Ok, there we go, this is my last day in Morgantown. Can't believe it. A year went by fast. I came here August 2006 and now it's already May 2007. Ok, I am supposed to have some sort of feelings whenever I spend my last day in a place but I don't really have any significant feeling for this place. It has been a good year though, working at The Daily Athenaeum and writing stories much faster.
I remember my last day in Burlington, wondering what would happen in West Virginia. So there it goes, another chapter is opening up. It's scary to not knowing what would happen, but it might be exciting at the same time.
Though, every day I am thinking about home. I left home on August 17, 2003. Wow, can't believe how I did it. 4 years not seeing parents, sisters, friends, the streets of Hanoi...and everything else that was so familiar. Every day I'm thinking about seeing my parents at Noi Bai International Airport, and escorting them to France. The day I see my sister getting married will probably one of the most memorable days of my life.
Who knows what will happen? Let's wait.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
When politics matters...
http://www.da.wvu.edu/new/show_article.php?&story_id=27518&archive_date=04-13-2007
After following WVU presidential search for nearly two months as a staff writer for The Daily Athenaeum, a sense of big disappointment filled me at the press conference today as Mike Garrison was announced the 22nd president of West Virginia University.
As an exchange student, the decision has no effect on me whatsoever. As a reporter, though, I care. Dr. Nellis (Garrison is probably the only college president without a Ph.D.) was a fine, fine, exceptional scholar, who took the time to meet us in the newsroom.
I wonder how he felt at this point. From the beginning, the entire process was already planned. Garrison stepped down from his post as chairman of the Higher Education Policy Commission even before his name was released as one of the three finalists. He was contacted by the search consultant. His family connection with Goodwin undoubtedly has given him strong favorable.
Gwen Berger, associate professor of English, said during Wednesday emergency meeting that WVU would look "insular and provincial" if Garrison is chosen. With a leader who has no international experiences teaching or studying abroad (except he left Oxford early), indeed, WVU will become a provincial university. It's hard to see the new president maybe establishing an international campus for WVU.
This state is already poor and isolated. The University is the only reason why many of us, foreigners, come here, to Morgantown.
I'm leaving this town on May 10. But good luck to all the students who will be here next year, who will be lead by a very non-qualified president.
After following WVU presidential search for nearly two months as a staff writer for The Daily Athenaeum, a sense of big disappointment filled me at the press conference today as Mike Garrison was announced the 22nd president of West Virginia University.
As an exchange student, the decision has no effect on me whatsoever. As a reporter, though, I care. Dr. Nellis (Garrison is probably the only college president without a Ph.D.) was a fine, fine, exceptional scholar, who took the time to meet us in the newsroom.
I wonder how he felt at this point. From the beginning, the entire process was already planned. Garrison stepped down from his post as chairman of the Higher Education Policy Commission even before his name was released as one of the three finalists. He was contacted by the search consultant. His family connection with Goodwin undoubtedly has given him strong favorable.
Gwen Berger, associate professor of English, said during Wednesday emergency meeting that WVU would look "insular and provincial" if Garrison is chosen. With a leader who has no international experiences teaching or studying abroad (except he left Oxford early), indeed, WVU will become a provincial university. It's hard to see the new president maybe establishing an international campus for WVU.
This state is already poor and isolated. The University is the only reason why many of us, foreigners, come here, to Morgantown.
I'm leaving this town on May 10. But good luck to all the students who will be here next year, who will be lead by a very non-qualified president.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Pictures
First picture: The Reynolds Institution of Art in Washington, D.C. This was at the Wednesday's reception when I had to interview the USA today editor and I was very nervous. The story turned out well. Read it at www.asne.org
Second picture: The Friday before leaving. With two fellow ASNE reporters, Vannah Shaw from University of Missouri and Marvin Anderson, from Hampton University
Third picture: Looking professional in the ASNE newsroom
Forth picture: My desk at The Daily Athenaeum
Second picture: The Friday before leaving. With two fellow ASNE reporters, Vannah Shaw from University of Missouri and Marvin Anderson, from Hampton University
Third picture: Looking professional in the ASNE newsroom
Forth picture: My desk at The Daily Athenaeum
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Lessons learned from the Wasington, D.C. conference
I'm back in Morgantown after one intensive week of the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference. Tired, exhausted, but I have a greater sense for my career, what it means to report, write stories, and what it means to have positive thoughts.
First of all, the students who are in this conference are smart, creative, active and so positive. They are not afraid to talk to strangers; they don't complain when their sources don't call them back; they don't feel nervous talking to high-profile people. One student particularly stood out for me was Tiffany Hsu, not just because of the fact that her resume is amazing, but of the way she acts, behaves, talks and thinks: very very positive.
I learn that editors, or high-profile people, they are not interested in knowing your excuse or while you are late, or nervous, or not supposed to do what you have to do. You just go ahead and start the action rather than babbling over the phone and complain.
I learn to think much better about myself. And that everyone can contribue something, everyone could bring something to the table.
I learn that it's important to dress, act and talk professional.
I learn that every word and quote in the story has to be there for a reason. And that we can't write a perfect story but we can make a story as perfect as possible.
I learn that journalism is a very small business and a very rewarding one. Kenneth Paulson, editor of USA Today and usatoday.com, said he got into journalism because he thought there was something very heroic about what journalists do.
I love how Susan Goldberg, executive editor of The San Jose Mercury News, said about her being an editor can influence other people's works.
Favorite moments: talk to the editor of The Sun-Herald, the vice president of Gannett, and just really being in the same room with the best people in journalism.
It was also the first time I saw Anna Hull, the Washington Post reporter who broke the Walter Reed story, and Bob Woodruff, the ABC journalists who was wounded in Iraq.
I love the free food, hotel, the bar in D.C., walking near the White House during a breezy night, and just be surrounded by people who love this as much as I do...
There were some down moments, but that saves for a later post...
Huong
First of all, the students who are in this conference are smart, creative, active and so positive. They are not afraid to talk to strangers; they don't complain when their sources don't call them back; they don't feel nervous talking to high-profile people. One student particularly stood out for me was Tiffany Hsu, not just because of the fact that her resume is amazing, but of the way she acts, behaves, talks and thinks: very very positive.
I learn that editors, or high-profile people, they are not interested in knowing your excuse or while you are late, or nervous, or not supposed to do what you have to do. You just go ahead and start the action rather than babbling over the phone and complain.
I learn to think much better about myself. And that everyone can contribue something, everyone could bring something to the table.
I learn that it's important to dress, act and talk professional.
I learn that every word and quote in the story has to be there for a reason. And that we can't write a perfect story but we can make a story as perfect as possible.
I learn that journalism is a very small business and a very rewarding one. Kenneth Paulson, editor of USA Today and usatoday.com, said he got into journalism because he thought there was something very heroic about what journalists do.
I love how Susan Goldberg, executive editor of The San Jose Mercury News, said about her being an editor can influence other people's works.
Favorite moments: talk to the editor of The Sun-Herald, the vice president of Gannett, and just really being in the same room with the best people in journalism.
It was also the first time I saw Anna Hull, the Washington Post reporter who broke the Walter Reed story, and Bob Woodruff, the ABC journalists who was wounded in Iraq.
I love the free food, hotel, the bar in D.C., walking near the White House during a breezy night, and just be surrounded by people who love this as much as I do...
There were some down moments, but that saves for a later post...
Huong
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Why I want to be a print journalist
The essay that win me a spot to the American Society of Newspaper Editors conference...
Recently, a student colleague at The Daily Athenaeum interviewed me for an advanced reporting class. I guess my story – a Vietnamese student studying journalism at West Virginia University – sounds like an interesting feature to her.
She asked me basic questions: why I come to Morgantown, is it difficult to work as a copy editor, do I have American friends and so on. The assignment requires her to observe me for days.
Being a reporter myself, I tried to give her good quotes. After we talked for about an hour, she decided that was enough to write her assignment.
I realize she missed the real story: What motivated a Vietnamese student to study journalism in America? Why did I expend all of my efforts to learn copy editing, reporting and writing?
In his book, “Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction,” Jon Franklin wrote that most newspaper stories are “endings without beginnings attached” and that “they are not, in and of themselves, stories. They are, instead, tip-offs…clues to stories.”
I give much credit to print journalists. Not having the visibility power of a broadcast journalist, newspaper writers have to work a lot harder to keep readers’ attention. It’s difficult to convey emotions solely through words.
And yet, writers like Jon Franklin knew how to do it.
His masterpiece, “The Ballad of Old Man Peters,” is more than a story of a man who masters six languages. “It’s a powerful saga of human aspirations, of man against both himself and the world,” Franklin wrote.
Like Franklin, I want to be able to recognize stories in life and write them in a way that readers will remember, even after they put the newspaper down.
When I first came to the United States six years ago, the power of the American media – its role as an advocate for the community – sparked a passion for a journalism career. The current lowered public respect for the U.S. media cannot lessen all the sacrifices American journalists have taken to inform and protect people’s rights.
Working for a foreign media organization is the only way I can report on issues that are pertain to developing nations: corruption, poverty, AIDS, lack of education.
That has been my goal ever since.
Someday, I wish Vietnam would embrace press freedom, and understand that citizens have and need the right to express themselves.
After three years studying and practicing journalism, I realize news don’t always have to be bad. As journalists, we have the obligation to spread compassion, not skepticism. Stories about normal folks can also have a positive effect on a neighborhood, and make people realize that there are hopes – amid fires or disasters.
Why choose journalism?
There’s pride in seeing your byline every day, I admit. But there’s also pride in knowing that you can help somebody simply by writing. After reporting on Lund Family Center, a social service agency in Burlington, Vt., I received a thank-you card from a mother.
I love talking to people, listening to their lives and knowing how they overcome obstacles. I love deadline pressure, coming to work not knowing what will happen that day.
Because of the Internet, newspapers are struggling to keep circulation. But I believe no technology can replace the craft of reporting and writing. Readers will listen as long as we know how to tell stories.
While attending the Associated Press Diverse Voices workshop for student journalists in Cleveland, I found myself struggling to find the meaning of this profession.
My mentor, a photojournalist from AP Indianapolis, said to me and another student: “Journalism is not about winning prizes, it’s about recording people’s lives.”
Recently, a student colleague at The Daily Athenaeum interviewed me for an advanced reporting class. I guess my story – a Vietnamese student studying journalism at West Virginia University – sounds like an interesting feature to her.
She asked me basic questions: why I come to Morgantown, is it difficult to work as a copy editor, do I have American friends and so on. The assignment requires her to observe me for days.
Being a reporter myself, I tried to give her good quotes. After we talked for about an hour, she decided that was enough to write her assignment.
I realize she missed the real story: What motivated a Vietnamese student to study journalism in America? Why did I expend all of my efforts to learn copy editing, reporting and writing?
In his book, “Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction,” Jon Franklin wrote that most newspaper stories are “endings without beginnings attached” and that “they are not, in and of themselves, stories. They are, instead, tip-offs…clues to stories.”
I give much credit to print journalists. Not having the visibility power of a broadcast journalist, newspaper writers have to work a lot harder to keep readers’ attention. It’s difficult to convey emotions solely through words.
And yet, writers like Jon Franklin knew how to do it.
His masterpiece, “The Ballad of Old Man Peters,” is more than a story of a man who masters six languages. “It’s a powerful saga of human aspirations, of man against both himself and the world,” Franklin wrote.
Like Franklin, I want to be able to recognize stories in life and write them in a way that readers will remember, even after they put the newspaper down.
When I first came to the United States six years ago, the power of the American media – its role as an advocate for the community – sparked a passion for a journalism career. The current lowered public respect for the U.S. media cannot lessen all the sacrifices American journalists have taken to inform and protect people’s rights.
Working for a foreign media organization is the only way I can report on issues that are pertain to developing nations: corruption, poverty, AIDS, lack of education.
That has been my goal ever since.
Someday, I wish Vietnam would embrace press freedom, and understand that citizens have and need the right to express themselves.
After three years studying and practicing journalism, I realize news don’t always have to be bad. As journalists, we have the obligation to spread compassion, not skepticism. Stories about normal folks can also have a positive effect on a neighborhood, and make people realize that there are hopes – amid fires or disasters.
Why choose journalism?
There’s pride in seeing your byline every day, I admit. But there’s also pride in knowing that you can help somebody simply by writing. After reporting on Lund Family Center, a social service agency in Burlington, Vt., I received a thank-you card from a mother.
I love talking to people, listening to their lives and knowing how they overcome obstacles. I love deadline pressure, coming to work not knowing what will happen that day.
Because of the Internet, newspapers are struggling to keep circulation. But I believe no technology can replace the craft of reporting and writing. Readers will listen as long as we know how to tell stories.
While attending the Associated Press Diverse Voices workshop for student journalists in Cleveland, I found myself struggling to find the meaning of this profession.
My mentor, a photojournalist from AP Indianapolis, said to me and another student: “Journalism is not about winning prizes, it’s about recording people’s lives.”
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Ingredients for a perfect day
Favorite memories
Plenty of smiles
Some time for yourself
Happiness
Fresh air
Laughter
Good food
great friends
... and may I add: front-page stories?
Plenty of smiles
Some time for yourself
Happiness
Fresh air
Laughter
Good food
great friends
... and may I add: front-page stories?
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Listening to the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner in feature writing
I knew it was going to be emotional. And in fact, it was very emotional to hear Jim Sheeler, the reporter from the Rocky Moutain News and the 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner in feature writing, spoke at West Virginia University tonight.
And I have to write this down right away because I'm afraid these emotions will go away.
He cried almost during the entire talk, which lasts about 1 hour and a half. He literally choked up in front of the microphone. I could feel it. I could feel he didn't prepare to lecture us nor to give a power point presentation.
He looked a little different from the picture, but so frazzled. You feel like because he has so many emotions inside; it's like he's gonna collapse someday. And this sounds stupid, but I really feel like I want to hug him so bad.
So, I managed to ask two questions. But what I learn from his talk? I learn that besides having a talent to do this kind of stories, you need a heart. An obnoxious reporter who competes for fame and headline, and front page stories will never be able to come up with such a masterpiece. He didn't write it for the Pulitzer Prize.
I read that story, the Final Salute, so many times. When I wrote the piano student story, I pulled Jim Sheeler's story on the side of my computer, so that I could use the verbs, the words, and could put that much emotions into my story as well.
I used to want to become a business reporter. Just because covering finance, banking sounds important and cool. After last summer, and ever since, I change my direction to be a feature writer. It takes personality and characters to do this kind of story. Maybe I have these characters, quite, shy, frazzled, emotional.
I was gonna ask him for an autograph. But I decided not to. He would probably think I'm one of those people who come hear him talk because of the Pulitzer Prize. I don't feel that he needs to hear how I love his work.
He knew his work has already been loved...
Morgantown, W. Va.,
11: 17 p.m.
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