WJI Blog 2023, Let the Journalism Begin!

That first day of school feeling permeated the air. While Friday was filled with icebreakers and pizza, it was now time for the journalism to begin. After reading through Professor Pitts's emails with jokes upon jokes, I was interested to see him in a classroom setting. Turns out his teaching technique involves acronyms upon acronyms.

In all seriousness, I learned so much. Going back to basics always hits me with so many “oh yeahs.” My biggest “oh yeah” of the day was show not tell, as I am often guilty of overexplaining in stories. Something I had never heard before was keeping a low line of abstraction. This was a helpful way to think about details and was an excellent reminder to push for specifics in my interviews at the Tulip Festival.

While my journalistic experience has mostly involved hard news, the lecture was helpful in preparing for a soft news story. As I learned, I grew an appreciation for this kind of journalism. Heading to our Tulip Festival experience, I was looking for the face of my story. While a profile about a couple from Zearing, Iowa is sure not to win any Pulitzers, there is very real impact in telling someone’s story, for them and for me.

-Darcy Bolinger