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It's almost time to start wrapping up my eating disorder piece! I meet with my professor on Wednesday to discuss what will basically be the final draft. I'm really nervous to start submitting it to publications. I really hope it gets published somewhere. 

To finish off the article I only need one more interview with Colleen's mom, who I will be calling tomorrow after I get out of work. After that I can some information from her and the two friends of Colleen's that I interviewed yesterday into the article to make it more well-rounded. After that I need to start looking into newspapers to pitch it to. I already know I want to submit it to the Finger Lakes Times because they published my op-ed on being a journalism major at a technology school last quarter. This should hopefully increase the chances that they publish me again (I don't know if that's how it really works but it makes sense in my mind...)

I also am planning to submit it to the Democrat and Chronicle but they didn't even bother to respond to me when I pitched my op-ed to them which annoyed me slightly. Maybe they'll actually answer me this time.

Other than that I'm lost! Any ideas?? 

[rit-journalist-blog]

When I get a good interview for a story....

[rit-journalist-blog]

Another hectic week in journalism. 

My professor suggested that I get in touch with some of Colleen's friends and family to ask them about what it was like to go through Colleen's eating disorder with her. I've interviewed one of Colleen's friends, Amber, who gave me some great quotes, but I'd really like to talk with one of Colleen's parents. Colleen's still checking to see if they would want to be a part of the article so I should hopefully know on that soon. 

Waiting for sources to get back to me has been a common problem all week as I work on a piece for the school magazine on the student abuse of study aids such as Adderall and Ritalin. I've been chasing down sources all week and they're all so hesitant or lead to dead ends, even though I'm allowed to grant them anonymity to prevent them from getting in trouble with the administration. Tracking down a professional source is proving just as difficult but hopefully everything will come through with that article; I'm genuinely excited about it. 

I'm getting nervous as the time to submit my eating disorder article to newspapers approaches. I had someone tell me this week that I'm a bad journalist (I should mention that this individual has never liked me much) so to get this article published would not only tell Colleen's story but I would be able to prove something to myself. That being said, if anyone knows of any newspapers to submit the eating disorder article to please let me know! 

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This week has been a hectic one, both as a journalist and a student.

My article on eating disorders was reviewed through my professor, who thought it was shaping up nicely despite some of my earlier apprehensions on it. She would like me to contact some of Colleen's friends and family who were present during her eating disorder. I talked with Colleen and she's certain that they would love to do a phone interview with me and she's going to open it up to them. Hopefully I'll be interviewing some of her family later this week, which will be exciting. I'm interested in hearing what it was like for them as well. 

I also wrote an article for the local Rochester paper The Messenger Post. This article was on a hiking group that meets once a month and hikes the Crescent Trails in Perinton, NY. I'm nervous about what the editor will say about it, and I'm also curious if it will get run. 

On another note, I'm thinking about writing on op-ed on the abuse of adderall in college because of the stress of getting everything done. I thought about the story a few days ago and then today at my school magazine's meeting my editor offered me a story on the abuse of study aids (such as adderall) in students here at RIT. This is awesome because it will give me even more knowledge of the subject and having a recent publication involving the subject may aid my chances in getting my opinion on in published. 

I'm also trying my hand at sports reporting this week, which is something I feel will be a new and exciting challenge for me. 

A very exciting week to be a journalist at RIT! 

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I've just submitted my first 700 words of my eating disorder article to my professor so that she can look over them and help me add to the story to make it better. I definitely think that the most difficult part about writing a story is realizing what little space you have to tell it in. I thought 700 words would be impossible, but before I knew it I was at 900+ words and still going.

One of my main issues with writing the article was that I felt like the information from Donna and one of my other sources, Timothy who is also involved in the wellness center, didn't fit into the article. Maybe I wrote the article too much like a story and not enough like an informational article, but the story Colleen told me is definitely the most compelling part of the article, making the information from the professionals seem out of place almost. I struggled with it for hours but couldn't find a way to make it flow as well. 

Help Hinda! 

[rit-journalist-blog]

This week I was finally able to meet with Colleen, my main source for the article and the person I will be profiling. It was my best interview yet, by far. Colleen was great about telling me her story and was really open about her experiences. She will definitely add a human interest aspect to the story. I really hope that this article can get published and hopefully help others who are suffering from eating disorders. 

My next step is to make another appointment with Donna to get some numbers about how many people she sees for eating disorders. I've emailed her this week but she has yet to email me back (a lot of my sources have been doing that lately. Talk about biggest pet peeve). I will also make another interview appointment with Colleen to ask her some follow up questions sometime next week. 

[rit-journalist-blog]

Drowning in Deadlines

Today my professor asked the class what our challenges in reporting for our feature story have been so far. I felt like mines silly in comparison with others who have had sources back out on them and are in other situations that are much more dire than mine. 

My main issue is finding the time to fit in journalism to my schedule. I'm just meeting with my main source for my article tomorrow, and I have yet to do very much extensive research because I've been so busy with work and my other classes.

It's ironic really. I need to work to continue to go to RIT because I can't really afford to go here, but now my writing and articles are suffering because of it. I don't have time to set up interviews because I work the nights I don't have class and I spend mornings attempting to do homework for my other classes. Is it really fair for my grades to suffer because I can't afford college without working though? Perhaps a new story idea? 

I digress. 

Tomorrow I meet with the girl I'm profiling for my eating disorder piece and I couldn't be more excited. I've already talked about how important this interview is to the piece. I've also been in contact with my original interview, Donna, in order to get some statistics on eating disorders at RIT to get some facts in with the emotion of the article. 

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Happy Holidays Everyone!

So unfortunately, not much was done with my article this week. I had an interview with my main source, the girl I'm profiling who has an eating disorder, on Wednesday but I had to cancel. I had a doctors appointment that ran late and with RIT's winter break approaching we couldn't find a time that worked for both of us. 

Luckily she agreed to meet as soon as we get back, and I plan to schedule a meeting with another professional here at RIT who deals with eating disorders and talking with him after break as well. I've also emailed my other source, Donna Rubin, for some hard facts on how many individuals seek assistance with eating disorders at RIT.

My writing and focus on this article hasn't been that great over the past couple of weeks because I've been juggling my job at Target on top of school and other articles that I write for the school magazine, but I plan on lowering my hours during the week at Target so that after break I can focus more on my school work. And I think that a Christmas break is exactly what I need right now to get my health back up and de-stress myself. 

Happy Holidays Everyone!! 

[rit-journalist-blog]

A man held a ’thank you’ sign toward firefighters who lined a street during a funeral procession for Daniel Barden, 7 years old, in Newton, Conn. Daniel, who was among 20 children killed in a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, had wanted to become a firefighter. (Photo: Mike Segar / Reuters via The Wall Street Journal)

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Cartoon by Amy Hwang. For more from this week’s issue: http://nyr.kr/RAiBlz

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Tomorrow I meet with the subject who I will be profiling for my eating disorder piece. I'm so glad she decided to meet with me despite the fact that I can't allow her to be anonymous. I'm really excited for this interview. I'm sure that I'll have to meet with her multiple times to really make her story come alive. Tomorrow my focus will be on getting most of her story. I think I'm going to just record it and not write to make her feel more comfortable. 

It will be interesting to hear her story and be able to tell it in a way that will add to the article. I will keep you all posted on how it goes! 

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Instagram’s ‘suicide note’: Users furious over photo-sharing service’s privacy changes In what photography fans are labeling a “suicide note,” Facebook’s Instagram photo-sharing service revealed a new privacy policy that states it may sell information and photos to advertisers without compensation or notification to users. The announcement was quickly met with anger, as users threaten to shut down their accounts and switch to other photo-sharing services like Flickr, while others used the hashtag #quitstagram. “To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you,” Instagram said in a blog post. The changes are set to take effect on January 16, 2013. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

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Articles published this week:

http://reportermag.com/article/12-07-2012/remembering-zachary-boyce-and-alexander-ketchek

An obituary for the students who recently passed on the RIT campus. 

[rit-journalist-blog]

An update on my eating disorder article: 

I've been in contact with my main source whom I was hoping to profile for this story and she was hoping that maybe I could use just her first name or a pseudonym, but my professor has told me that I could find another source who would use their name if needed. I relayed that to my source and I'm hoping that she'll agree to have her full name used because I really feel like she could make or break this article. I'm waiting to hear back from her before moving forward. Other than that I have quite a few other sources I could use for this article but I haven't had time to contact them. I'm working on three large articles right now so I'm kind of stressing about trying to interview everybody I need to. 

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Children look out from a window of a roofless house, destroyed at the height of Typhoon Bopha in the coastal town of Boston, Davao Oriental in southern Philippines on Dec. 10, 2012. The number of people missing after a typhoon devastated the Philippines jumped to nearly 900 after families and fishing companies reported losing contact with more than 300 fishermen at sea, officials said.

[Credit : Erik De Castro/Reuters]

[rit-journalist-blog]

Your articles are pretty cool! love them! Are you ever coming to RIT Dubai? Just wondering :D

I actually looked into studying abroad at RIT Dubia in the spring quarter! I've been so busy that I haven't had much time to think more about it, but India has always been a place I wanted to visit and even work in some day. Are you studying there now?? 

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I had such fantastic interviews today. They went so much better than I could have imagined, and I'm becoming really excited to see what I can do with this article. 

My first interview was with the Assistant Vice President for Student Wellness, Donna. I knew immediately that I was going to like her when I walked into her office and noticed she was wearing bright red shoes, polka dot tights, a green shirt with a giant grey sweater, a pink scarf, and bright red glasses. We ended up talking for nearly an hour and she was certainly a wealth of knowledge. She also ended up giving me the names of multiple other sources and the dates of some of her presentations on disordered eating so that I can attend those as well. 

My second interview was with a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority on campus named Phoenix. She proved to be valuable as well and was a sweetheart. She actually contributed to the angle of my story and told me that she knew of someone with a history of battling an eating disorder who might be willing to tell me their story. She emailed me approximately two hours later saying she had told the girl about me and that she was willing to tell her story and gave me her email. Now I have someone to profile!!

The only problem that could arise now is confidentiality. The source may not want to have her name in the paper with such a personal story behind it. If the source does ask to remain anonymous I may have to find a different person to profile. I can check with my professor to see if she can remain anonymous as long as I provide other identifying factors with her such as her major, year, and other important details. 

I'll have to see what happens when I meet with the girl I suppose. Can't wait!!