Downey v. Huffington

Last week I attended the 2010 James Cameron Lecture which was hosted by my university and people from all over came to hear the award speakers and the guest lecture (all journalism students at City University got in free). Leonard Downie Jr., vice president at large of The Washington Post, gave the main lecture on the subject of "The New News."

While the speech focused on relatively familiar statistics regarding American news, it's angle for the future seemed to be pitched more towards news organization management with little information about what everyday journalists like myself could work on for working in the new world of online journalism. Yet the interesting part in his speech was when he addressed the Huffington Post and similar websites as "news parasites." The Huffington Post is a well respected award winning blog and website that is leading the future for news and blogging. While I am a fan of the Huffington Post, it was interesting to hear a different point of view.

You can imagine my excitement when my favorite news guru/speaker/commentator/ columnist and co-founder of the news, blogging and aggregation website, Huffington Post, Ariana Huffington responded to the statement the very next day.

"Once again, some in the old media have decided that the best way to save, if not journalism, at least themselves, is by pointing fingers and calling names. It's a tactic familiar to schoolyard inhabitants everywhere: when all else fails, reach for the nearest insult and throw it around indiscriminately...
The bottom line is that we need to stop pretending that we can somehow hop into a journalistic "Way Back Machine" and return to a past that no longer exists and can't be resurrected."

Ahh, she is lovely, check out her article here

Point being, somehow I felt connected to the whole situation since I was sitting in the audience when Downey organically spoke those words and, in turn, rubbed me the wrong way as I defended HuffPo. It was exciting to see the event in the news, Arianna's response and for the topic to become a matter of news debate. In all, as you can see as a journalism nerd I am loving the opportunities and experiences that I have been a part of so far!

Beautiful Accidents

1. So, I accidentally went to a Catholic mass that was solely in Italian. Apparently I had mixed up the English and Italian mass times, so once I had already made my half hour journey in the rain, of course I decided to stay.
So that was the accident, but the wonderful thing was that despite my mistake I was given a gift. I got to spend some quality time with the One upstairs, I got to listen to a beautiful language and I met some amazing people afterward that introduced me to the young adult community.
2. Due to technical difficulties I am using a pay as you go phone for two weeks until I get to use my iphone again. For those of you who don't know me, I am prone to get lost, even with the help of the navigation on my iphone, so you can guess how lost I initially felt without it. Despite it all, I have found my lack of internet via my phone and for a few days my lack of internet all together, very liberating. I have found that when under the right circumstances wonderful qualities emerge that you never knew you had in you. I know now that I actually can have a great sense of navigation. I now use my little A-Z map on long travels very easily, I can tell you what is N/S/E/W without even thinking and after a bit of wandering and wrong turns I have eventually navigated my way around Islington quite effortlessly. In fact, by accident of several tourists, I have been thought a local several times and people actually stop and ask me directions, and I can give it! I like to think it is the exuding sense of confidence I have as I walk around MY city!

So, my lesson of the day, life may hand you lemons but it also hands you lemonade!

Lets Get Practical

So there I was sitting in class listening to a lecture on running stories when the head of my department came running into the classroom and, acting like a random-passerby, said that she just saw 2 of the London eye's capsules explode and she thought she would tell a local news center. Of course my professor just smiled and said, "I think you all have a story to report, check the board for your groups and I need the first copy of that story in my email in a half hour."

It was then I realized I was not at a UC school anymore. I was no longer in a school for research and overarching theoretical concepts, I was here to learn on my feet, and I literally did just that. What happened next was mayhem, all of the competitive and over eager writers like myself jumped up and ran to the board to see what groups we were in and each found our own unique ways to find our co-workers who we had never met before. From there, 2 of my mates stayed in the news room at a computer to do the writing and editing while I went with another classmate to do the interviewing and reporting.

You have to love the staff. Everyone in the department was in on the exercise. One room was dedicated to quarterly press conferences staged by some of my professors and others roamed the department acting as police officers, eye-witnesses and workers. We had three stories due over the course of a few hours and I had a blast running around the halls of my department interviewing people and competing side by side with my peers to get the best story out by deadline. Of course we had to juggle terrorist allegations, rumors and contradicting stories and, like little detectives, had to dig until we were given the final facts only minutes before the last deadline.

Needless to say, there was no attack at the London Eye, Prince Harry wasn't inside like we thought and there was no real bomb threat. Lightening had caught fire some excess oil and Prince Harry had decided to cancel his reservations for the day although one worker who had fire burns did end up dying (all fictional of course).

To say I enjoyed myself would be an understatement. The whole exercise was so stressful but so much fun and I could not help but smile and wait for more.

Fourth day at school and I knew I was in the right place!

The Catholic Girl from California

Yes that is my new identification.
"The California girl" was my first name that I got here. You see, over here it is not easy to hide that I am from the United States, the moment I speak/ask a question/introduce myself etc. the very next thing they always say is, "Where are you from in the United States?" Then of course once they hear I am from California I become the most interesting person, its quite funny actually.

Second, I managed to mark myself as the Catholic girl on the 3rd day of class. One of first assignments was to write our autobiography as a feature in 250 words. Our professor then went around and read a few sentences of each out loud and scrutinized them. This was the beginning of mine:

"Scandal appalls some people and yet can inspire others. For Megan Lucero, the media's aggressive appetite to expose the sex scandal in the Church became a defining factor in the direction her life would take. Milk-fed the Catholic Church from infancy, Lucero grew up under the strict direction of the Church's practice with little knowledge of what lay beyond. It was the uprooting of that stronghold that drove her to pursue investigation of the truth and ultimately a career in journalism."

After reading this to the class my professor gave me my feedback and then began asking me about my interest in religion and the Church. I thought that would be it, but then subtly throughout the next 2 hours of class he dropped about 5 Catholic jokes in my direction. One of my colleagues leaned over and said "you know that you will be the butt of every Catholic joke for the rest of the year right?" I replied, "I am not living this down huh?" "Nope" he said.

Journalism at City

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the Program at my school:

"The Department of Journalism at City University London is one of the world's leading journalism schools.

It is considered one of the best universities in the United Kingdom in that field of study as well as the nation's largest centre for journalism education. It is regarded as the "Oxbridge of journalism".

British newspaper The Independent praised its "legendary status within the media", primarily due to its practical approach to journalism and its unparalleled access to media facilities.

The Department is situated within City University London's Grade II listed College Building, which dates from 1894. The Department is led by Professor George Brock, formerly International Editor of The Times."

Yep. No big deal at all.
I am honored to be accepted to this prestigious school and to be among some of the leading writers in the world.
I heard a guest lecture from Leonard Downie, Jr. who is the current vice president of the Washington Post. I am in awe of every professor who has come to speak so far in my classes, their CV's are incredible. George Brock, my department head is absolutely accomplished and amazing. If you are interested in following a great blog, follow this:

I think the most interesting aspect of my program is actually my peers. I am in the international journalism track, therefore all of my peers are from around the world. I have made close friends from Italy, Spain, Ireland, the United States, Holland, France and Sweden. Every single one is a superstar from their own town and country and many of them are even flying back and forth when they can to continue working at papers and stations back home. I am one of the youngest students in my program so I have been privileged to see so many walks of life and of course the stories that come along with it. They all challenge and inspire me everyday!

Needless to say I am in a great place, with great people and getting a great education. I cannot wait to embark on a year of intense studies, I know I will be another person when I come out the other end!

Video of my Room

Here is the promised videos of my room and kitchen.

The Pope in London

With great timing, the Pope had a weekend visit in the UK on the very same weekend that I was exploring the city before my studies were to begin on Monday.

After a failed attempt to get tickets to his Vigil in Hyde Park I went with a friend to see if we would be able to get a glimpse of his procession. Sure enough (with my fantastic luck lately) I chose the right lane to wait by and the right people to stand by. We had been told that the Pope may stop in his popemobile on his way up to the event to bless a baby or two. We ended up standing right next to the cutest baby and the cutest young family. Sure enough as the popemobile drove by I was not only 20 feet away from him but he chose to stop right in front of us and kiss the baby next to us.
Quite a great experience. 2 days into London and I already saw the Pope!

Day of Atonement

Recipe for Making it Across the Pond

1. Receive a random act of kindness from a visa officer. This includes contacting the visa representative at my school, begging for her help and her making contact with the LA embassy. Then the contact at the LA embassy getting a hold of me and after some crafty persuasion on my part, allowing me to come and pick up my visa at the embassy, even though the office was closed, the printer broke down and normal protocol restricts students to come to the embassy directly!

2. Having an amazing family. After hearing I had a chance to get on my originally scheduled flight my family helped me finish last minute packing (3 very tightly filled suitcases) and errands and leave the house within a few hours. Then, after our car broke down on the freeway (on our way to pick up my visa) my uncle lent us his car and again we were on our way to LA!

3. Short but Meaningful Goodbyes. With little less than a moment to breathe, I hadn't really thought about the physical act of leaving my beloved ones for a year. Whether a blessing or a curse, all the trouble allowed for the final goodbyes at the airport to be short but sweet. They were brief but nevertheless will always remain a beautiful memory for me.

4. Networking. Yes, networking is great in the professional world, but guess what, it is great in the personal world too. Thanks to a close friend of mine, I came in contact with some family he had in London and in turn had a place to stay for a few days before my flat was ready. In addition, they knew a lovely man named Irvin who provided my car transportation for a decent price.

5. Meet incredibly decent people. This family I spoke of has now become my home base here in London. They not only gave me a place to sleep and yummy food to eat but they gave me their hearts, just as I gave them mine. We are now friends and have already made plans to cook together and of course have an English cup of tea. Just from my 3 days with them I learned a great deal of British culture and in addition, I became Jewish for 3 days haha!

6. Yom Kippur. I arrived just before the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur which is also known at the Day of Atonement. The timing of this coincidence could not have been more perfect. As they reflected and repented, I too was preparing to start anew. I was reminded in this beautiful celebration that I can put the craziness of getting here behind me and look to a new year. So I found the final and yet the most important ingredient for my new life to be atonement. Goodbye to the yesterdays of anxiety and hello to the tomorrows of a new beginning!