Hope

If I had to choose just one word to describe what I took away from working with International Justice Mission this Summer, that would be it. Hope.

Each day, I heard heart-wrenching stories of girls as young as 5 stolen from their families and trafficked into brothels to be sexually abused; stories of entire families forced by evil men to work as slaves in brick kilns and rice mills; stories of corrupt leaders accusing people of murder and throwing them into prison cells to waste away in silence. But the beautiful thing is that none of these stories I heard at IJM ended there. Each of these stories ended with God using simple human beings to bring rescue and restoration to the hearts, spirits and lives of those who desperately need it.

So, why do we never hear these stories on the nightly news?

As far as I can tell, this is why I’m studying journalism at the University of Missouri. If you had asked me 5 years ago where I’d be going to school, I probably would’ve told you somewhere out on the East coast, West coast or Colorado. And if you had asked me what I would be studying, the answer definitely wouldn’t have been journalism. Honestly, the journalism industry (at least in the mainstream) frustrates me more than it inspires me. But, since I was a little girl, something I remember my dad continually saying was, “People gotta have hope. You gotta give people hope.” And this is what God has pressed into my heart throughout the different experiences He’s blessed me with over the last several years – and it’s as if God has used this experience at IJM to capitalize on my dad’s words.

So, that’s encouraging! But, I really have no clue how that’s all going to look…and I’m learning that that’s actually okay! To be honest, this can definitely be frustrating (especially for people like me who would like to figure it all out), but right now it’s making me laugh. We don't always need to know exactly where the next stepping stone is; sometimes all that is required is the step, and the rest figures itself out.

As Gary Haugen writes in his book, Just Courage, “Deep within all of us there is a yearning to be brave. And like all of our deepest, truest and best yearnings, it comes from how we were made. Courage – the power to do the right thing even when it is scary and hard – resonates deeply within the original shape of our soul. Why is it so beautiful to see someone do the right thing when it is hard? Why, on the other hand, should there be such shame about our cowardice? Why should it matter so much to my inner being that I do the right thing rather than the safe thing? It’s a mystery. But there it is, pointing relentlessly to the nature and delight of the One who made me. In fact, the beauty and goodness for which we were fashioned by our Maker is more glorious than we dare to imagine.” (p.103)

So, this semester and for the rest of my life, I want to take hold of the beauty and goodness for which I was made. And maybe more importantly, I want to shine light on the beauty and goodness that exists on our planet in order to give hope to a world bogged down by the weight of depressing, immobilizing facts and figures. There is SO much hope -- it just needs to be highlighted.

"Wise shall be the bearers of Light"

President, Pigs and Money

...just some of the things Journalism and I have been enjoying this week.

Newsy.com continues to challenge my research skills and ways of thinking. It's awesome. This week I researched, analyzed and wrote a story comparing/contrasting what news organizations were saying about President Obama's "First 100 Days". Multi-perspective storytelling in 2-minute video segments is not only a great way to place bias, opinion and truth next to each other...it's a great way to learn how to think critically about issues that matter and helps innovate the curious mind to find and understand truth.

A second story I wrote for Newsy this week: Swine Flu: Precaution or Paranoia? (I think this is definitely a valid question to ask as news outlets and social media networks continue to hype the issue).

A few stories I worked on while at KOMU were:

"Second Possible Case of Swine Flu"
"Missourians deal with flooding"

"Woman Charged with Domestic Assault and Burglary"

I had a fun time finding an appropriate image for the Swine Flu posting. I had to be careful not to take an image with ambulances, flashing lights, people in hospital beds, etc., as this would have conveyed the opposite message. I felt the word "possible" (in the headline) had to be conveyed through the image as well...which is why I went with the scientist conducting research.

Also, I learned a valuable lesson while Twittering from KOMU.com: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it!" This is a phrase my dad has drilled into my head since birth and I've always valued it, but in a moment of busyness it seemed to pop out of my head while tweeting a question to KOMU's Twitter community. Lesson learned!

So, where does "Money" come into all of this? MoneyCommons of course! After our meeting today, I'm just reminded again of how important vision-casting is. We could have a great idea, but if the vision isn't cast properly, it doesn't matter. No one will believe in it. We have to see where we're headed in order to convey that path and destination to others. Not gonna lie, that sounds slightly cheesy, but it's so true.

And Yay! In a quick note, I won two awards from Flickr for photography I did for the Missourian!

First Place (News - Cover) and First Place (Multi-story package - News or Sports)

Sad day though...I never got a byline. The grad student who worked on the print portion of the story is listed instead. This happened last year and frustrating though it is, it's still encouraging to get the awards! : ) And it was an awesome story to interview, shoot and edit into a Soundslides package. I learned lots and lots.

Pirate Booty

Here's a link to a story I wrote for Newsy.com last week, when pirates took an American Captain Captive... (Note: He is no longer held hostage...see the follow-up story on Newsy.com).

I've also begun working on a Flash photo slideshow and have run into a couple technical difficulties. Apparently there are no guides at KOMU to explain how to go about doing this and my made-up way isn't working too well at the moment. So, needless to say, I think I may need a one-on-one with Jen for this one! Also working on interviewing average Joes and Janes in Columbia, MO about what they'd like to see on a community-centered, economy-focused website/forum, such as MoneyCommons.com.

Quote of the week: "Bingo!! Give it to Daddy." - Jim Riek (In context...Jim won a game on Sporkle.com)

Basketball Dough

Fun little thing Amy and I posted to KOMU.com...

Earnings: Big 12 Basketball Coaches

The two graphics are the coolest part. : )

MoneyCommons Team: Where do we go from here?

Alrighty then...so Jen and I met today and had a little chat about
where we are, and where we go from here. Thought I'd post some of the thoughts and notes from our meeting, so here it goes...

Basically, the most essential thing to do at this point is to build a
community. How do we practically do that? Talk with people of all
ages, colors, shapes, socioeconomic status, professions, etc. and
learn what they're looking for in an economy-focused site. What do
they want to know? How can we tangibly serve them? Right now, it's all
about talking with people, understanding their needs and then
compiling our info to work towards meeting those needs through
creating a sustainable site...one of the biggest challenges Jen is
dealing with at the moment.


As of now, we have some content from traditional newsrooms whose
primary focus is themselves. There's nothing too wrong with that as
that's how they're making (or trying to make) money, but it just means
that content for our project is put on the back burner. For example,
very little is actually happening with the videos the Missourian
promised to deliver. So, what do we do without solidified titles of
reporter, producer, salesperson, etc.? Research.


Basically, Money Commons itself is still a theory, which isn't
necessarily a bad thing at this point. We just have to figure out what
all kinds of people in Columbia want/need and then build the idea of
MoneyCommons.com from there. So, in interviews with community leaders/
professionals regarding the economy, or while just having
conversations with locals, let's be intentional about asking and
taking notes on their thoughts. Then we'll compile our info and begin
to build our site with a clearer picture of our community.

This whole web thing is a bit of a mystery and no one has solved it!! So it seems experimentation is KEY!!!

Giraffes, KOMU, the Missourian and Cramer

Economy videos from the Missourian are coming along...slowly, but surely. Two of the reporters (Kyle and a sweet girl whose name I can't remember) are still working on two videos each. "How to retire in this economy" and "How to say 'No' to your kid" are two the one girl is working on, with the second being one of a few videos geared towards parents on how to teach their teens various common-sense money tips/tricks in this economy. Other examples of videos to be done are "How to teach teens to budget" and "How you can help your kid graduate in this economy." Not necessarily the exact titles, but so far, those are the key ideas. Kyle is working on a "How to save on your utilities" story and another investment tips piece. All four of these will be shot by Spring Break (one week away, woohoo!) and edited sometime afterwards. Also, the "How to market yourself" video is still a work in progress.

As far as KOMU goes, yesterday was an interesting shift day. The TiVo and capturing tool on Avid were both not working, so no video could be posted to the web after the 6. Kind of frustrating. Scott Schaeffer tried super hard to trouble-shoot the problem with us, but no luck. Unless, something changed over the past 12 hours, there's no video up from yesterday evening's newscasts. Only text.

One thing I'm pleased with is that I've completed all of my media giraffe interviews! They're both quite interesting sources and I'm hoping to complete them over Spring Break or during that following week.

And finally, one great night of television: Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer...

Check out Newsy.com to see my story/analysis of the face-off. : )

Missourian Meeting

So, here's a brief update from the meeting at the Missourian today...

The three economy videos we talked about last week are still a work in progress. They are:

1. How to market yourself
2. What to do if you lose your job
3. How to retire in this economy

This week, three more video-based stories the Missourian reporters are pursuing are:

1. How to save on your monthly utility bills
2. How should you invest differently in this economy
3. Tips for how parents should teach their kids/teens to manage money. (We talked about this being two videos...maybe one focuses more on how parents can "say no to their kids and make it stick.")

There are also quite a few print stories the reporters have been working on. One on food and fuel prices will be on the Sunday cover of the Missourian, and there are several others that are in the early stages of reporting.

Also, Jen, if we can't seem to get KBIA in on this collaboration yet, the Missourian has a link on the bottom of their homepage that says "Audio." If we click here, there are a bunch of random KBIA pieces, including economy stories, and we can pull them to our site from there.

The Missourian is also in the process of designing a separate webpage called "Economy 101" for all of their economy stories, which we could attach a link to from our site. As far as I know from chatting with the reporters briefly, there is already an RSS feed in place for those stories to go to moneycommons.

Now I'm over here at KOMU, editing and publishing stories to the web...and of course, making sure we've tagged the previously completed economy stories with the "8 On Your Money" label. All is good so far!!!