A J54 Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I was seriously contemplating not going to my JMC54 class. Barack Obama was giving a speech downtown that night and I wanted to go and see if I could possibly redeem myself after taking those terrible pictures in Ames. After some deep thought, I decided that I had better go to class because I enjoy the class and I feel like I learn a lot from it. A little while later I was thinking about ditching the class because I was really feeling miserable (this was that week I had pneumonia). But, I had enough strength to put on a pair of pants, so I went to class.

In the strangest twist of fate, the class took an impromptu field trip to the Barack Obama speech. We were just kicked out of the nest and told to go out there and do our thing.

I was excited and nervous. I had never written anything about an event like that before... I didn't know whom I should interview or what questions I should ask them. There was almost no time to prepare.

But, at the same time, I kind of liked that. I didn't even have time to be nervous about approaching people and asking them questions about Obama and his speech.

There were others in my class who were really nervous and didn't do so well interviewing, but I found that after my first couple of people, it wasn't so hard. Once I introduced myself and told them what I was doing, people were more than willing to talk to me. It was great and I loved getting a taste of what a real reporter gets to do.

If you're expecting pictures, I don't have any. I did get my camera, but I was in such a rush, I didn't realize that my battery was still charging in the outlet in my room. I worked out for the best, though because my camera would have been a major distraction. I was there to focus on his speech, not to take pictures.

That's not to say my eyes didn't wander to the photographers on the catwalks in the Polk County Convention Complex. It was pretty cool.

I got the article I wrote back yesterday and I got an A so that was really exciting since I've never written anything about politics or politicians. I like getting comments back on my articles because the instructor gives really good feedback.