Monday, November 21, 2011

It's a problem when you want to post on your own blog, but you put it off because you don't have the time for the 'right' post...which means I need to get over it and just post from time to time! Like, right now!


I have been distracted this morning by my Twitter feed. Once a tool I thought only college-age kids used to fulfill their narcissistic and voyeuristic tendencies, I now appreciate Twitter for all of it's informatic, networking, educational and cultural value. I spent the morning reading great science and society stories, retweeting many. At the moment, I have a Ted Talk about gardening as a subversive activity playing (I am blogging at the same time, yes...I clearly have attention issues) and contemplating food politics (cue Marion Nestle) and feeding the planet while preserving our environment and combating obesity.


Anyway, I should be distracting myself with updating my Podcasts for my run, preparing for the story I am writing and getting ready for my full day at the News Journal tomorrow...

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Wrapping it up

Two weeks from today, I will be living in Wilmington, Delaware. I will be going to sleep for the first time in the same home as James and Logan without worrying about my next flight out. But there will be time to reflect on that later.

For now, OH MY GOSH I AM ALMOST DONE AT THE TRIBUNE! Next Friday is my last day. How am I going to get all of my stories done? I have two longer stories in the works and I am trying to bank some news briefs so my Tribune comet tail still shines after I leave, at least through most of August ;)

I had a full-page story today. How crazy is that!? I won't link it yet again. I have put it on pretty much every other social media site I am a part of. So, a page 1 story and a full page. Pretty spectacular experiences if you ask me. Since this is my space, I suppose it doesn't really matter if you ask me because I am going to tell you anyway. It's spectacular.

The last few weeks have been strange, after my editor and 19 others were layed off unexpectedly. It certainly threw off my rhythm, as well as the rhythm of the newsroom. The work didn't stop, there were just fewer people suddenly to do it. I think things have worked themselves out as much as can be expected though.

Anyway, there are a lot of changes coming up quickly. I need to figure out how to ship all of my stuff and especially, my bike, which will need to go to a bike shop to be taken apart and packaged up...

Then there is the job search, and the apartment hunting AND the fast-approaching wedding to plan! Eeeek!!

I can't forget to say that having Leila here was so much fun and I am so lucky I got to be in Madison two weekends in a row. James and Logan came for an entire week, which was phenomenal! We had so much fun, even if I was working much of the time they were here. We at least got Madison time, complete with Devil's Lake, climbing, and good times swimming. ;)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Fly one time

There was a story about ospreys on the front page of the Chicago Tribune on Thursday. People care about wildlife. People *want* to read about a beautiful, majestic bird so much that it was front and center. And I got to write the story.


I could never have known that I would be here, at one of the largest, most respected newspapers in the world and that I would have a solo byline on page one. Life can throw some pretty wonderful and unexpected surprises at you sometimes.


A part of me feels like I sort of 'won' it, rather than earned it though. The newsroom has changed a lot over the past few years, with newspapers going bankrupt and journalism struggling to survive the changing news culture that emerged like a tsunami. A lot of people left. Or were fired. A lot of jobs disappeared. But, there are still jobs and really talented people compete for them - residents, young journalists who have come from grad school or with gigs at smaller papers. They spend two years at the paper doing whatever stories are thrown at them, pulling overnight shifts to cover crime, surviving the almost-always-inevitable surburb assignment...and at the end, they hope there is a job waiting for them.


I feel like I came in as the trust-fund kid, with my fancy fellowship and editors working to 'give me the experience I want.' I feel like I need to work my ass off too for what I get. I guess 8 weeks isn't long enough for the drudge work. Who knows. I talked to one of the residents about it yesterday (she will certainly get hired when she is done; she's good!) and she told me I have done more than almost any intern there (from AAAS anyway) and that I would not have been given page one if they didn't think I could handle it...that made me feel better, I think.


It was A LOT of work. I was up by 5:30 am on Monday to go to the site, and it was in the 80s at sunrise...but that was an adventure, complete with osprey, tornado sirens, and whipping through thick brush and gullies in the back of a pick-up trying to outrace gathering funnel clouds. THEN, I made it back home to find my power out (this was after a stop to fill the flat tire on the Tribune pool car) and scramble to pack ice into the refrigerator and freezer...then I got to work, did more interviews and Wednesday was D-day. Edit and revise the heck out of it and work tirelessly with graphics to make sure everything was just right. It was back and forth phone calls to the communications director at the forest preserve to speak with the reluctant wildlife biologist who was so vague I had to keep getting clarification ("ok, with this chart you sent, you say 11 poles with nests. does that mean more than 11 poles exist but there are 11 poles with nests? because you told me before you have 10 poles with 8 nests...?"). But, finally, it was done. And then I had emails and a second post to do...


The work never stops. And I love it. Unfortunately, it will be over soon. Too soon. Until then, I'll keep the stories coming!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Oh the adventures

So, my internet died for a week and then I busied myself with rental home searching and wedding planning (and responding to emails...I seem to get a lot of those). My goal is to have a firm, announceable, wedding plan by Thursday, 15 July - 3 months out from when we planned to have the wedding. But it looks like we may change venues...turns out it kind of sucks having to rent everything from a tent to portable restrooms. Yes, that is a euphemism for port-o-potties. Turns out, it's expensive if you want to be able to wash your hands.

I biked to Lincoln Park this weekend, to do some thinking and planning under a tree. It was so nice. But really, I went for the outdoor Green City Market. By Madison standards, it was small, but in a way, it made it nicer. It was outdoors, in the park, in the grass and under the trees. There was food, there was music, there were families and couples, and lone folk like myself. It was so nice. I had my Willy St Coop bag with me and it sparked conversation with a former Madisonite. The 20 mile round trip bike ride was nice too ;)



This 90 degree weather has to go though. I don't want it. Give me 30 degrees instead. I'm serious, and even in the throes of winter in February and March, I was still realizing the same thing. I hate heat.


But I love this once-in-a-lifetime experience I am having at the Trib. I feel like, for the first time, what I am doing makes a difference. I was thanked last week by several people for what I do, helping to raise awareness, bring light to issues, ask hard questions, educate and enlighten, demystify...it was so profound. I sometimes feel like an excited puppy, wiggling from head to toe because I can't contain all of my energy and enthusiasm. It's nice to feel like a puppy in my late 20's.


Today, I had a phenomenal experience...but I will wait until the story comes out to divulge more ;)


Oh, congrats to Jessica for surviving Shaw's wedding and Patricia for her first trail half marathon!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Working on it

I am going to try and post more frequently! I started something a week and a half ago and couldn't finish it that night, and then it became obsolete...


I am in week 3 of my Fellowship at the Tribune and I can't believe how fast the time is flying! I am doing so much - last week I got a behind-the-scenes at the Field Museum to interview an evolutionary biologist. I also got to go to Fermilab for a butterfly release. Though the butterflies ultimately had to wait until Saturday for their freedom (it was too cold and so sad when they couldn't fly), it was awesome to be out in the soggy prairie, documenting the action. I was in my Ann Taylor dress and black flats, in the mud and prairie brush, getting eaten by mosquitoes...and I loved it! Hahaha.


It's work work work all day long at the paper, and there are always 5000 things happening at once. It's sort of like having 5 experiments going on at the same time and you never know when one might demand your attention. I could be in the middle of writing a story and get a call from someone I need to interview for another story and instantly get my brain on the one for the interview and off of the one I'm writing. It's intense.


The people are great - entertaining to say the least. And they have coffee and gum addictions like me! Who knew! I find a lot of my personality traits are reflected in the news room...maybe I am in the right place...


This weekend, Jack and Christine visited and it was awesome to see them. Madison people are the best ;)


On a running note, I set a 5K personal best of 20:35 at the Humana Race for the Taste 5K this weekend, with nothing to speak to as far as training, and without intending to at all. It was a very unexpected surprise! It got me 4th female and 1st in my age division (which is a medal!).

Monday, June 20, 2011

So it begins...

I started this blog months ago, with the intention of using it to write about the science of running, exercise, etc. You see, I decided in late 2009 that I wanted to use my background in science to communicate it, rather than do it. It's not that I have anything against research. In fact, I love it. But I love too many different, diverse fields of science to imagine spending the rest of my life studying one tiny part of one tiny question in one tiny field. What about my interest in African plains animals or the conservation of old forest in Australia? And also, what about all of those people who's eyes get big when I tell them I am a scientist, who tell me they are impressed because science is too hard for them and they could never do it? I don't want what I do to make someone feel that much more estranged from the most natural subject there is. Biology is our nature. Everyone should understand it. It's my mission to help accomplish this goal.


So why writing about running? Well, that's what I do. And I think it's an area seriously lacking in the communication of good, substantial scientific truth. There is a lot of hype and bogus information out there courtesy of the industry...and hey, maybe it will help me become a better runner too.


Look out for this to come. In the meantime, I will be using this as a forum for all things I'd like to share.