I went to the same training session as Sonya and was inspired by her recent post about Excel spreadsheets.

A few weeks ago, I moved all my sources into an Excel spreadsheet. It took a few hours to get everything in there, and yes, it takes longer to open Excel and add a new source than it does to jot it down on a post-it, but is totally worth it.

With the new system, I can easily find sources for any topic, by job title, where they work, interests etc. Much easier than scrolling through a Word document or rifling through papers on my desk.

I never thought I’d be this excited about a computer program, but it’s really great. And whenever I get business cards or get phone calls from potential sources, I add them into the database. Though I may not see use for their expertise now, I can’t predict the future. And with Excel I have all that information at my fingertips. I already have a pretty comprehensive list of sources for the city I cover, and it will only grow the longer I work there.

Another thing I’ve been using Excel to track is for stories that take a while, where I have trouble getting sources or with people I know aren’t careful to call me back. With each phone call I make, I open Excel and add the numbers called, the message left, times and dates and names, so that I’ve got a long record of the effort I make on a particular story. And because Excel is great, I can put all the stories in one document, and quickly will be able to sort by story, by source, by date, etc.

Excel is a great tool, and I suggest every journalist start working with spreadsheets!

I was re-reading Sonya’s post on interning and I realized something was missing: no one in a hiring position commented on not paying interns. I hire at least two interns each semester (sometimes up to four or five) and most of them come from the local universities. We pay for parking, they get a year-long subscription to the magazine when they’re done, they have access to whatever freebies and snacks we get, we pay mileage if we ask them to drive somewhere, and some of them even get to do paid assignments after they’re finished if they did a good job during the internship. But paying them for being in the office 15 hours a week? We simply can’t afford it. I’m not trying to jerk anyone around, but unfortunately, this is what “paying your dues” means nowadays. Is it fair? Nope. But the way the industry is going, can companies really afford to pay?

I took an unpaid internship at the magazine I currently work for after working full-time at a newspaper for a year. Yes, it was an adjustment but it was something I really wanted so I made that sacrifice. I had two other jobs to make up for the fact that I wasn’t getting paid for the work I did during the internship. In my case, the unpaid internship turned into a paid one and that turned into a part-time job. I’m not saying everyone has to go that route, but my question is this: how much do you want it?

In “Take This Internship and Shove It,” New York Times op-ed writer Anya Kamenetz posits: “What if the growth of unpaid internships is bad for the labor market and for individual careers?” In some cases, that’s probably true, but it also means that students must do more research to find internship opportunities that will benefit them most in the long run. It doesn’t make sense to work for a magazine—where you’ll only get a couple of very short clips for three of four months of work—when you really want to be a newspaper reporter. During searches and interviews, be sure to ask very detailed questions about interns duties: What’s a typical day like for an intern? To whom do interns report? Are there any non-monetary perks that come with the job ? Remember: Employers aren’t promising to provide the “ultimate intern experience.” They’re just giving students a shot at seeing how the sausage gets made, so to speak. It’s up to the student to make the most of his/her experience.

adl

p.s. Maybe this is just a magazine thing. Don’t most daily newspaper internships still pay? I did four daily news internships when I was in undergrad and all of them paid…but that was 10 years ago.

After Eight Belles broke down in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 at Churchill Downs, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) surfaced with a cruelty to animal charge against Eight Belles’s owner, trainer and jockey.

That led me to cover a PETA demonstration outside the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority (KHRA) office at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.

As I was covering the event, I had to stand neutral ground. I had to keep reminding myself of that fact, too, for the hour I was there. Since I cover the Thoroughbred industry, I am sure you can easily figure out where I stand on the issue, but that is not for me to say.

I spoke with both PETA supporters and Thoroughbred industry supporters who were holding signs. Each time I spoke with someone, I kept a straight face and tried to hold a neutral composure.

I thought I did a good job relaying how both sides felt and received several compliments on not holding a negative view. If you would like to read the article, here’s the link: http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2008/May/06/PETA-demonstration-at-KHRA-expected-to-continue-in-Baltimore.aspx

Since covering the PETA demonstration, I have received several emails from being accused of being a PETA supporter to thank you messages to everything in between.

Sometimes, you have to stand neutral ground no matter how much you support one side and disagree with the other. It is a lesson to be learn, especially when you are presented with the situation.

I’m exhausted. I’m currently working on a 3,000-word feature story and a 1,800-word department, wrangling the editorial interns, putting Web-exclusive copy on my magazine’s site, and writing/editing items for the calendar section. Ah! I’m not quite burned out, but I do need some pick-me-up tips. Anyone have any weekend rituals or stress-relieving activities they’d like to share?

(p.s. Check out this month’s Gen J column on burnout: https://www.spj.org/quill_issue.asp?ref=1342)

Hi everyone. Sorry for my short absence from the blog. I’ve been bogged down as region 11 director and in switching jobs quite often (as I fill in for ladies on maternity leave). We have at least two new bloggers to introduce: Jenny Blandford and Aeisha Little. Please know that I am looking to gather a multitude of voices on this blog — if you are interested please e-mail me at sonyanews at mac.com.

Note: This is a continuation of “Covering the Kentucky Derby red carpet…then Eight Belles”

Immediately following the Kentucky Derby, it was my job to get back to Churchill Downs’s barn area and speak with the connections of the 19 losing connections with the help of my co-worker, Mike. This year, it was different, because the filly Eight Belles had broken down and was humanely euthanized on the track.

Like I said in the previous post, I covered the same “post race aftermath” last year, and it was great. This year, not so much. Walking on the track last year, I could hear the loud roar of the crowd from the grandstands. This year, people stood in disbelief of what had happened moments earlier. A great silence hung overhead.

As Mike and I walked to the barn area, we hung our heads and kept saying, “I can’t believe this,” or “what a shame,” or “how, why did this happen,” or “this is a huge blow.” I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I mean, horses break down every single day–on and off the track, in training or on the farms. I have seen numerous horses breakdown while watching races on television or in replays but never experienced it in person, first hand.

And, with Eight Belles breaking down, it could not have happened to a nicer trainer than Larry Jones. He became one of my favorite trainers last year while training last year’s Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun, who I became a huge fan of and look forward to his career at stud.

Last year,  Jones was tickled and beaming with proudness after Hard Spun’s runner-up finish. I could only imagine what he would have said of Eight Belles had the circumstances been different. I mean, the 20 three-year-olds in the Derby are the best in their crop of 35,000 and each earned and proved they were the best by racing in the 1 1/4-mile classic.

Standing outside Barn 43, where Jones and owner Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farms was left with an empty stall was tough. I stood there in disbelief and was saddened. When Jones finally came out of his barn office, he simply shook Porter’s hand before pulling him in for a hug. Jones paced up and down the shedrow, his head hung and only the top of his white cowboy hat visible.

After being shooed off by police and security guards, I continued to talk to the other connections, but the sadness and loss of Eight Belles was felt throughout the barn area. Other trainers, including Barbaro’s trainer Michael Matz, had nothing but encouraging words and sympathy for Jones, Porter, and anyone who worked with Eight Belles.

It has taken me a few days to accept what happened with Eight Belles and the Thoroughbred  industry in the national spotlight, it’s going to take me some time to get past. But, life goes on and so will Thoroughbred racing. I will continue to attend the races, cover this sport, and move on, knowing Eight Belles will not be the last horse I see, or hear of, breaking down.

I wish I could say covering this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 was as great as last year, but I cannot.

This was my second consecutive year covering “the greatest two minutes in sports” for Thoroughbred Times, an international newsmagazine based in Lexington, Ky.

To recap my day, beginning to right after the Kentucky Derby, here goes…
I left Lexington for Louisville, about a 75 mile drive, around 7:45 a.m. Once I arrived at Churchill Downs, my co-workers and I settled into our assigned area in the Auxillary Press Room.

My assignments from my editor via email was to cover the Derby Red Carpet and two undercard graded stakes races. I already knew what my main magazine story assignment was–talking to the connections of the 19 losing three-year-olds. I had the same “post race aftermath” story last year and loved every minute of it.

Covering the Derby Red Carpet was a lot of fun. Our videographer even handed me a microphone and filmed all the interviews. So, I had two firsts in one–interviewing celebrities and being captured on film, which was later posted to our homepage. I interviewed the likes of Taylor Dayne, Joey Fatone, Brad and John Hennegan, and trainer Carl Nafzer, who conditioned 133rd Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense last year.
After covering the Red Carpet, it was back to the press center and onto covering two undercard graded stakes races.

Before I knew it, it was 35 minutes to post for the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. Like last year, I stood in the tunnel and watched as each of the contenders and their trainers passed less than ten feet in front of me on the way to the track. I whispered “good luck” to jockey Rafael Bejarano aboard Anak Nakal, I smiled at trainer Barclay Tagg as he led Tale of Ekati and he smiled back, and was amazed out how awesome Eight Belles, the only filly in the field, looked with trainer Larry Jones leading her. Little did I know at the time her life would end approximately five minutes later after running one of the most powerful races of her short career.

After hearing “My Old Kentucky Home” being played throughout Churchill, the horses
soon loaded in the gate and they were off. I watched the Derby down by the rail next to the connections of Big Brown. As the field turned for home, I saw Big Brown advancing on the turn and new at that moment he had this year’s Kentucky Derby won. The field passed in front of me once more and the long road to the Derby was over.

The connections of Big Brown began immediately celebrating and then, that’s when I saw it…the equine ambulances flying by.

I turned to my co-worker, Mike, and said, “Oh s***. Oh no…what happened?”
Obviously, from where we were, you couldn’t see anything except for Big Brown’s connections celebrating.

As the jockeys came trailing back after getting off their mounts, we talked to a few jockeys, including Robby Albarado, who informed us Eight Belles, the runner-up, had broken down and possibly broken both of her front legs. Albarado described the breakdown as “the worse breakdown he has seen in his 19-year riding career.”

For my experience covering the aftermath, including the reactions from the connections of Eight Belles, see “The hardest thing I’ve ever covered: Eight Belles”.