Oh hey, I’m going back to school. I’m re-joining my alma mater as a Graduate Teaching Fellow at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. This fellowship means I get to work with Wes Pope and Andrew DeVigal in the Multimedia Journalism Master’s Program in Portland; and with Julianne H Newton, Sung Jin Park, Torsten Kjellstrand and a host of undergrads in Eugene. Hooray! This transition is somewhat bittersweet for me, though, as I must leave the Statesman Journal, where I’ve worked for a third of my life. After photographing thousands of assignments and driving more than 350,000 miles, I’m taking a buyout and my last day is December 5. Please humor me for a minute as I manifesto. I will forever admire my coworkers, fine people fighting to fill the insatiable maw of the constant-deadline news cycle, all while struggling to serve a community that too often takes them for granted. It is amazing to reflect on how much the journalism industry has changed since I was a wide-eyed intern at the SJ in 2002, when Diane Stevenson sent me on a seven-assignment Sunday to “show me the ropes.” By showing me the ropes, she meant that the Monday paper had several pages of blank space to fill. These are exciting and confusing times, but I think (hope?) that people will always be interested in what their fellow citizens are doing. The print product has shrunk and newsroom ranks have thinned, but it’s clear that the Internet multiplies the ability for journalists to create tangible change in our communities. One of my goals in this fellowship will be to help cultivate this ability, so that modern journalists, and journalism, can take root.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 20:49:15 +0000