What a difference a week makes

At this time last week the only byline I had written for my internship at the Greeley Tribune was a story about a canceled beauty pageant in Windsor Colorado. Even then I had to be assertive and ask for that story and it didn't run in the Tribune. I was discouraged about driving to and from Greeley for two hours a day to be writing briefs.

Honestly now I am grateful that I was writing those briefs. My experience writing news is minimal at best and these short stories made me more patient and a bit more comfortable writing news.

Then my time came. My editor came over and and asked me if I wanted a story. I stood up and exclaimed with enthusiasm my gratitude for a story opportunity. All sorts of possibilities for my first story for the Tribune ran through my head. Will I get to cover the court room? Sports? I'd even be happy with covering an event where a group stood around and watched paint dry.

None of the above happened.

"Ben we need an update on the equine herpesvirus and how it is affecting Greeley business," my editor said.

All my hopes and dreams had been fulfilled. I could now tell my children the first published news story I ever wrote was about horse herpes.

Skepticism aside I buckled down and started writing the story. I found it incredibly difficult to get a hold of contacts for some reason and I think the story reflects this. I know now everything anybody ever needs to know about herpes. Throughout the day though I learned something very valuable. This story isn't about me. It's for the people and this virus affects a lot of horses and their owners and the competitions they compete in. I am providing a service for the community and hopefully informing them to make better decisions. The story isn't glamorous or ground breaking, but I am proud of it and thankful for the opportunity to write.

My first Tribune story: No new cases of EHV-1 good news for Greeley horse owners and event planners

Since that story I wrote last Friday I have written two pieces that have ran as A2 centerpieces.

One story was about a model train station that will be featured on the PBS series "Tracks Ahead." The people at the train station were very welcoming and answered every one of my questions. The station took five and a half years to build.

To give you an idea how detailed this station is, one scene in the display had a group of construction workers pouring cement. The patch of cement the workers were pouring was a darker gray than the rest of the strip of concrete. The dedication of the volunteers was inspiring and the musuem was much cooler than I anticipated. I also got the opportunity to take the photo for this story. I never thought I'd be able to do that and it was nice to hear that the photo editor's eyes didn't hurt after he saw my photo.

Also I had the opportunity to meet Spencer Christian who is the host of the train show. I think his life is absolutely fascinating. He worked on Good Morning America for several years and now is doing the weather in San Fransisco for 7News. He was a English major and journalism major in college and planned to write for newspapers. I don't feel as pressured to find a job strictly in print journalism now. On top of that he played college baseball and even tried out for the majors.

P.S. I think baseball is the greatest thing to happen to this country after freedom.

Read “Tracks Ahead” makes stop at the Greeley Freight Station Museum

Finally this week I wrote a piece on Jennifer Frances, a woman who drives around the country in her yellow school bus and hands out books to children in need. I talked to Martha, the person who got Jennifer out to Greeley. She said she saw a story about a child who was told to bring a book from home into class the next day. The child brought back a phone book. That is the only book he had in his house.

The power of reading is priceless and it made me glad to see that there was someone helping out the kids. It was also fun to see all the children getting excited about books. It made me excited to see books like "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "The BFG."

Read Bess the Book Bus tour aims to put books in children’s hands

After another week I am happy to be reporting and learning about the stories of the people in Greeley.

Loathing Lebron

One of my least favorite athletes lost the NBA Finals. Again. I don't like when people say Lebron is the greatest basketball player of all time. I'll have that discussion when he wins six rings, let alone one. Granted Lebron James is at a large disadvantage in gaining my favor because I think Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest athlete of all time. But what does it matter if I don't like the guy. If he ever read this he would probably laugh and go do laps in a solid gold pool filled with Benjamin's and fine champagne.

Regardless of my dislike for James, I don't think he will have the same fate as Dan Marino and never win a championship in Miami. I'm not rooting against the guy to never win. I can't imagine the pressure he has to face every day and he deserves to find success in the final stages of the season.

In the meantime I wish he would even pretend to act humble. Shake all the hands of the opposing team when you lose. Don't tell me about all your haters and that God doesn't think it is your time on Twitter at two in the morning. Tell me your going to regroup and work much harder to win next years Finals. Mr. James I want to like you but you're making it damn near impossible.

The following is some of the coverage reacting to the Miami Heat falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals.

LeBron James gracious in defeat? Get real by Tracee Hamilton

Strengths - A strength of the article is explaining why Lebron's image has been tarnished even more by quoting his comments about his haters. Also the article does a good job informing the reader of the unsupportive Heat fans. I had no idea that the franchise struggled to get fans and had to put an ad in the paper to get them to come out. Having a better big three than Boston should be incentive enough to come to the games.

Weakness- The weakness of the article is the lead. I wasn't hooked when i started reading and I will be honest I didn't know what chutzpah meant. The word means the audacity of something good or bad. Other than that I actually enjoyed the opinion of the story.

Mike and Mike
Monday June 13

On my glorious hour drive to my internship in Greeley, I had the opportunity to to listen to Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN radio. Mike Golic with guest NBA analyst Chris Broussard.

The advantage of the show is to get analyst expertise on on how Lebron is trying to destroy his image even further. The show was able to bring in many different perspectives that a print publication could not.

The weakness I found with the broadcast was that there seemed to be too much opinion and not enough fact. I wanted to know more about what the Dallas Mavericks did right to win the championship and what the Heat did wrong. Not what the analysts opinions were of how Lebron's words further destroyed his image.

Heat should pull plug on Big Three by Jason Whitlock

I am considering this article more of a blog because it is almost exclusively opinion.
I enjoy Jason Whitlock's writing but I do not particularly agree with him with this article.

The success of this article is the name. It is shocking and it takes a strong stance which made me want to read.

I don't think that breaking the Heat up is the solution to the team's failures. If this was say the Heat's third Finals' series lost then maybe something needs to change. I think Whitlock is saying this just to sound shocking to gain readers. Breaking up one of the best line-ups in recent memory so quickly seems foolish.

I think Lebron needs to work on his mid-range shot and his handling of the media. If he does both the Heat will run away with the championship and maybe start earning the title of King James.

Rick Reilly & Nate Silver response

The main thing that I think Reilly and Silver agreed was in their point that journalism is an essential part of society and that new forms of media can never take that role. Both speakers advocated pursuing journalism through nontraditional methods. While Reilly advocated for journalists to always say something different, Silver found an approach to journalism through statistics.
A point where they disagreed was through the way they pursued journalism. While both thought it was important to seek truth and inform, Reilly was concerned about getting paid for the craft. Silver seemed to want to pursue journalism by any means necessary.
Reilly's speech resonated with me more and the thing I can do differently to become a better journalist is to say the unsaid and learn how to better defend an argument. I think this is the best way to seek and report truth.