It’s only our first story and I am already feeling really overwhelmed. I chose to report on the people and activities involved at this year’s Uplift climate justice conference. I wanted to go anyway and reporting on it made it feel even more justified for me to go.
I started off by recording all the panel speakers, because I knew that would be valuable somewhere later on. I was also trying to figure out whom I could interview (besides Eva Malis, the Uplift Coordinator, whom I already had interviewed for general information). Almost the whole weekend had gone by without me interviewing anyone because I wanted a really specific perspective: an indigenous youth leader, and was struggling to find someone who fit that description. I was under the impression that the majority of attendees would be of this demographic. On the last day, Mikayla Johnson, a 14-year-old activist was co-facilitating a workshop I was attending. I asked her if I could interview her and she agreed.
Even after I transcribed all the interviews and panel speakers, which took up about 7 pages and many hours, I really struggled with what angle to take. I didn’t have one until I started writing the piece. I wanted to include all the nuance in politics also, but felt that it wouldn’t be very accessible to the general Northern Arizona audience.
Writings on Journalism 