WJI Blog 2022, June 1 PM - The Human-Doing-Her-Best-While-Growing-In-Faith Standard

Today was my favorite afternoon and evening of WJI. Being part of a track has been such a blessing this week. I am part of the Feature team, and we have completed most of our reporting and are breaking ground in writing. I tend to enjoy the research and reporting process so much more than the writing process because I’m scared of putting pen to paper. This fear is mostly rooted in perfectionism and a tad rooted in uncertainty. I want what I write to be perfect… I have learned that is impossible. Perfection use to be the standard expectation I held for myself. Thankfully that unrealistic standard has dropped down to human-doing-her-best-while-growing-in-faith. Because of this life lesson, and after announcing that I was so nervous to my cohort, I read, aloud, my feature rough draft. It was very, very imperfect, but the world kept turning. I also grew a couple more centimeters as a writer.

After dinner, we all enjoyed bowling, pool, foosball, and air hockey on campus. Do all college campuses have bowling allies or is this a Midwest thing? Anyways, I discovered I’m a master pool player (I guess trig really did help me in the real world). Then, all of us went to the evening bonfire. My inner child always comes out around fire which concerned most everyone, but none were harmed.

The most special part of the bonfire was the Q&A with Lee Pitts. Someone seriously needs to write a biography on this guy’s life. His ability to craft stories in speech rivals his talents with written words. My favorite story was about him meeting his wife, Elizabeth. I laughed hard when he got to the part of the intern. Long story short, Pitts hired an intern who was not quite cut out to be a journalist. Part of me wants to know her name and see how’s she doing in this world…I’m very concerned with her logical wellbeing.

Once the Q&A ended, hymns were passed around for a time of worship. Every time I’m with a group of people huddled around fire singing songs, I think about all the people who came before us and did this very thing. People for centuries have gathered around fire. In this era, it’s become a special experience. A place for people to commune and fellowship. I could not be more thankful for this evening of fellowship and laughter.

Thanks so much,

- Ava Woodward