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.
The Horribles Parade sounds amazing. I wish I lived where ever this place because the community sounds awesome. I sort of wish you had a documentary crew following you around so I could witness your shenanigans. Do you take your own photography?
ReplyDeleteCan't think of a better event to do it at.
Wow, Cam--you are surely getting out there. Bikers and offensive parades in the same week and all. I don't know, it just seems to me that this internship assignment is so YOU every time we hear more about it.
ReplyDeleteWhat about things like topic choosing or article length? Is that up to you or are you getting pre-determined topics? Either way it sounds like a blast and a great opportunity to use your unique writing voice.
I like inventive July 4 parades that have more than the tradition fire trucks and politicians and allow people an outlet for creative expression that can reach a large audience the old fashioned way in these days of electronic communication.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you are out and in the thick of it, Cam. Interviewing people on the spot (like Rick Lord) is a challenge. You gotta make the hit quick and get their attention with solid questions early on because they're usually enroute to somewhere else. I've had failures and successes. Hope yours went well.
Literally all I could think about when I read this was Tim Brookes from Intro to Writing: "In order to become a more interesting writer, you have to become a more interesting person." I'd say you covered that in spades.
ReplyDeleteYou are getting the chance to do a lot of unique and interesting things this summer, which is awesome. Did you find it easier to interview Rick Lord on the spot? Sometimes I like those better, because it feels more like a conversation as opposed to a question-answer period, but like Warren said, it can definitely be a hit-or-miss situation.