‘The Girl in the Window’ Reflects Hope, Inspiration

Melissa Lyttle/St. Petersburg Times
Melissa Lyttle/St. Petersburg Times

There are some stories that make me want to be a better journalist, stories that get at the heart of what good journalists do — expose wrongdoings, shed light on truth and create change. Lane DeGregory‘s latest story, “Girl in the Window,” does all this and more.

The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times story is about 9-year-old Dani, a feral child who was seriously neglected by her biological mother, practically left to die in a small room infested with feces and thousands of German cockroaches.

But this story is about so much more than neglect. It’s about what it means to let love into your life, to communicate without words, to be lost even after you’ve been found.

DeGregory collaborated with St. Pete Times photographer Melissa Lyttle, whose photos add a three- dimensional element to the written story while telling a tale of their own. “The Girl in the Window” package is proof that the world is full of stories waiting to be found.

Steve Myers, one of my colleagues at The Poynter Institute, interviewed DeGregory and Lyttle about “The Girl in the Window” to find out more about what went into producing such an extensive project. You can read the transcribed interview and listen to an excerpt of it here. One of my favorite parts of the interview is when DeGregory says she hung all of Lyttle’s photos around her office so she could look at them for inspiration and for details that she may not have otherwise remembered. DeGregory says:

I love Melissa’s photographs, and she printed them all out for me before I started writing the story. [Melissa and her photo editor] were down to about 30 images, and she printed them out in color and I pasted them all around my office where I write. So as I was writing the story, I was looking at the photographs. And I take really descriptive notes. I write about the colors of things and the smells of things and the motion of things, but her photographs bring back other details that I might not have remembered. …

I hope that even despite buyouts and layoffs, news organizations will find room for longer narratives that capture the kind of details that DeGregory describes. Yes, journalists are asked to write concisely, and now more than ever stories need to be short, but there’s something especially valuable about long narratives. They let the reader know: We care about telling stories, and even though our news organization might be trimming our staff, we’re not trimming our coverage. We still care enough to dedicate an entire Sunday section to one story because we know that stories matter. People matter. And, yes, good journalism still matters.

“The Girl in the Window” is the type of story that illustrates truth, while instructing and inspiring audiences. It’s proof that the world needs storytellers like DeGregory and Lyttle, and that journalism needs them, too.

(Full disclosure: I work at The Poynter Institute, which owns the St. Petersburg Times.)

Chilling with Ice Cube

Ice Cube was on fire Monday night at Myst, where he showed up shortly before midnight to promote his upcoming album, “Raw Footage,” set to be released Aug. 19.

My friend, who works for Quick, a Dallas Morning News publication, invited me and two other girls to join her for the event. As someone who likes old school rap, I couldn’t help but want to go to the club and have my picture taken with the 39-year-old hip-hop star.

Ice Cube had a fierce and bewildered look in his eyes, and I never once saw him smile when in the company of his paparazzi posse. I laughed, though, while taking my picture with him. There I was, still dressed in my not-so-fashionable work clothes at a trendy night club with Ice Cube for an event I had just heard about hours before. I couldn’t help but love the spontaneity.

Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone in Texas

I’ll be the first to admit I’m not real adventurous when it comes to trying new foods. But since moving to Dallas, I’ve tried being more open to change.

It helps that I live with one of The Dallas Morning News‘ Taste editors. She introduced me to tamales, dim sum and jellyfish this weekend. (The jellyfish was part of the dim sum.) As much as I like the Hispanic culture, I had never eaten tamales before, but I actually really liked them. Now I need to try eating at some of the local taquerias near the house where I’m staying. I hear that although they may not look great on the outside, inside you can find delicious Mexican treats.

Dim sum was better than I thought it would be, even though I didn’t use the chop sticks correctly while eating it. I don’t eat red meat or pork, so I prodded and poked at the chicken and shrimp-based dim sum and tried to pick it up as best I could. By the time the meal had ended, my hands hurt from using the chop sticks — probably not a good sign. And the jellyfish portion of the dim sum? I’ll describe it as being crunchy and drenched in sesame seed oil. One small, slimy bite was more than enough to satisfy my curiosity.

Later in the day I went to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, located in the heart of downtown Dallas. I went to Spanish Mass and loved seeing the filled pews. Sometimes, you go to a church and the attendance is weak. Not at Our Lady of Guadalupe. There’s a six-floor garage next to the church, which was nearly filled at the 1:30 p.m. Mass. Ushers needed to help people find room in the pews so that they wouldn’t have to stand in the back of the church. Children, couples and senior citizens all congregated together like one big family. Very cool sight to behold.

After church I drove to White Rock Lake Park and tried walking around until the heat beckoned me inside. Today was hot — I don’t mean Florida hot, I mean 107 degrees hot. Holy hades. One of the local disc jockeys said Friday that he was going to Florida to visit his parents and to “cool off.” Since when do you go to Florida to cool off? My Massachusetts roots make me yearn for an impossible summer snowfall, or at least a cool breeze.

In need of some air conditioning, I went grocery shopping and spent a lot of time in the frozen food aisle. The Hispanic grocery store, Carnival’s, had pinatas hanging from the front window, and the signs in the store were all in Spanish. I found most of what I was looking for, but no hummus or veggie burgers — two foods I eat almost daily. Maybe that’s a sign that I need to keep being adventurous with what I eat and not just stick to the norm. If I’m going to branch out and try new things, Texas is just as good a place as ever to do so.

Is Technology Making Us Cowards?

Sometimes, there’s just no need to have a full-fledge conversation with friends, so you send them a text — a short message to let them know you’re thinking about them, that you’re running late, or that you want to meet up later. But text messages all too easily open up the doors for cop-outs. It’s a lot easier to break bad news to your buddy through a text than it is to actually call him or her or talk face to face.

Sadly, for as much as technology enhances conversation, it also stifles it.

Now people are using a new technology called Skydial to communicate, or not. The New York Times reports that more than 200,000 people have used the service, which lets users call someone’s voice mail directly without having to worry about the person picking up. Some are using the service to call in sick from work. Others have used it to break up with their significant other, calling it a happy medium that falls somewhere in between texting and calling. News of this new technology makes me wonder: Has it really come to the point where we can’t face the reality of having difficult conversations?

The New York Times reports:

Unlike text messaging or e-mailing, James Katz, head of the center for mobile communications studies at Rutgers University, said, telephone communiqués had been seen as requiring a sacrifice of time and energy and a higher level of commitment on the part of the communicator. Not anymore.

Missed or indirect communication can often actually be preferable, Mr. Katz said. “You pretend to be communicating, when you’re actually stifling communication,” he said.

Slydial may turn out to be just a fad. Still, Mr. Katz understands why people may be tempted to use it.

“A phone conversation is like wildfire — you don’t know where it’s going to go,” he said.

True, phone conversations can be unpredictable, but they’re also so much more revealing than texts or online chats. You can hear the other person’s laugh, the worry in their voice, the silence after you ask them a question they’d rather not answer. For as much time as I spend each day on Gmail chat and Facebook, I still cherish the phone conversations I have with friends and family.

For as often as I use Twitter and send text messages, I can only hope Skydialing won’t become a verb, like Twittering or texting. There’s just something about using technology to bypass personal interactions and avoid difficult conversations that irks me.

Just call.

Caught up in the ‘Twilight’ Zone

Twilight. Is. Here. Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in author Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series is being released tonight at midnight. I’ve never read any of the “Twilight” books, maybe because I’m not big into vampires and werewolves, though I’ve seen plenty of advertisements for them in the Borders Rewards e-mails I get.

Fans of the “Twilight” books have been holding podcasts and online discussion forums for the past few months in anticipation of Meyer’s new release. Yesterday, I got caught up in the Twilight zone, too. I interviewed two sisters from North Texas who started an online “Twilight” fan club and who are going to lead a podcast at a Borders in New York City today to talk about Breaking Dawn.

You can read my short piece here. It appeared in today’s GuideLive, which is the arts/entertainment section of The Dallas Morning News.

Sisters Kallie Mathews and Kassie Rodgers, who run a fan-club Web site for author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books, have gotten used to creating podcasts from the comfort of their local homes.

But today they’re taking their North Texas-based show on the road – more than 1,500 miles north to New York City. They’ll broadcast live from the Borders in Columbus Circle, a centerpiece in the chain’s national effort to promote tonight’s midnight release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the wildly popular series.

During the two-hour podcast, the sisters will lead discussions with fans about their predictions of what will happen to the characters in Breaking Dawn. They will be joined by three other Twilight aficionados from online fan clubs.

The sisters launched their site in January. Their podcasts average about 10,000 downloads a week, Ms. Mathews said, and their site gets 15,000 hits a day.

[READ MORE…]

Given space constraints, I couldn’t fit as much as I wanted to into the story, so I wrote a blog post highlighting a cool detail from my interview with Kassie Rodgers, one of the sisters. For as much time as Rodgers spends talking about the ‘Twilight’ books, she doesn’t like to read. I explored this tension here: (Note: I didn’t have access to the books blog, so my editor, Mike, posted the blog entry for me.)

Kassie Rodgers, who runs a fan club Web site for author Stephenie Meyers’ “Twilight” books with her sister Kallie Mathews, has spent the past seven months talking and writing about the books’ characters, plots, and themes for the site.

Today, Rodgers and her sister, both from North Texas, will lead a live podcast at the Columbus Circle Border’s in New York City to celebrate tonight’s midnight release of Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the “Twilight” series.

It’s a lot of fanfare and celebrating for someone who doesn’t like to read.

For years, Mathews tried introducing her sister to books, but Rodgers always said no thanks. The only book Rodgers read for pleasure was the Bible. When she did read other books, it was because she had to for college.

[READ MORE…]

Are you a “Twilight” fan? What do you like/not like about the books?

Young, but Not That Young!

So today while on my first assignment I was mistaken for a high school student. I know I look relatively young, but I don’t look that young. I’m 23! The woman I was talking to felt bad when I told her I was a reporter because she said she had thought I was a high schooler. Her comment didn’t bother me, but it made me wonder how old I look to other people and how that affects the way people treat me while I’m on an assignment. Being a young and “cute” female reporter can work to your advantage because it can make you seem less intimidating, but it can also make it easier for people to manipulate you by mistaking your youth for naivete.

My friends don’t think I’m naive, but they do think I’m young. This isn’t the case with my friends from home or college, but most of my Floridian friends are older than I am, so I often get teased because I’m “so young” and might not be able to relate firsthand to every reference they make. I’m a prime target for teasing because I react to the jokes and always say, “I’m not that young!” It’s always more entertaining to joke with someone when you get a reaction from them, so I can see why people joke with me about my age.

For the most part, though, the age gap is not a problem. I hold my own, and I find I actually like spending time with people who are older than I am. Maybe it has something to do with me being an only child. As a kid, I was always surrounded by adults. My parents weren’t big on babysitters, so I usually went out with them. They let me watch shows that were placed on some of my friends’ “forbidden” lists — shows like “Melrose Place” and “Married with Children.” And they let me watch movies like “Die Hard 2,” even though I was only 5 years old when that movie came out. The hardships I experienced at a young age and all that my parents let me experience helped propel me into adult life faster, and so it makes sense that I feel comfortable with older people. But “older” is a vague term. Once you graduate college, age doesn’t matter as much. Your friends aren’t divided into freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior slots. They’re just “in their 20s” or “in their 30s.”

Hanging out with “older” people in their late 20s or early 30s has led some people to believe I’m older than I actually am. The joking about my age usually starts when I tell people I’m “only” 23. Some think I’m as old 27, while others like the woman I met today think I’m younger, dare I say still in high school. Senior citizens often think I’m younger than I am, but that’s only because anyone under 55 seems “young” to them. Ten years from now, I suppose, I’ll feel more grateful for my youthful spirit and looks. Until then, I plan to keep staying young at heart.

Colorful Cubicles? Yes, Please

I have to get used to working in a cubicle again. I’ve never had an actual office, but at Poynter my work area was right near the entranceway to Poynter Online, so people often stopped and waved, or leaned over the partition near my desk to talk to me. In high school, when I interned at The MetroWest Daily News, I used to call myself the newsroom nomad. I didn’t always have a set cubicle, so I wandered around and sat at whatever cubby was available.

Now, at The Dallas Morning News, I have my own set cubicle, with my own phone, my own e-mail address, and my own desk chair. But the walls of my cubicle — they’re so bare. Their emptiness echoes the eerie reality of industry-wide buyouts and layoffs. That said, I’m going to have to find some creative decorations to keep my cubby comfy and colorful.

Tonight, I found some inspiration in a CNN article called “Cubicle Land — How to Stand Out.” Check out the different ways the cubicles are decorated. I like the “Hulking Out” one. Got any cool cubicle decorating ideas?

First Day Exploring a New City

Today I explored downtown Dallas with my dad and got to see the arts district and Deep Ellum. I thought Deep Ellum would be more lively, but it may have just seemed quieter than I expected because we were there so early in the morning. We ate at a little bakery in the West End and went to a tourist trap shop, where we tried on cowboy/cowgirl hats and stared wide-eyed at the rows and rows of cowboy/cowgirl boots. I couldn’t help but try on a hat to mark my first day in Dallas. Cowgirl hats don’t quite measure up to the Red Sox hat that’s hanging over my bed, but they are comfy and cute nonetheless.

My dad left this afternoon to head back to Boston. We had some quality father-daughter bonding time, and now that he came, he can visualize where I’m working, where I’m living and what the city of Dallas is like. He would have enjoyed the place I ate at tonight. The name of the restaurant has slipped my mind, but it was a relatively new eatery near the Hampton Hills part of Dallas. My roommate and I ordered raspberry sangria and pizza topped with grapes and goat cheese. Sounds a little strange, but it was actually really tasty.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is my first day on the features desk at The Dallas Morning News. It’s public knowledge that The Dallas Morning News just announced a round of buyouts, so I’m starting off my internship at an interesting time. But I come to the newsroom with a sense of optimism, knowing that this experience will be what I make it out to be. I’m ready and eager to tell stories in a new city and to explore the heck out of this place. I’ll keep you posted on what I find.

(Note: The dateline for this blog should be July 28, not 29. If I post after 6 p.m., my temperamental blog puts the following day’s date on the post. I won’t post this note every time this happens, but I will occasionally as a reminder.)

A Little Inn in New Orleans

Canopy bed … I want one for my own room!

I’m writing this blog post from a cute little inn in New Orleans. My dad and I arrived here around 10 p.m. Saturday night. A friend had recommended a nearby inn to me, but it was full for the night, so the owner told me to look into the Sunburst Inn. I’m glad we did. The tiny inn, which has a sunburst flag hanging next to the entrance, is nestled in a neighborhood that’s about six blocks from the French Quarter. I visited New Orleans last November, so the area is still fresh in my mind. My dad has never been to Louisiana, though, so he has loved seeing the clusters of small houses complete with balconies and hanging plants.

The Sunroof Inn sure beats a Motel 6 or some other chain hotel. I’ve always loved old houses, so this inn is just my style with all of its history, character and canopy beds. Glenn, the guy who runs the inn, said we could use his bikes in the morning to ride to the French Quarter. We’re meeting up with one of my friends in the Quarter, where I hope to introduce my dad to the gloriousness that is beignets. A trip to Cafe Du Monde, perhaps?

Next big stop after New Orleans = Dallas.