I didn’t really do a whole lot today. Well, at least, story-wise, anyway. I went to the sports department’s news meetings for both the day and night shift, and I worked on my Diversity Institute profile assignment for much of the day. The rest of the week, though, will be busy. I’ll be out in Murfreesboro Tuesday night covering a baseball game at Middle Tennessee State University, at Greer Stadium in Nashville Wednesday night covering the Nashville Sounds (baseball team), doing a story regarding the upcoming Nashville marathon on Thursday and covering the arena football team on Friday. So it will be busy for the remainder of the week.

Today was a difficult day full of learning about crime reporting. I worked all day on a story about an Easter weekend spree of violence that left five people dead from shootings, a stabbing and a beating; one dead in a police chase crash, and several people injured. I searched Tennessean archives and the Nashville Police website to check facts. I got a lot of help and guidance with the reporting from Assistant City Editor Aldrin Brown and reporter Ailene Torres, a Diversity Institute graduate. Aldrin also helped me with the writing. In fact, it turned into my doing most of the reporting and his doing most of the writing when all was said and done, but he was very good.

He also taught me about how to coax police spokesman Don Aaron into giving us quotable quotes that are good for all in light of the fact that Metro Police is very wary of any sort of rising crime stats. Finally, I was taught the CQ process at The Tennessean. All and all, I think it was a hectic assignment. But it was good to work with Aldrin, who took a very patient, mentoring approach.

Today was a good experience of what I call "process journalism." I got a story that required me to stick to one topic and get the facts straight. That's it. Although it wasn't the most exciting story to cover, I felt satisfied at the end of the day for getting a small assignment and making it work. I was a little nervous at the beginning of the day, since the assignment was thrown at me pretty quickly. But throughout the day, I feel I was able to adjust to the newsroom environment and go with the flow. Tomorrow will be another chance to do it all again, and a little better than the day before.

I had a rather smooth, comfortable day.  It's just as you said Robbie, "'You know more than you think."'  The rules and methods we’ve studied and practiced came to mind as I needed them.  I think the most valuable lesson I learned today was a reminder to make my lead stronger and precise.  I saw a clearer glimpse into how to do that. Also, I want to strengthen my research insight to discern ways to glean the extra sources and information that help make a story more comprehensive. Overall, my experience was informative and user-friendly.  I found out that the newsroom is not a monster waiting to eat me alive. “Listen, listen and then do” is my new motto.

My day started with a story assignment that sounded like it had some substance: A man argued with a former girlfriend at a gas station. In anger, he took her SUV and sped off, not realizing the woman's 18-month-old-baby was in the back seat. After a short while, he returned to the gas station, where he and the woman argued again. The police came and he fled. She wouldn't press charges -- no story. Aw shucks! I was then told to follow-up on a bear mauling incident from last week. I was ready to interview the injured woman's 21-year-old son when Assistant City Editor Aldrin Brown killed the story because the incident happened outside of The Tennessean’s circulation area and all the victims were from Ohio. So I went to lunch. Afterward, Mr. Brown assigned me a story related to the Nashville Marathon, which will be held April 29. My piece will look at how police will re-route traffic and deal with other issues. So I have some people to interview about this stuff tomorrow. My deadline is Wednesday. Mr. Brown warned me that I may be asked to work on another story, too. OK, I'll manage my time well. They have a nice weight room here. I'll bring my sweats tomorrow.