing in the rear view mirror] was simply a falsehood. The portrait of that girl was not me at all. Oh no. I pull out of the driveway in a mid-nineties vehicle that often looks black, (yet really its green) and stare misty-eyed as I proceed in the distance, occasionally tapping the brakes. So it must have came as kind of a shock to my parents when I called rejoicing about accepting a summer job offer away from home. A shock not only to them, but to myself as well.
As classes met their conclusions of the spring semester, cars waited to be loaded for drive homes, and finals grade were posted, I was walking across campus by myself one afternoon and it hit me. The true fear smacked me in the face. The terror of being alone struck. I had only a few days to gather my thoughts, relax after classes, take a few deep breaths before I dove into summer employment. My time away from campus was short. I was originally given 5 days off, but received a phone-call from my boss a day early asking if it was at all possible, could I come into work early…. Not what you really want to hear…. AT ALL. I laughed later with my parents as I hurriedly packed, “My boss could ask me, ‘Do you want to come in on your day off? Do you want to organize this 50 year old office? Do you want to move to Asia?’ The answer is always yes. I want to do it!”
I did not have time to be nervous. Work would not wait for me to get over my longing to be home for the summer. [Note: Nothing is going to wait for you to be ready for it.]
But this heart piercing fear that I felt post acceptance of the job and observing my friends pack to head home somehow evolved into the need to arrive at work five minutes early each day and smile as I locked the office at 4:30 every afternoon. I found myself comfortable in my office chair, laughing with my boss, after work running a loop around campus waving at people I know, and having Tuesday night dinners at a work friend’s apartment.
To me the first year of college was the year I learned more than I wanted to know about myself… the good and bad, pretty and oh so ugly truths about myself. To name a few: I am addicted to football, (which I am so thankful my amazing roommate and neighbors accept my screaming rampage when a Manning interception is thrown). I like home. If my Hilltoppers Basketball podcast won’t upload, best leave me alone. I like to study when its dead quiet. The better my relationship is with God is the better I feel. Night classes make me grumpy. I love having a job. And many many more…. This summer has followed gracefully as a second act, contributing steadily to the countless discoveries that Western Kentucky University has unveiled for me about myself. And as much as I look forward to Fridays, I have learned that I also look forward to the start of a new work week.
So I sit behind my desk recently informed that I will have my own name plate that reads with professionalism and maturity, “EMILY PATTON,” experiencing a summer quite unlike any other, and learning more than I ever thought with closed books, nonexistent homework assignments and outside of a classroom… and that’s more than okay.
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