Post 4: A New Hope - Cameron Williams

So, uh, I did it.

Did what, you ask?

Well, I finally asked my editor, Natalie, if I could write a couple of opinion pieces before the internship is over. Ah! Wow! Shocker! But yeah, I asked her if I could write opinion pieces and she told she'd think about it. Good enough answer for me. I hope she caves in and lets me do it. As you might or might not know, I see ultimately see myself becoming a columnist when I "grow up" and I feel writing commentary-based pieces for the Beverly Citizen would serve as great experience.

In other news, this is actually a relaxed week for me. I only have one story to write. I have to contact the Beverly Police Department and discuss a charity event they held a few days ago. Why the relaxation? Well, it's because next week is Beverly Homecoming, a ten-day event featuring over 80 events around the city. Events include Beverly residents performing in a lip synching contest (fingers crossed I cover this event), a lobster festival, classic car shows, and a lobster costume contest where participants dress in their best lobster dress (yep, this actually exists). As you can tell, there's a lot of lobster going on and I can't wait for it.

I actually had to write a story last week which highlighted new events at the Beverly Homecoming this year. The story is significant because I spoke to a guy who might've been one the worst interviewees I've had since this internship began. It was total role reversal for me. For once, I wasn't the awkward one in the interview. The guy is hosting an event at Beverly's historic Carriage House and the phone interview just dragged because he stumbled, slurred, and mumbled his way through the entire thing. I'm probably being mean and I'm certainly sounding like a hypocrite here, but, ugh, that interview was rough.

Kathryn-- Cest

This has been a really odd week for me. It's the second-to-last week I'll be spending in Sarajevo, and the last full week of my program. I wish I could say something like "I'm equal parts excited and sad" or "it's bittersweet"....but I don't want to lie to you. There is no bitter to this sweet, and the excited outweighs the sad by an overwhelming margin. And here's why:

-With the exception of being home for the holidays, I have been abroad since early August 2012. It is now about to be August 2013. It took me until last month to start to feel homesick, but now that it's hit, it's damn near overwhelming.

-While my internship has been an incredible opportunity, I would not recommend this particular program I participated to ANYONE. Not a chance. I am so, so grateful I was able to experience the Balkans BEFORE beginning this program; I fear that if this had been my only exposure to the region, it would have completely ruined it for me. There are so many problems with the program, but I think it's all best summed up with the fact the only things they do consistently are over-promise and underachieve.

-There are so many things to look forward to in the states! Once I get home I'll be going on a road trip with my boyfriend and then I'll be moving into my new apartment. I have so many reasons to be impatient.

-The novelty has worn off. I hate to say it, but it's true-- once Sarajevo stops becoming something foreign and unfamiliar and oriental and exotic, it loses a lot of it's appeal. Because under that east-meets-west veneer lies an ugly daily life reality. The cost of living here is astronomically low compared to the rest of Europe, but it's like that for a reason. Well, many reasons-- most of which begin and end with imposed international "support". Living here as an international places me in an interesting situation in that way.

So much about Bosnia and Herzegovina is difficult (if not impossible) to explain, much less understand, even after living here. I'm sure my experience here is something that I will continue to reflect on and write about for years to come.

Kristen--Post 4

This week, I think I have reached Overwhelmed Status.

I know we all hate deadlines and have to really pull through to meet them sometimes, but I'm struggling with the opposite right now--nothing has a deadline and there is a lot happening at once. I have so many ongoing projects and ideas that is hard to make sure I'm making headway in all of them without having a certain assignment or "rule" that certain things must be done by certain times. I have so much control and flexibility over what I do. I suppose an obvious solution to this is to just create pseudo-deadlines and organize a tangible plan. I am just worried about using my Art From The Heart time as said planning time since I am so encompassed with everything while I'm there. To remedy this portion anyway, Rebecca and I have talked about me only going one morning a week and using the other time to do my work from home.

[Together Rebecca and I have talked through more ideas for the fill-in-the-blank stories that I'm really excited about and even more excited to see happen. We are thinking about printing them out in booklet-style fashion so the children have a more tangible finished product and more of a feeling of their own ability to write and create. My favorite part about this concept is visualizing how proud the kids will be to have their own little books that they made while they were in the hospital. They love showing off their art projects and games and anything we do together and I can't wait to make some of these and get them out there.]

I am also very frustrated lately with my "real" job (meaningless retail work at a corporation we won't name here) and can feel myself just getting stuck there all day with far less motivation. At the hospital, I am working in the best way I ever have. The inspiration and love from our kids and their families and caregivers surround me while I'm there and follow me home every single day. If I could be there with them instead of working I wouldn't even think twice. I'm in it for them now and the LAST thing I care about is cashiering where I have oh-so-important duties like making sure somebody's frozen dinners are all in the same bag or that tiny little coupons scan through correctly.

But overwhelming feelings aside, it is time to be calm and reflect as I get ready for a shift tomorrow morning at the hospital. I tacked up some of the paintings and art I've done in the last two months and it was a nice quiet way to remember everything I've accomplished and admired because of the silly kiddos over there. I read some news on an update site that one I've spent a few different mornings with is going through a very rough treatment week and I'm keeping him and his family close in thought as I get ready for another day.

Post 4--Christina

So I haven’t been able to meet with Brian in the past few weeks (scheduling issues and such), but we have been communicating through email.

I’ve started working on that project I mentioned last time. Amanda and I are going to be writing three short e-books together on the value of storytelling in marketing. Each e-book will contain the same general points, but each one will go more in depth, targeting people with different levels of marketing knowledge. The first one is introductory level, which will be pretty general.  The intermediate one will be a little more detailed, and the advanced one will have a lot of facts and information for people who already know a lot about the subject. We’ve made an outline already (via Google Doc), and Brian has already given us some feedback on it. He mainly just wants us to go into more depth in the intermediate and advanced sections.

Working with Amanda has gone well so far. We’re both busy with work, so we haven’t gotten a chance to talk in person, but Google Docs and Facebook have been working for us. We do our own research, then add things to the Google Doc and chat on Facebook if anything is unclear. Our next steps are to rework the outlines to include Brian’s suggestions, and then agree on a plan/timeline to get some actual writing done. 

Jillian- Fourth Post

It is so hard to believe the summer is already almost over. Counting today I have twelve days left of my internship, and then it's time to begin the hellacious packing for going back to school. Crazy!

But I don't really feel like things are any crazier in the office, actually. I am used to the hustle and bustle on Tuesday because we go to print that day, and then the lethargic feel of things on Wednesday because most of the staff was here until late. It is routine to me now, which I like to think means I have carved a niche for myself, and as an intern you can't really ask for much more than that.

I finished writing an article yesterday about my trip to Ireland, which they are going to include in next week's issue, I think. I am really lucky that I have been encouraged to write articles about things that interest me, because I get to see many different sides of the same job. Plus, who doesn't like writing about themselves?

I am still trying to get in contact with a guy who is in charge of the end-of-summer fair in Washington County. Even with my woe-is-me intern-schtick (a strategy my boss recommended) he isn't returning my calls or e-mails. I have to say that when I go back to school, that is one part of the job I won't miss.

So even though the summer is winding down, I will have the Ireland article and the Washington County Fair article included in upcoming editions. Plus I am going to a Jason Aldean concert in a few weeks (awesome sauce) and I think I will write about that, too.

I am seriously addicted to seeing my name in print. It's awesome.

Until next time!

POST 3423232 (I don't remember) - Sarah

Hiya! So I’ll make mention about two things because it’s all I can remember at the moment.

            -My boss Julie gave me and Jacleen, another intern who I love, a pretty amazing assignment that would make a lot of girls swoon. For the month of September the Providence Monthly does a StyleWeek photo shoot. This upcoming issue, Miss Rhode Island is modeling the clothes, which come from boutiques and stores all over Rhode Island. Julie gave me and Jacleen the assignment to basically travel all over Rhode Island for two days and go shopping for the photo shoot – essentially we were stylists. They’d pay for gas and lunch so it was a no brainer. So last week me and Jacleen set off on our adventure. It was AWESOME. Not going to lie, we bought a few things for ourselves. I’m not saying I’m into fashion or anything, but it was seriously fun. Interns have never been allowed to do this, so it was really a super opportunity.

            -Okay, the other thing isn’t exciting. I feel like I haven’t complained about anything, but now I can. One of my articles I wrote had a tiny mistake in it, though (I’m sure many of you would feel the say) it might as well have been a big rainbow-colored sign jumping up and down. I was annoyed more so by the fact that I REMEMBERED fixing it and this stuff should get read like a million times before it goes to press. BAH!  Luckily, this is an article that goes into more than one magazine, and the other magazine isn’t published yet, so we were able to correct the mistake for that.

Those are the two biggies that have recently happened. Shazaam!Hiya! 

Kathryn-- Dva i Tri

Goodness-- I can't believe how time has flown. Not including today, I have 17 days left in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Here are some of the things I have been tasked to work on between now and then:

-Editing, editing and more editing. Actually, I'm doing a bit less of that now, since we hired a new intern last week and he will be here for 6 months-- therefore is automatically higher on the food chain, or so it appears.

-Writing (finally). I'll be interviewing at least two people and write up a success story from one of Internews' recent projects for publication on their website and the website of their sponsor, USAID.

-Drafting. This week is when the quarterly report goes out, so I'll be assisting with the drafting of some of those sections.

I'm sure there will be other tasks thrown in, but those are the ones I know about.

Outside of my internship I've been kept really busy. Last week I spent nearly the entire week in Srebrenica, commemorating the genocide that happened there on July 11, 1995. For those of you who don't know much about this genocide, there really is no accurate way to sum up what happened in Bosnia on that day and I highly recommend reading the relevant chapter in "A Problem from Hell" by Samantha Power to get some more context. The situation is highly politicized and controversial here, and there have been many obstacles in establishing the truth of the events that took place. What is known is this: despite being declared a "safe area" under protection of the United Nations, over 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were systematically murdered and hidden in mass graves throughout the region, and over 25,000 women were forcibly deported. It was the mass rape of women during this genocide that changed international law to include rape as a tool of torture and a recognized weapon of war.

Every year, on the anniversary of these events, those caskets of bodies that have been recovered and identified through DNA are brought to the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery to Genocide Victims. There, they are laid out in rows in the old battery factory where these men had been corralled before being slaughtered, and assigned numbers. The families of the victims locate their loved one based on these numbers, and, one by one, carry the casket out to the cemetery to be buried. When I was there, there were over 400 caskets being buried. This is one of the lowest numbers so far.

There is no unseeing this. I have studied genocide for 4 years, but never has the impact of what I am studying hit so hard, so home, as when I witnessed these ceremonies.

This weekend, there will be a trip to Plitvica National Park, which will be far more lighthearted. I'm really looking forward to it-- seriously, google image search will tell you all the reasons why.

Cheers!

Kathryn

Cameron's Internship - Part 3-D

Hey! I hope all everyone's internships are going well and allowing all of you to grow as writers.

Thing have returned to normal at the Beverly Citizen following the July 4 mayhem and lack of communication from a few select contacts. I'm attending a motorcycle tutorial tomorrow at Beverly High School where I'll interview bikers. It should be interesting. As long as it doesn't turn out to be a Hell's Angels meeting, I think I'm good.

One of the funnest moments from this internship came on July 4 when I attended Beverly Farms' annual Horribles Parade, which mocks local and national events. The floats at the parade were a lot more R-rated than I expected. Amongst the topics up for skewering were the recent New England Patriots scandal involving Aaron Hernandez, the Animal Planet's fake mermaid documentary, and American Idol contestant and Beverly resident Angie Miller (complete with a dude dressed up as Angie). The grossest float at the parade was the one that spoofed the Carnival cruise ship disaster. In case you're not aware, a Carnival cruise ship was stranded at sea in February for two weeks and the toilets on the ship backed up. You can pretty much do the math about what the float looked like. The parade started at 8 AM and a good half of the parade's participants appeared intoxicated already. An old guy wearing a bikini on the cruise ship float drunkenly exclaimed, "I love this holiday!" Yeah, you and everyone else, pal.

Anyway, I arrived at the parade's starting point super early. My editor told to interview a few residents in the crowd but since I arrived at the parade early, I got to speak with the people who were actually involved with the parade. I got to speak with Rick Lord, who serves as president for the Horribles Parade and all of its insanity. I didn't expect to interview him, so my interview with Rick was on-the-fly. It was also extremely hot that day, so I sweated a ton. Just thought y'all should know.

So, yeah, I hope to go to the Horribles Parade next year and I'll definitely be including the feature story I wrote about it in my final portfolio.

Jillian- Third Post

Happy Friday, everyone!

I don’t have a lot to share this week, as I’ve only been back to work for a few days, but they have been relatively busy. I spent two days doing office tasks and only a little bit of writing, one of the downsides of being an intern. But one of the cool things about a weekly paper like this is the way that everyone at one point or another has to partake in the menial, secretarial part of the job. I like the equality there, as opposed to a bigger newspaper where specific people are designated filers and press kit put-togetherers. That type of camaraderie is something I’ll look for in any job I may have in the future.

Yesterday and today I spent time calling local restaurants and eateries in preparation for next issue’s annual Dining Magazine. It is free publicity for all the restaurants, and I stressed that to each person I called, but that did not save me from a few hang-ups and a few more disgruntled owners and managers. I suppose I can’t really blame them, as I’ve been known to hang up on advertisers and telemarketers a time or two, but it is frustrating when all I’m working to do is help them out. The Dining Magazine is a hugely popular addition to the newspaper each summer, and many locals refer to that for their year-round dining, and sometimes it was really challenging to not share that with the angry owners in a confrontational way.

Customer is always right and all that.

If nothing else I suppose I am honing my people skills, and my interpersonal skills in general. There will always be crotchety people in the workplace, even people I’ll be trying to help, so figuring out the best way to deal with them now can only help me in the long run. I tend to take hang-ups way too personally, but by the time I finished today I was kind of angry with all of them, too, so maybe it will be like moving through the five stages of grief—I’ll get to acceptance eventually and then it won’t bother me anymore. 

Christina-- Posts 2 and 3

Post 2

This post is from June 28—sorry it’s taken me so long to get it up here.

Working remotely has been going really well until this week. My family and I have had a lot of guests coming and going, and I haven’t been keeping to my schedule. It’s been hard for me to manage my time well between my other internship and spending time with my relatives. This week, I’ve crammed all of my work into a few days, instead of spacing it out. I haven’t left myself enough time to do as much research as I should, and I am planning to change that from now on.

I haven’t missed a deadline because Brian doesn’t really set deadlines, but my usual schedule has been thrown off. Thankfully, Brian has been understanding, and has rescheduled our meeting for the week so that I have more time to write and spend time with my family.

I only have one week left in the UK and then I will be going back to the US, where it will be much easier to manage my time and focus more on my work.

Post 3

Things are still going pretty well. I just got back to the states on Saturday, so I’m still adjusting to the time change and trying to figure out my new schedule. I think it’s going to be easier to find time for my internship because now I’m working fewer hours at my job.

I’m spending a little more time on my internship work now. Instead of writing about a topic that Brian has assigned, I’ve started choosing my own topics. Since I don’t have a background in marketing, it’s a little hard to decide what to write about and then find information on it. I have been writing a lot about social media as a marketing tool, since that’s what I know the most about. I have been doing a lot more research than usual, and I have ended up spending more time on research than on writing. For me, research is the least fun part of writing projects but, since the subject matter is unfamiliar, I know that I need to be doing a lot of research, and there will only be more to come.

Brian mentioned that he is going to ask me to do a collaborative project in the next few weeks with Amanda Schroth, who is also interning at TTS. I’m a little nervous about it because I generally don’t like to write collaboratively. Luckily, I know Amanda and, although I haven’t worked with her before, I know that’s she’s a good writer and a nice person, so I’m hoping that the project will go well. 

Sarah - Part 3

Hey!
             Things are still going well on my end. I actually only worked once the week of the 4^th of July which was nice since I was traveling to Maine. So, obviously when I got back there was LOTS to do. I was asked to do the On the Menu feature again, though it took a little longer due to the lack of speedy reply to interviews. This week there was plenty of editing and fact-checking to be done, mostly because people got pretty lazy with their writing due to the holiday.

I also did two articles yesterday for our online magazine presences. One of the articles I did was for these high school students who have an organization called the Westerly Innovative Network or Team WIN, and are promoting their mission Project TGIF (Turn Grease Into Fuel). Essentially, they get restaurants to sign up to recycle wasted cooking oils which are distributed throw charities into heat for needy families, aka “biofuel”. They were looking for more publicity aimed at the surrounding restaurants, and I emailed them back letting them know we were definitely interested. Rhode Island is known for a lot of fried summery treats, so it was a great opportunity for them to use their left over cooking oils for energy. It is crazy what these kids have done with this organization: traveling the world, called Young Wonders on CNN Heroes, winning grants left and right, going to DC. Makes my high school days look like a criminal waste of time.
          There was also a promotional event on Tuesday called The Superlative Party. It was free for us to go, and it was super fun, beautiful and entertaining. There were synchronized swimmers, acrobatic dancers, a photo booth, and great food. Lots of interesting people from all around RI. Interns worked shifts for the photo booth, but not long.

I guess my only complaint thus far is the amount of interns they have on Wednesday, it gets cramped. I would say at the moment me and the other intern Jackie get the most writing assignments since we've been there the longest, or at least the biggest ones. I would probably be more annoyed at the increase of interns if there was a lack of work because of it.
That's it for now, can't believe we are already in the second week of July. Fin. 

Kristen--Post 3

Hi everyone.

I'm dedicating this week's post to an outside project that my internship at Art From The Heart has brought me to and that I will be involved with over the next several months. There was a patient at FAHC that often stayed on the same floor I spend a lot of time on now, and who actually painted with AFTH whenever she had the chance, who passed away late last year.

Her name was Emily Lyman and her mother, Monica, is collaborating with the entire community to create a book project based on Emily's poetry, writings, and life. Emily was 15 and had been fighting cancer since she was a toddler with on and off relapses.

Emily wanted to be a writer when she grew up, but it's very obvious that she already was. What I've seen from the project so far is the packet of about 40 of Emily's poems and letters that she wrote at different points in her life. Some of them are extremely silly 1st grade observations and some are serious as she questioned herself and others; but most are just honest, poetic pieces about a variety of topics everyone can relate to. Since her poems are so visceral and full of unique images, Monica has decided to create a very visual book.

Monica's plan is to have people, anyone who wants to, read one of Emily's pieces and then create something visual based on what they may have been thinking about or inspired to do. These pieces can be art or photos or anything else creative. A Child Life Specialist gave this project to us at AFTH to see if we could help and of course, the moment I heard about it I knew I needed to be involved. First of all, the concept of gathering visual art from a vast collection of people based on Emily's words is brilliantly powerful and through AFTH, I will be able to involve volunteers and hospital affiliates very easily. (Unfortunately, we will not be able to involve current patients with the project unless there is an obvious request to do so because of the emotional weight of the content and the fact that we need to stay true to AFTH and make sure our patients are doing what they wish to do creatively.)

On the other hand, too, is the obvious presence of writing here--Monica is going to need assistance and input as to how to put this project together, where her own writing needs to go and where it's all Emily's, editing, placement layout, and when the time comes, publishing. I contacted Monica first through email and now we've emailed and spoken on the phone with plans to meet in person sometime this month. She was very appreciative to hear from AFTH and me personally with a writing background and says that she definitely welcomes the help since this project just seems to grow and grow with each step.

So, I will be working with this project during the rest of my internship and through this next school year and potentially afterwards if necessary. My biggest goals with it are to be sure Monica has the writing support she needs, help her find people to create art, and most importantly, be inspired and allow others to be inspired by these poems and by Emily herself.

Monica is very open to sharing this project and has given me permission to do so however necessary. If you'd like to read some of Emily's work, have any ideas, or want to create something feel free to respond to me anytime. For now, I'll let some of Emily's words end here:

"I've never known exactly what I want to be when I grow up. I would like to go into something that involves reading and writing because that's what I love to do in everyday life....My overall goal though, whether it is accomplished through a job or something else, is to be remembered. I have always wanted to do something to insure that one day in the future teachers will tell their students that today they will be learning about Emily Lyman. I want this dream to come true because otherwise, eventually, I will be forgotten and to me that would make the things that I've done in my life a lot less meaningful."