What a day…What a day…

~smiling~

I had such a beautiful day…

I woke up this morning praising God and feeling a peace in my heart that I hadn’t felt in a long time. I kept thanking Him over and over again for another day and another chance to start again.

I got dressed in no time flat. I wanted to be early for my first full day of work. When I got there it was just me and the production manager. She’s a sweet older woman who has been working at the paper since it started. I said goodmorning and sang her name the way I love to do. Then I walked into my office.

My office.

I closed the door.

Closed the door.

I looked around.

Around the whole room.

And I said, “Wow. This is my first time having my own office.”

What a great company! I’m just a staff reporter. I can’t believe it. I make more money than I did at the magazine.

I’m going to work so hard!

I sat down and touched my computer for the first time. The screen lit up and I realized– Wow. It’s a Mac. I’ve never used one before.

I grinned.

RESUME BUILDER!

I can’t wait to learn how to use it!

I looked at my list of priorities and decided on a project. Before I could really dig in, Juanita, my publisher pops her head in asking to see me about my O.Bam.a story.

Oh no..

I wasn’t confident about that story. I had a rough weekend and I was so nervous about showing her that I can do it that I completely blanked out– all weekend long.

I had so much on my mind.

But fuck it. I can take it.

“First, I want you to tell me where you were going with this piece. What was your strategy?” she asked me.

“Ok. I decided to go with a general lede and then give some background information and current news then post the quotes in a Q&A style with sub heads.”

She looked at my paper. I could see all the marks on it and I winced.

“I can see where you were going but you were inconsistent,” she said as she examined my paragraphs. “Too many fragmented quotes. The attribution shouldn’t cut a quote in half like that when the latter half of the sentence can’t stand alone. I need you to write transitions for all of these long quotes. The sub head can stay but it isn’t enough.”

I sat taking notes furiously.

“Now as far as your lede.” she stopped and looked at me.

I smiled.

“What was the big news here? What was the meat of the story?”

“Um.. Ob.ama answered questions from the press?”

“What about the information that he presented? Is there something there that we’ve never heard before?”

“The bill?”

“Yes. So if we wanted to we could emphasize that in the lead and then mention that he shared the information with members of the Black Press. Or…. What else do you see when you look at this story? What is he doing?”

“Reaching out to our community.”

“Yes. This past weekend alone he has participated in two seperate events for African Americans.”

“He’s courting our community. He’s trying to show us that he is available and will represent us. He wants our vote,” I said.

“Now that’s an idea for a lede because it is active. We dont report what happened because we’re not a daily. We report what’s next. What’s next for Ob.ama? What’s next in Houston?”

I understood. I spent 5 hours re-writing that piece and she still had to sit through 2 of them with me. She was very patient with me and I appreciate that. I was half expecting her to smirk and sit me in a corner while she whispered about me to the other staff members.

But I don’t think she’s like that.

She teaches. She knows I don’t understand everything but I’m a quick learner so she says she will work with me until I do. Everyone there says she’s more than fair. They love her to death but admit, she’s hard.

After one of our re-writing sessions I said to her, “You’re like a Mama to your company.”

She laughed and said, “I try to be what others weren’t to me. When I was younger I wanted someone to teach me so badly. I just knew I could do great things but everyone I approached got all crazy. They didn’t want to help. But I know what that was. That was insecurity. Anytime you have a person with a little something and they’re not willing to share the information necessary to help pull another sister up then they’re just afraid of losing their spot.”

“I agree,” I told her. “But I believe the pie in the sky is big enough for everyone to get a big piece.”

“Me too,” she said. “But everyone doesn’t believe that.”

I know.

I ended the day by helping with the proofing of the paper. Two of my stories are going on the front page, BELOW the fold, but it’s a good start.

I got off work at 7 and then treated myself to dinner. I can’t keep eating fast food because it’s cheap. Then I took a short nap and woke up hungry again, just as my phone rang. It was Kim. While we chatted I put on my shoes and walked outside after thinking, “I want something to munch on.”

Why was there a barbecue going on?

God is always right on time.

I got me a great burger and hung out a little with the white people before heading up to lay down and write this.