Process Writing

            This was a difficult class for me. I have always really enjoyed journalism classes, and definitely enjoyed this one, but felt more challenged than before. Was this due to being just back from abroad and lacking the school-skills I’ve normally developed by this point in the quarter? I’m not sure. I think that I was too scared to get out and find a really fantastic story and played it safe too often in this class. While I’m proud of the work I did, I hope that one day I am able to approach a random stranger and grab their story, like many of my classmates did, or as many of the brilliant journalists we read did.

            I find narrative journalism such an opportunity if done correctly. I just imagine all of the incredible people I could meet if I had the time and energy that some journalists have had in the past. I have felt really inspired this quarter through our readings, not only by the stories themselves, but by the insane amount of blood, sweat, and tears some have gone through to put these words and experiences on paper. Whew.

            I found my peers to be very helpful in editing. I appreciate the way our work-shops are set up – peers are discussing the work excluding the author – I think this makes for a very professional environment, and makes it easier to be honest and critical when necessary. This class was full of talented writers, and I feel that my respect for my classmates also helped in accepting constructive criticism when given.

            Finally, the video-audio slideshow was a very valuable part of the course. Learning to work with and create other forms of media is such a valuable asset! Saying this, it was also fantastic to have classmates introduce me to so many forms of media – radio, video – things I hadn’t paid much mind to in the past.

            I think what I’m really trying to say here is, thanks.

Girls on the Run Kalamazoo

            Music could be heard ‘round Western’s Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan last Thursday evening as thousands of third through fifth grade girls, their faithful coaches, parents, and hundreds of community members prepared to run the 5K they’d been training for since March. Traffic was blocked from the far-most right lane of Stadium Drive, and proud parents, brothers, sisters, friends, teachers, and more lined the streets to cheer on their runners.

            With a “fun hair” station provided for girls and coaches, pink, green, sparkling, and crowned heads littered the football field as the girls stretched and jived to the beat of the music breaking the hot air. Reminded often as they warmed up to drink water, the girls were all smiles as they marched out of the stadium to take their marks.

            Kalamazoo boasts the sixth largest of 191 total Girls on the Run (GOTR) chapters in North America. Sixth place comes from the outstanding 2,100 girls served during this year’s program. GOTR Kalamazoo has not always been so large. When director of GOTR Kalamazoo, Sandy Barry-Loken, attended the first Kalamazoo GOTR 5K in 2002 to support a friend, only 350 girls were running. Even with so few, Sandy knew she had to be a part of the program. “I really could see that they were about to take on a challenge that was huge and to just watch them finish and to know what they accomplished was amazing. And you could just see it on their faces that they felt like they could do anything when they crossed that finish line.”

            Nine years later, she’s “seen a lot of changes.”

            As word spread about GOTR, girls poured into the program. “We knew we wanted to serve as many girls as possible, and we took every girl who came.”

            Every girl is right! “We have girls from every ethnic background, from every socioeconomic status, because truly our program is for all girls.” GOTR Kalamazoo in its 10^th anniversary race boasted a more diverse group of girls than the population of Kalamazoo County itself. “We are in every type of school in the community. We’re in public schools, private schools, parochial schools, we’ve had home-schooled girls participating.”

To ensure a wide range of socioeconomic background in the girls, a “sliding fee scale” of $0-$150 has been implemented. While GOTR provides suggestions to families on how much they might contribute – based on number of family members and family income – ultimately families determine what is a reasonable amount they are able to pay for their child to participate. There are no economic background checks or scholarships. Families simply pay what they can.

The $150 fee per girl covers access to a special curriculum targeted for the third-fifth grade girls, fees and dues to the national organization, materials and supplies needed for lessons (such as orange cones or lap counters), a brand new pair of running shoes, two t-shirts, a water bottle, a healthy snack at every practice, a medal at the end of the race, and the 5K participation fee.

Sandy attributes such a low cost to the help of community members and sponsors. One such sponsor is Gazelle Sports.  “They are a huge partner to our program.” Gazelle provides a brand-new pair of running shoes for every girl as well as fits them for the shoe via a combination of visiting low-income schools where rides to open houses at the YMCA may not be available, and about 10 open-houses held during a two to three week period at surrounding schools and facilities. Their time is solely donated. “They don’t charge us to go and do that. That is just Gazelle’s commitment to the community.”

While many community members support GOTR Kalamazoo with money contributions, many more give time. Several hundred volunteers helped to make the May GOTR 5K a success, whether by standing and cheering, announcing, dj-ing, beautifying girls hair with ribbons and glitter, or running alongside the girls as allies.

Among the many running alongside their teams was Jordan Earnest, a Kalamazoo College sophomore. Jordan was an assistant coach at Woods Lake Elementary. After 24 practices, Jordan was ready for her first GOTR race.

            The 24 practices are part of a set curriculum designed in 2001 by Dr. Rita DiGioacchino DeBate. In reviewing academic research on girls and sports, Dr. DeBate found conflicting data concerning self-esteem and athletics. While girls involved in normal physical activity tend to have a higher sense of self-worth and are better able to avoid peer pressures, girls involved in sports that encourage a small build may be at higher risk of falling into the trap of disordered eating. This research helped shape the curriculum for girls involved in GOTR, and thus instills messages that squash this tendency. The curriculum is reassessed every two years to ensure that what is being taught is relevant for girls today, and that new information is included, such as new lessons surrounding social media and texting.

The curriculum is well organized and provided for each coach at each practice, but Jordan describes her practices as less official than they sound. “It’s just based on - to get moving.” The attitude of the program might sound strict or rigorous – training for a 5K, but Jordan explains, “we’re not out to win anything, everyone gets a medal at the end. We don’t time anyone, anything like that.” Rather than measure the girls times, the race is about finishing and feeling empowered in their accomplishment. Physical activity is an important part of the program, but so are other aspects, as Jordan explains that it’s based on “feeling empowered in different ways.” At the end of the day, Jordan explains that the teams, “pride ourselves with being healthy and being healthy girls.”

On that hot May evening, it was clear to see the empowerment, love, friendship, and pride felt amongst the thousands of girls running throughout downtown Kalamazoo. The flood of pink shirted girls made it easy to feel the urgency Sandy felt at her first race 10 years ago, “just from the moment I saw them start running, I thought, this is amazing!”

Audio Slideshow - Girls on the Run

GOTR - Process Writing

      The piece is only about half done at this point. I have a meeting with a coordinator for GOTR set for Thursday morning. I am having difficulty deciding whether to insert myself - as I was obviously at the race last Thursday, hence my descriptions. I also wonder whether or not to include the race atmosphere at all? Should I focus just on Jordan, should I wait to see what I might incorporate when I meet with the GOTR coordinator? 

     On a lighter note, this piece has been really awesome to get into. The race was so fantastic - I think that it why I want to incorporate it. I guess on that note, I took lots of pictures of the race and also got a whole other bit on why Jordan chose to become involved in GOTR, and was thinking of using that piece of audio for my slideshow. If I am omitting Jordan's words from the piece, should I also omit the race description because I have pictures that will "describe" it?

     In workshop I hope you will help me decide where to place the spotlight for this piece. Should it be on the overall program, the race, Jordan, or a combination of all three?

GOTR Article (For Workshop)

Music could be heard ‘round Western’s Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan last Thursday evening as thousands of third through fifth grade girls, their faithful coaches, parents, and hundreds of community members prepared to run the 5K they’d been training for since March. Traffic was blocked from the far-most right lane of Stadium Drive, and proud parents, brothers, sisters, friends, teachers, and more lined the streets to cheer on their runners.

With a “fun hair” station provided for girls and coaches, pink, green, sparkling, and crowned heads littered the football field as the girls stretched and jived to the beat of the music breaking the hot air. Reminded often as they warmed up to drink water, the girls were all smiles as they marched out of the stadium to take their marks.

Among the many volunteers running alongside their teams was Jordan Earnest, a Kalamazoo College sophomore. Jordan was an assistant coach at Woods Lake Elementary. After 24 practices, Jordan was ready for her first Girls on the Run (GOTR) race.

The 24 practices are well organized, but not in the training for a 5K sense. “In all honesty,  our training process isn’t that official,” Jordan admitted, “It’s just based on - to get moving.” Jordan described the attitude of the program, “So we’re not necessarily - and it’s definitely a non-competitive, we’re not out to win anything, like, everyone gets a medal at the end. We don’t time anyone, anything like that.” When inquired about practice schedules, and whether or not the work-outs are rigorous, she said, “Some days, our activities are like, freeze-tag type things, or just about getting moving and being active, rather than like, ‘okay, we gotta run 15 laps today.’ ” 

While she talked about empowerment for the young girls, Jordan laughed as she remembered, “Which is like, kind of ironic, ‘cause the 5K is today, and I was like thinking the other day, I’m like, ‘oh, I should probably like, I should probably start running around campus a little bit more to get in shape for it. I’m like no!’ If they’re gonna - I’ve been training, training, in quotes, as much as they have, so.” The empowerment seems to reach more than just the third through fifth grade GOTR.

Girls on the Run has been studied since 2001 by Rita DiGioacchino DeBate, Ph. D., MPH, CHES. In reviewing academic research on girls and sports, Dr. DeBate found conflicting data concerning self-esteem and athletics. While girls involved in normal physical activity tend to have a higher sense of self-worth and are better able to avoid peer pressures, girls involved in sports that encourage a small build may be at higher risk of falling into the trap of eating disorders. Dr. DeBate’s research has helped those in charge of providing lessons for girls involved in GOTR which instill messages that might squash this tendency.

Jordan agrees with the ideas of prevention and positive influence, “I think it’s targeted as a prevention program, because it’s for girls third through fifth grade, and just like, just when they’re hitting puberty, and that’s I think when girls images of themselves start to change, around that age, or at least I remember it did for me, involved in athletics of that age.” Empowerment is a theme in which Jordan discusses frequently. “It’s supposed to integrate the physical activity - and it’s feeling empowered in different ways, so with the knowledge we talk about these things, but also pride ourselves with being healthy and being healthy girls.”

Profile - "The Coffee Cafe of Jackson, MI"

     Everyone’s a friend at The Coffee Cafe. The roughly 300 square foot trailer is located at 1513 Horton Road in Jackson, Michigan; thought it may be easier to search instead for a small yellow trailer neatly situated in front of Scruples Hair Design, at the intersection of Weatherwax and Horton Roads in Summit Township.

   
  The Coffee Cafe may be small, but business is big for owner of 15 years, Lonnie Bostwick. Even after 9:00 am on a Thursday morning, as most have already made their coffee stops on the way to work, Lonnie is continuously busy. She never stops moving, chatting, and enjoying her customers as much as they seem to enjoy her. As soft wordless music plays over the stereo, there is the warmth of a panini-maker, two humming refrigerators, and countless coffee grinders sufficiently claiming their needed space. With two windows to attend to at once, and as the sole worker, Lonnie still manages to sip her coffee and answer the questions of an earnest young reporter.

  Though it has been her home for 15 years, this was not always the way Lonnie planned to spend her years. Lonnie had been a buyer for 21 years, and when she lost her job she “wanted something different.” Acquiring the shop was not by dumb luck, but instead by a deliberate inquiry of the previous owners. “This was not for sale, I just asked him if he ever was thinking about selling, and he got back to me three months later, and I bought it from him.” But, don’t be fooled. Lonnie was not always a coffee connoisseur. “I bought this not knowing anything about coffee.” As if she sensed disbelief, she assured, “I did, I didn’t even know between a cappuccino and a latte, I really didn’t.”

  Fifteen years later, Lonnie now offers 15 different flavored coffees, homemade hot chocolate, smoothies, lattes, cappuccinos, donuts, bagels, and sandwiches - for breakfast and lunch. Lonnie orders her flavored coffees from Michigan-owned companies, and buys her donuts from the Jackson-owned Hinkley Bakery. “I try to do as much local as I can.”

The Coffee Cafe offers a unique atmosphere. Unlike many coffee joints, the cafe is a drive-up only place. Drive-thru windows more often provide a speedy alternative to walking in, and often result in a more detached feel. Lonnie’s place is far from impersonal.  She says, “And it is speedy, for people you don’t want to know, but when people come in here on a regular basis, you do become friends.” With these connections comes deep loyalty from her customers, and this loyalty might just be the reason for Lonnie’s 15 successful years and counting.

Lonnie has always been able to sustain her small business, but times have changed since she first began her venture. “The competition is more out there now, when I started there was only the Gourmet Bagel [another local coffee joint, which has since gone out of business], nothing else.” Now Jackson is home to chains such as Starbucks, Biggby, and Tim Hortons. Also heavy in competition with other local coffee shops is the powerhouse, Jackson Coffee Co. Lonnie had long had the advantage of a location in which there was little interaction with these competitors, but this quickly changed with the introduction of the Bearclaw Coffee Company.

The Coffee Cafe may have been in for trouble when one of the Bearclaw Coffee Company chain stores was opened down the street some years ago. A frequent customer of Lonnie’s, Deb Krajewski, said, “She was worried when Bearclaw came in.” The Bearclaw offered a space in which one could sit and enjoy their coffee, or study, read, chat with friends, as well as the lure of the quick drive-thru. Even with the Bearclaw’s seemingly more personal feel, the loyalty of Lonnie’s customers rang true in it’s success, and perhaps the eventual failure and closing of the Bearclaw.

Deb Krajewski gives insight into the reasons for this loyalty, “She has relationships with all her customers. She knows everybody’s names, she knows their families.” In watching Lonnie bounce around the small kitchen of the trailer, laughing and chatting with her beloved customers, it is not difficult to see such intimate relationships forming. Everyone is “hunnie” or “sweetie,” she knows who was sick yesterday, who will be back tomorrow, and what they will want to eat or drink.

Not only does Lonnie’s friendliness attribute to her customer’s loyalty, but also it’s locality. Deb says, “I don’t feel that in a big city she would have survived. People in Jackson are pretty loyal to home-grown businesses.” Maybe it’s just her coffee. Steve and Teresa Schramm seem to think so; “We’re loyal customers. She always treats us great - she goes above and beyond.” Teresa is quick to add, “Plus it’s the best coffee in town!”

"The Events of October" --

     The Events of October was quite a read. I am feeling unbelievable tired upon these last chapters. My heart has been hurting and my thoughts on overdrive for hours and hours. Mixed emotions; guilt, responsibility, disgust, compassion, remorse, confusion, exhaustion.

     I have heard Maggie’s story - Maggie & Neenef - that slip in itself plays into my dilemma - countless times since arriving to K in the fall of 2009. I have been to her memorial services, readings, I have seen the infamous 201, I have stood near her bench in silent remembrance. But never have I listened to her story told from such a wise perspective as Gail. No hearsay interrupted this story.

     I happen to have the pleasure of having Gail in class this quarter. In some strange way it was comforting to hear her voice shine through this piece. I saw words she often uses in lecture, I could feel her deep hurt and anger, as I’m sure other readers with less knowledge of her could as well, but it was helpful to know how passionate she is in telling true stories. Again, without having had conversations with the author, I appreciate her willingness to expose her methods from the get-go. On page 7 she says, “What follows is a chronicle of the days leading up to a particular October morning in 1999, and the days that came after. It’s a fusion of fact, memory testimony, impression, and one other ingredient, a potent and dangerous catalyst: imagination.” I so deeply respect such a statement. She exposes herself to what potentially could come as criticism, as others may have encountered this tragic experience in a different light.

     As far as her writing and reporting style, Gail seems to include narrative surrounding every imaginable aspect of this event. She discusses in serious depth Maggie Wardle, and to what depth she is able on Neenef Odah. She brings us as close as she is able to their relationship, via their messages back and forth and friend’s and parent’s accounts. She is sure to give a well-rounded picture of both, never casting Neenef as an inhumane person who simply murdered his ex and nothing more. She spoke of several faculty members, community members, students, student groups, counselors, and the list goes on. I don’t think one could honestly argue her credibility. It is also comforting to know that the author of such a story was very much a part of this event, this also seems to give her the credibility some other authors we’ve read have lacked.