Thursday, December 24, 2009

What I Learned About Myself and my Neighborhood

What I learned about myself in this class is that sometimes I really have to force myself to be engaged in whatever it is I am supposed to be doing because if I am disconnected with my reporting at all, it completely shows in my writing. I also learned that reporting is a very multilayered profession that requires competence in many different aspects of writing such as how to make a story flow or how to describe different scenes or people in a manner that transports the reader from the page to the actual visual scene.

I also learned that I still have a ways to go before I actually can go out in the world and do this completely on my own but that it’s still okay because the more I try to grasp the strengths I have and let go of my weaknesses, then the better I really do get. I am still grappling with if I can pull reporting off but I am confidant then I will get the true gist of it soon, with a little bit more practice. I did like how challenging and engaging this course was and how I had to really push myself to do the assignments in a way that I can actually be proud to have written them. I do wish that the awkwardness of interviewing strangers will dispel with some time and practice, too. My favorite part of the course, no doubt, was definitely the more creative aspect of reporting where you can submerge yourself with details and descriptions and I hope to continue to do that in my future stories.

I learned many things about my neighborhood this semester. It was especially interesting for me because I was reporting on two different neighborhoods all semester, which was the Fillmore and Pacific Heights. I did have some trouble because I tried really hard to not seem more inclined to report on one but not enough the other. However, it was extremely interesting to see the infinite differences between the two neighborhood and how economically, socially, and racially, these two neighborhoods have so much division and exclusion from each other.

Despite the difficulties, it was amazing for me to see and hear about how rich these two neighborhoods are. The Fillmore being so rich in culture while Pacific Heights being so rich in money. I thoroughly enjoyed both of the neighborhoods and felt that even though things there don’t always seem so great, especially with each other, it is undeniable what alluring aspects both neighborhoods have on me and others. They both are definite enclaves of San Francisco and will continue to be that. It will be exciting and interesting too see how time will change these neighborhoods from what they were, to how they are, to what they will be.

1 comment:

  1. THANK YOU for your thoughts on the course and your neighborhood. I'm so glad that you saw how these two neighborhoods differ, yet each has value. You had a firsthand look into how the city demonstrates so vividly the difference between the so-called haves and have-nots. I'll be sending your grade and an email of explanation either today or tomorrow.

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