Thus far, since I began this extremely demanding course of Journalism, the freedom I have enjoyed in doing all my journalistic work has been what I liked best. I’ve always liked the fact that every time I re-read any of my works it was unmistakably mine. The lectures and tutors have done well in allowing me, the student in expressing me in my way.
On the other hand, I intensely disliked the fact that my work lacked some much needed poshness and urgency. It was always bland. Although I got good marks, my obsessive perfectionist tendencies never let me feel truly fulfilled about how unacademic and unserious my articles could sometimes be.
If I were to do this again, I would totally re-invent my writer persona. At the moment, I write like a journalism student in a university setting struggling to juggle work and social life. Given a second chance I would go for the professor persona. I would be more erudite and flamboyant with my articles. I would double dot every “I” and double cross every “T”. This would mean putting in more time and effort than I do now. I would aim for the absolute highest in journalistic brilliance. Every article would be a work of art. Pun intended.
I found it rather tedious getting myself to see the world from a journalist’s eyes when writing my stories. I was trying too hard to write outside the box, that I totally lost the box altogether. I would digress often into areas I need not venture. I would often easily lose the point of whatever task was before me and go off in another tangent looking for something that wasn’t there. That, to me, was my Achilles heel, mu hubris. It could possibly be the key to my undoing in this course.
So far I haven’t made any life changing, epiphany type decisions in the course of study but I will say that I gave myself a pat on the back for choosing to study journalism. I must admit, I blindly jumped into it. It sounded exciting and I wanted to take a leap of fate. So far, I have no regret. I like where I am and I I have a vague idea where I’m going.
I learnt a lot this year. None more than the other. From, website design, to social networks as an instrument of journalism. So much in a short while. With the start od the new journalism club, I have been forced to write more. As a journalist, that should be fun, but as a student, more work is never fun. Still I learn what I have to learn and do what I have to do.
It’s too early in the year to really evaluate my accomplishments but it is safe to say that I have projects in the works that could potentially become major accomplishments in the bag. I also experience little surprises each time I write. Maybe , a new word, or definition. Or getting a high score for work Im sure wasn’t my best. It’s these little things that add up to the big accomplishments at the end of the year. So far, so good.
I would like to learn more about radio journalism and the details about the set up processes. I would like to know what microphones work best, what styles are used to mix the raw vocals, the software and hardware involved. It has always been a passion of me and I feel that so far, this course has not covered radio in detail.
Truth be told, I had no initial goals for my portfolio. I simply went with what my lecturer told me to do. With the entire work load I have I feel like I’m not in a place to be having big dreams. In fact, my only goal is to get a good mark.
The entry I am most proud of is my “Garbage Disposal Methods on Res”. It actually included me getting actual facts and figures to back up my article. It also involved taking pictures and captioning them and then posting them to a blog. It was about how carelessly students disposed their trash, thus underutilizing the provided disposal methods. My favorite part was, ‘another worker complained, “it is not our job to take your sh*t to the bins. “’ It was hilarious listening to a ranting employee.
There wasn’t much of a challenge. It was very straightforward. I did everything as best I could and hopefully it would be worth it. Other students did come to me, though. They found the research process very tedious especially as many of their stories were far from home.
Looking at my work as a whole, I feel like I am where I ought to be. It would be nice if we did some intense radio work. But either way, I’m fine. I won’t be setting any unrealistic goals because I do 3 other subjects that would not allow me to give special attention to the other.
