Time to reflect

Since I have to wait for my photos to upload, I've got a few minutes to reflect on life in London in general. Most of this is random rambling:

Everything's more expensive, which was expected, but luckily living in the suburban area allows some better deals on things. I plan to stay clear of Oxford Street and the other chain-store-ridden streets as much as possible. I went into a Blockbuster last night to see how much rentals were, and it's £2.75 for seven nights for an old movie, and £4 for a new movie rental for two nights. Keep in mind that a pound is about 1.75 times more than a dollar. I could buy a DVD in the states for that price!

They take World War II and the holocaust much more seriously here. The mayor was just suspended for 4 weeks for making a comment to a Jewish reporter that the reporter was acting like a Nazi concentration camp guard. Also, a British historian was sentenced to prison in Austria for making comments in 1989 that basically denied the holocaust.

BBC Radio is much more interesting than American radio, and they don't play the same 40 songs over and over. I think British people pride themselves on their music knowledge more and are more willing to seek out indie-rock bands, although the major pop singers have a big following as well.

BBC TV is nice without commercials. The news is definitely high quality, and there are many more documentaries that are very interesting. I think just by watching these programs I can pick up a lot of tips for my own profession. My biggest complaint is that all the primetime Olympics coverage until this weekend has been curling, ice dancing or short track speed skating.

Yes it does rain quite a bit here. The weather is much less predictable than the midwest and doesn't stay a particular way for very long. It could be rainy one minute and sunny the next. Luckily the sun has come out the last couple days it's been sunny, but terribly windy.

The beer is stronger, the cocktails weaker. They actually have measurement restrictions for any hard liquor cocktails at a bar.

The underground is a nice way of getting around, although the line I'm on is one of the slowest I think and I have to pay extra to get into central London on the tube. Although I can take the bus anywhere with my travelcard, taking one on a high street during the height of the shopping day is a really bad idea. It's sometimes faster to walk.

There is no single English accent. My office alone is a mix of cockney, Liverpudlian, northeastern, and others I can't put my finger on. I suppose you could say the same thing about American accents, but it's amazing how many different accents are here within such a small area. Also, the voice Ali G uses on "Da Ali G Show" isn't far off of ghetto speak here.

English, especially younguns, are looser with the F-word and other swear words. My favorite swear that I hear on a day-to-day basis is "f***ing hell," sort of like "F***ing A" in America. One 16-year-old made national headlines when he was fined £80 for saying the F-word to his friend right near a police officer. He was fined as part of the new "Respect Campaign" by the government that's supposed to get Londoners to be nicer to each other.

Depending on which keyboard you use, the " symbol is above 2 and @ is above ', which can really @$%& me off sometimes.

People here are really passionate about keeping the character of buildings and neighbourhoods intact. I've already covered a number of stories of residents who were upset that new developments were either too big, too dense, or didn't reflect the character of the area. When they do make new buildings, they usually try to make it look like it's an older style. I think maybe because green space is more limited here than in the U.S., people are more worried and more vocal about any new development that encroaches on this green space.

While in America we're still debating whether global warming and evolution exist, Charles Darwin is on the back of the £10 note and even conservative people here think Bush is a dumbass for not doing anything about the environment.

That's all for now, I'm sure more things will pop in my head when I have the chance.

Where did I leave off?

I finally took the plunge and took my camera to an internet cafe to upload photos, and it's uploading now as I type. I don't have too much time to organize them right now, but will do ASAP.

I went to the V&A Museum briefly last night - they have an event every last Friday of the month, and there were a ton of people there. I didn't stay there too long before going to a club with a couple other interns. I spent way too much money to get in and to get drinks, but oh well, you only live once. Plus, I actually discovered rhythm! I knew I was doing something wrong when dancing before, but from some miracle on high I was able to step correctly and not look like an idiot! Clubbing isn't really my thing though, and it's even harder to go there without my lady. I'd rather enjoy a quieter evening at the pub with a good pint or two of ale (It's a heckuva lot cheaper).

I've got some really good story ideas this week, and my editor really liked them, so I'm feeling good about that. One thing I'm really glad about is my editor is letting me do stories that I generate. It's just a matter of me finding the right people to talk to about it, and luckily she's there to help me out.

It's been cold here the past week, but not as cold as what I've heard from back home. So when anyone here complains I just say be thankful you're not in the Midwest right now! It's clear today so I plan to hit up Regent's Park for a little sunshine.


In the immortal words of Wesley Willis: "Rock over London, Rock on Chicago. Heinz: It's America's favorite ketchup."

Good weekend, nervous week

I'm feeling better today, but yesterday was a little tough for me and I got really panicky about calling people on the phone and writing a couple of stories. Once I start writing though and feel like I'm on to something the anxiety goes away, but for some irrational reason I still get anxious about calling people on the phone. I think I'll get better once I get used to it, and I think I've just been expecting too much of myself while I'm still adjusting. One of our reporters found that the mayor had submitted an application for an adult entertainment club under his wife's name, but then withdrew it. It's a great story

The weekend was great. I had a good time at Stonehenge, Bath and Salisbury on Saturday. It was really foggy when we got to Stonehenge in the morning, and that sort of added to its mystique. The site itself is smaller than I thought, although the stones are huge, but they fence us off a ways away from it to prevent vandalism. The other interns on the trip and I took a lot of pictures, and afterwards I thought, "Well, you can only take so many pictures of stones."

From there we ate lunch at a nice pub in Salisbury, and then on to the 700-year-old Salisbury Cathedral. The steeple's friggin huge, and they house a copy of the Magna Carta and the country's (I believe) oldest working mechanical clock.

Bath was beautiful. The town is in the valley and partially on the hillside, and it looked wonderful coming down the hill to see the whole city. The actual Roman Bath tour was pretty interesting, complete with a tasting of water coming from the natural spring. The architecture is the town is gorgeous, and even though there are a lot of chain stores there now, they've retained the Georgian style contruction for the most part.

I met up with a few of the interns who went on the trip with me later that night, and we went to a techno dance club. Luckily we got in for free thanks to a little BSing by one of the interns. All I can say is that the drinks were expensive (£5.50 which translates to about $10 for a rum and coke!), the lighting reminded me of those Japanese cartoons that cause seizures in young children, and British people dance just as bad as I do! But I still had a good time dancing and getting to know a few of my fellow interns better, and I'm glad there are others who are just as curious about exploring the city and its nightlife like I am.

Better get back to work, I got a deadline to meet.

Epiphany time

Yesterday I had the realization (or maybe the re-realization) that journalism is really about building contacts. I think my early struggles had partially to do with the fact that I don't know anyone, and it really is part of my job to seek out the right sources for information.

I realized this when I was sent to cover a conference on Asian Immigration and Business. The conference itself was boring, but I met two people at my table who were much more interesting. One was a human rights worker who helps Kurdish women and other asylum-seekers get the proper services. The other was a man whose son is in Kashmir helping victims from the earthquake last year. So from this chance encounter I will be able to write two potentially good stories that are much more interesting than the story I set out for. My editor was pleased to hear the news too.

Tomorrow I'm off to Bath and Stonehenge, and on Monday I get to tour the House of Commons. Should be a fun couple of days.

A few bumps along the road

I was just about done with my post, and then my computer froze. These computers at the office are very frustrating, and the only good news is they've put me on a computer that has internet access. I guess you could say I wasn't prepared for this experience, but then again how could I be? I'm a little frustrated with myself because of some stupid little things I did like forgetting to keep someone's phone number from last week when it became imperative for a story this week. I also haven't fully adjusted to the writing style - the language in the stories is much stronger than the states, and they like to use words like "thugs" and "perverts" that I don't think you could get away with in the U.S.

The good news is my editor is completely understanding and realizes that I'm still learning, but I hate to burden her because I forgot to write or ask about a certain detail. My best pieces have been more feature-y, like a review of Chicken Little or a story about a couple married for 70 years, but these stories are limited. I know it's still early and I'm sure by the end of this internship I'll be a pro at this. I realize now I never fully developed the skills to be a good print journalist on a day-to-day basis, though I know I'd still do well as a producer/reporter in broadcast journalism, which I plan to do anyways when I get back.

Besides working, I went to the Parliamentary Archives on Monday. It was interesting but the lady who presented was kind of boring. They have all the acts of Parliament dating back to 1497 all rolled up on parchment, and one of the acts stretched a quarter mile. I thought to myself that it would be something really cool to do a documentary on, but unfortunately I don't have a TV crew with me at the moment. I did get to meet a few of my fellow interns that I didn't have the chance to talk to before, which was nice, and I am tentatively going to Bath, Stonehenge and Salisbury on Saturday.

I did go to a football (soccer to you 'yanks') match with some coworkers last night, and the team they supported won (yay!). The fan section behind the goal kind of reminded me of the student sections at hockey and football, but these guys are non-stop and a lot more musical than the fans back home, probably because they don't have a band in the stands with them. They also swear more than our student section, which is tough to do. The game was alright, but I think the experience of the game was more important than the game itself. Football can get a little boring at times, but there were a few instances where I wanted to shout "Shoot him like a horse!" or "Sieve!" but realized that no one would cheer with me. They do have the "It's all your fault" cheer, though it's set to music, and they actually sang Hey Jude a couple times.

My hands are tired from typing, so I'll quit soon. The biggest news here is the House of Commons passed a smoking ban on all pubs and restaurants for next year. I also heard Dick Cheney shot a guy, and then the guy had a minor heart attack. I'm sure he's receiving criticism about it, probably more than the criticism he should have received for his secret energy policy meetings or Halliburton's mess in Iraq, but that's for another post ;-)

Yesterday's adventure, the rest of the week

I got sufficiently cultured yesterday, as I got to see a lot of central London. It's really beautiful once you get into the city proper, and much more interesting than the suburbs. I went to the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery, which were very nice (and free!) art museums. The top floor of the portrait gallery has an awesome rooftop view of London, and I think I like the portait gallery better because it leads you through the history of important figures in London, from the Tudors to J.K. Rowling. There was a peaceful Muslim protest in Trafalgar Square next to the museums, and they were in part protesting the extremists in other parts of the world who were setting fire to various things.

From the museums I walked passed St Paul's Cathedral, which is very huge and majestic. I was a little tired so I took the bus to the Monument, which is a tall phallic structure that commemorates the Great Fire of London in the 1600s. The thing is, though, you can climb up the 311 stairs on the inside to get a spectacular view of the London skyline, which I did of course, and at the end they give you a certificate of achievement. From there I walked across London Bridge to my first "real" pub serving "real" handdrawn ale, and it was wonderful. I then walked to another pub to get another pint and watch the rugby match between England and Italy. I'm starting to understand the rules a little better. On Tuesday I am probably going to a football match with some of my coworkers.

From the pubs I went to Tate Modern art museum, which has a lot of stuff from Picasso, Dali, Matisse and a lot of other modern artists. It has less stuff in it than the other art museums, but it was still free and had some interesting stuff. I walked from there across the Millenium Bridge back to St Paul's and took the bus home, tired but satisfied.

The rest of the week was busy, which could be good or bad. I had to go to a meeting on Thursday night of a group of local residents, which meant I missed out on a dinner with other interns in the internship program. Oh well, I will see them Monday morning and will travel with a few of them to Bath and Stonehenge next Saturday.

The good thing at work is that my editor is letting me cover stories from ideas that I came up with, but I'm a little bit nervous because I really don't know much about local governance and I am plunging right into the system. I always get a little nervous about talking to strangers as well as asking for help, but I know I have to do my job and my coworkers are there to help me. This is really the most basic level of journalism, working at a local newspaper, and it's an adjustment from broadcast that I think will help me in the end.

I gotta catch a movie today, Chicken Little, and I get to write a review for the paper, which also might be picked up by other papers around the area, so that'll be good coverage for me.

They've put me to work

I had a busy day today, the first so far at the newspaper office. I finally got to write a few "real" stories as opposed to filler. My previous editor's last day was Thursday, and the new editor started yesterday, so I didn't really have anything to do until the new editor showed up, and even then it took a few hours for her to get settled in and find me work to do. But things are looking up, and my editor tells me I'll be doing more in depth stories, while the senior editor told me yesterday I'll be helping the entertainment section on a few projects coming up, which should be, well, entertaining.

Yesterday I spoke to a lovely couple who are celebrating their 70th anniversary next Wednesday. They told me interesting stories from World War II, and I had a good time writing their story. The editor liked my story, which made me feel better, but there are a few nit-picky things that they do in print and in the London style of journalism that I'm not used to, coming from American broadcast. Ages and street names are always given, for instance, and the London style is different from the AP style (you American journalists know what I'm talking about), so things like abbreviations and punctuation is a little off from what I'm used to. Luckily, a coworker let me copy her cheatsheet into London paper writing.

The weekend was mixed. It's been cloudy here most days (big surprise), and the sun shone through a little bit on Sunday, but by the time I got to Hyde Park, it turned cloudy again. I walked for several miles in and around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, snapping a few photos here and there. It's a nice, spacious green area, but I bet it will be much nicer in the spring with a lot of plants and trees coming back to life. The highlight of Hyde Park on Sundays is Speakers' Corner, where anyone with a stepladder can plant him or herself in the corner and shout out anything they like. Most of the topics this weekend were religious, especially given the protests over the Muhammed cartoons. I've got some video of Bible thumpers and others that I'll share once I find a computer that I can hook my camera up to.

Saturday night was a little awkward. I went to the RoadHouse Bar in central London to meet with the Internship director and fellow interns, but when I got there I was the only intern to show up. So I basically talked awkwardly with my Internship director sucking down cocktails while top 40 music was being blasted. At about 10 the night's band showed up: basically a cover band, but they weren't bad. Once the band was done and the internship director left, I had no real reason to be there so I went back home before midnight. The good thing though is I got a mobile phone, so y'all can call me whenevs now.

So to sum up, it's cloudy, I'm finally working, and the food is still good. I got lucky having a Ukranian cook my meals, which means I get to sample her recipes from around the world. So far she's made dishes from Ukraine, Russia, Tajikistan and India, not to mention basic food like chicken, sausage and mashed potatoes. I'm hoping once I get to know people at work better I'll be able to go out with them more and have them show me the city. They all seem like a fun bunch.

Cheers

Addendum to last post

After spending a day in Speakers Corner (http://www.speakerscorner.net/history.html) in Hyde Park, a few points I want to clarify from my last post:

I am for freedom of the press and freedom of speech, but against stupidity in the press and stupidity in speech. The cartoons that were drawn and the decision to release them was a stupid idea. However, I don't think you'd see the same types of protests by Christians or Jews over cartoons that offend our religions. Maybe it's because we're already used to it.

I think the radical Islamism that we are seeing in the Middle East and other places is a distortion of the original intentions of Muhammed. Some people mistake extremists that we are seeing on TV as the majority of Muslims or as the only ideology of Islam, but in reality I think the majority of Muslims are against this type of violent protest. The problem is, we are not hearing enough of these calm voices in the Muslim community over the shouts of the radicals in the streets. Furthermore, while clerics are readily able to issue fatwas condemning Salman Rushdie and others to death, it seems much harder for them to issue fatwas condemning suicide bombers and violent protestors. I think the solution to peace has to come from within the Muslim community. Meanwhile, I think the refusal by the papers to apologize is helping to fan the flames.

Political Cartoons

I don't know if people in America have been following this much, but there's a huge uproar in the Muslim community over a few political cartoons printed in a Danish newspaper and then reprinted around European newspapers, one of them showing Muhammed holding a bomb. No British paper has printed the cartoons, but they did show them briefly on the BBC. It's a big deal because Muslims contend you're not supposed to show any depiction of the prophet, let alone in a manner that degrades him. It's turned into a huge debate of Free Speech over Decency.

It's a little scary, because in the Middle East some rioters have set fire to Danish and Norwegian embassies. Some of the signs the protestors were carrying said things like "Europe Remember 9/11" and other threatening messages. It's been more subdued in Britain, mainly because they didn't show the cartoons, and many of the leading British Muslims have condemned the violent protests.

From what I've heard, the cartoons weren't even that original or good and shouldn't have been printed based on that. The fact that they offend an entire religion makes them more sensational and able to grab attention. I'm all for freedom of speech, but we in the media also have a duty as "gatekeepers" to exercise restraint when it comes to offensive speech. In other words, I'm against stupidity in speech. The tensions go beyond the cartoons, but they sparked something on an unimaginable scale. I'm guessing the whole thing will die down soon, but there must be some way that Westerners can ease tensions with the Muslim community. It's not impossible: India, Malaysia and Indonesia all have large Muslim populations and are tolerant of other religions. Even Moorish Spain (before the Inquisition) was considered a very tolerant society that was led by Muslims. So it's possible.

My first (almost) week

Many things to update:

Things are going well with my host family: the man is really nice to talk to, and his wife from the Ukraine is a really good cook. The only thing I'm not used to is that they turn their heat completely off at night, though I've usually remedied that with wearing extra clothes to bed.

On Sunday I wandered around the Chiswick neighborhood all day. There are some nice green areas around town, and when I get a chance I'll post the pictures. The downside was that the two major historical places around the area were closed for a month or so for the winter. I also visited quite a few chain stores on the "high road."

Monday I went to the newspaper station to meet people and get a tour, but after the tour they sat me right down and put me to work! Tuesday was supposed to be my official first day, but it was alright with me because I had nothing else to do that day. The computers here are a little archaic, and not all of them have internet, so it was a bit shocking to see when I first got here. I'm sure I'll adjust.

On Tuesday they had me do a lot of changing press releases to "filler" stories. Nothing too complicated and kind of unrewarding, but it's a start. I've been writing in US broadcast style for so long, so it's a little bit of adjustment to write for print in the UK.

On Wednesday they didn't have much for me to do, but then around 3:30 they asked me to go out on the streets of nearby Richmond to ask people on the street about oil problems for their "Street Talk" segment, kind of like the "What Do You Think" part of The Onion but without the fakeness. I had a devil of a time trying to get people to talk to me: it was during rush hour and everyone either was in a hurry or didn't want their picture taken or didn't live in the area or whatever other excuse they could find. I was feeling kind of down about my skills as a journalist, and I didn't get enough people willing to talk to me that night. Luckily the next day I was able to go back and finish, and I was reassured by my coworkers that doing "Street Talk" is pretty difficult in that area. One thing I probably need to work on is my notetaking skills, as I'm so used to using a recording device or a camera to get all my quotes.

My coworkers are great, and most of them are still in their 20s and like to go out and have a good time. Last night was my editor's last day, so we went to Soho to the "Bar Room Bar" that was actually in Chinatown, which was cool experience seeing my first Chinatown. Luckily they had a 2 for 1 £5 cocktail special that night, but the cocktails were fairly small and far less potent than most bars in Madison. So after about six of those we headed to a club, since most bars close at 11 pm. This night was the first time I got to talk more in depth with my coworkers, so I had a good time all-in-all.