Week 16: THE END

Whew! It is my last day and I'm a little saddened by it. This past week has been just a killer for me, trying to balance school and work. I pulled a few all-nighters and drank loads of coffee. Now, the result is me walking into cars, into chairs, into door frames and any other stationary thing. Yes, I'm exhausted. I want to hurl myself into bed and not wake up for 24 hours.

Though enough about school, while freaking out about other things, I was able to go up to the Capitol and write a story about a rally of people demanding the state legislators do something about the budget. It was interesting to say the least. After everyone had split up to go about their mission, I went on to sit in on a Senate session. It was very fun and while I was sitting in with other professional journalists, I loved their commentary of what was going on (we sat in a soundproof area, thank god!). This may be dorky of me but I would love, love, LOVE to have one of their jobs. :)

Unfortunately, I'm so tired, the gravity of this being my last day hasn't really kicked in. Maybe it will next week, when everything is over. Maybe. Probably. Definitely. I will be sad. This internship did really spoil me.

Until then, good-bye Oklahoma Gazette.

Thank you for giving me this internship opportunity, helping me learn quite a few things, letting me write awesome stories, taking me under your wing and watching me fly and then guiding me whenever it looked like I was about to drop like a rock and thank you for allowing me to do those floaters, of course! :)

P.S. I was totally kidding about the floaters throughout this blog. They are the best! ;)

Week 15: The beginning of the End

Yes, a very dramatic title for a post. Well, why not? It really is the beginning of the end of my internship at the Gazette. I have one more week left and I can tell you, I'm going to miss this place and the people who work here; though I will NEVER miss doing the floaters (GRRR, floaters...).

This week wasn't very much different from before with the exception that two out of the four interns' last day was either yesterday or today. Luke and I will stick around for another week, meaning one more week of floaters and Hey Do This! Yes!

Again, this week wasn't much different. I wrote floaters and wrote a story for the book. Basically an abortions bill update. I haven't officially finished it yet because on Monday one of the first law suit hearings against the ultrasound bill will take place.

While it wasn't very different, the Gazette editorial staff was very nice about taking the interns out to eat to Ingrid's Kitchen and paying for us. :) The lunch conversation was very fun too, but I won't go into detail.

This is so surreal. I can't believe this internship is coming to a close. If any one of you has the chance to intern at the Oklahoma Gazette, do it. You won't regret it. :)

Week 14: Exhaustion

Well, I'm exhausted! This past week has to be one of the most draining weeks I have had, both physically and emotionally. Dividing up my time between my internship and school is always a balancing act but throwing in hiring for the Daily next semester, the last two days threw me for a loop.

I started this week going to the 15th anniversary of the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing. It was very somber and while I think I was too young to understand the significance of that day as a child, I developed a better understanding of that day.

During the ceremony and throughout the day when I walked through the museum for the first time, I cried at least three times: first during the reading of the names by family members of the victims, the my initial response to the museum and how they used the news reels of that day that I vaguely remember and when I read my friend's article in The Oklahoma Daily about a family's journey moving on.

It's these events I wish and hope that I find the right words to tell the story.

The next Wednesday, I was able to cover Bill Clinton coming to Oklahoma City to accept an award from the museum's foundation. The event was good, but at that point in the day, I was spent. Click here to read my story.

After that, I worked on school work and interviewed applicants. I can't tell you how glad I am it is the weekend and how excited I am to sleep and catch a few awesome bands at the Norman Music Festival! :)

Week 13: Craziness

This week was a bit different than normal weeks in that I wrote mostly life and arts type stories. I wrote a feature on the Oklahoma City Arts Festival, a mini-feature on the band Gentle Ghost and wrote the normal floaters for every week (Ugh, floaters). I did write one brief thing for news but this is a first time in a while that I have not written anything newsy or political.

Next week, though, I'm jumping back into the news with the remembrance of the OKC Bombing Monday and Wednesday is the day I cover a dinner with Bill Clinton. I'm excited. :)

I have three weeks left of my internship after today. That's insane. And it is sad for me. I really like my internship and the people that I work with.

Week 12: Reporting and writing

I know I have said this more times that I can count but I really love my career choice. I continually do what I really like to do.

This week, I covered a town hall meeting in Guthrie with U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R- Oklahoma, where he was very gracious to those on the other side of the floor. I unfortunately missed out on the famous one in OKC but the Guthrie one was basically the same.

My cover story came out. It was good. I loved the cover art for it. Click here to read the longer version online.

The best part of my week though was when I got to interview two really respected journalists, former CNN and NBC News correspondent Mike Boettcher and Editor-at-Large of TIME Magazine Mark Halperin. I would give my right arm to be working at TIME Magazine by the way. :)

Now, if you read either one of these guys' biographies you would be amazed at their careers. While both are extremely impressive, Boettcher, who considers Oklahoma City his hometown, has become one of my heroes. I am hoping he will be teaching at OU again next year because I would love to have a class with him!

I would honestly give a vital organ to have half the career of either one of these men. They have the careers I aspire to have. It's speaking to these people that reaffirms my love for what I do and makes me want to give it my all and do what I can to make me want to become a better journalist.

Week 11: Stress!

This week, I wrote a story for the Gazette.

Not too much different from what I usually do every week, correct? Well, this week is different mostly because this week's story is scheduled to be a cover story for the Gazette.

A COVER STORY!

You can use the words of Joe Biden when President Obama signed the health care bill into law to describe how I feel about it.

It's about the top ten delinquent taxpayers in the state. Let me tell you, no one was very happy to talk to me, sadly enough.

I had nightmares about this story for three days. It was all the same, I was trying to finish my story and somehow, somewhere down the road, I couldn't finish for deadline and then I look at the paper the next day and The Oklahoman wrote my story. I would wake up in a cold sweat every time and was too agitated to go back to sleep.

Well, unlike what my subconscious was so afraid of, I did make deadline and my story is in the process of going through its third review of fact checking.

Pick up a copy of next week's Gazette. It should have my name on the cover of it. :)

Week 9 & 10: Spring break and history

So, I was lame and decided to go into the office last week because I had almost absolutely no spring break plans to speak of and I'm accomodating to my poor status. It was a really off week for everyone, mostly because Rob and a majority of the staff was gone for most of the week. I mostly did what I was supposed to do but was completely unhappy with my sources because apparently, they too believed they deserved a vacation.

This week, on the other hand, was insane! As most would know, unless you have been living under a rock for the past week, the U.S. House passed national health care Sunday night.

Game over, Republicans. Wrong.

Monday, the Republican leadership of the state legislature came out and called for the Attorney General to sue the federal government. Click here to view my story on Monday's press conference.

Well, that was only the start of it. Attorney General Drew Edmondson, Democrat and governor candidate, issued a statement that he would look into it and that it was just to early to sue. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, Republican and governor candidate, started accusing Edmondson of being disloyal to what Oklahomans want. The health care opt out bills got voted on at warped speed. A few lone Democrats spoke out against the majority. Sen. Randy Brogden, Republican and yet another governor candidate, got accused of being racist.

My head is spinning just writing this down.

Now, try putting that into a big story to come out next Wednesday. Yeah, you're head is spinning a little bit too now, huh?

Keep an eye out for next week's Gazette and read what these people had to say.