Today I had my first Neighborhood News class, a three-hour class. The course is taught by Bernard Stein, a well-accomplished journalist, most notably in community newspapers, a Columbia University graduate and a Pulitzer Award winner for editorial writing and it will be covering the South Bronx.
To start with, the professor gave us a Professional Reporter’s Notebook and the newspaper in which we will eventually be published, a community newspaper, The Hunts Point Express. The class also has a website, with the same purpose. So, by the looks of it, it promises to be a very serious competitive class. And I’m sure it is. I know for a fact it is, actually. While looking for stories, we are to identify ourselves as reporters working for The Hunts Point Express. And that, as reporters, “if your mother says she loves you, check it out.”
Next class we will be having a tour of the Bronx, in a nice traditional yellow School Bus. We have the address of the starting point, and yet again, as reporters, our first task is to locate the address and find out how to get there, yes, in the Bronx.
Now, you may think, why in God’s name did I register for a class that heavily covers the Bronx, a neighborhood that isn’t exactly known for its peace and safety, on the contrary. Good question. I myself am seriously petrified of the thought of going there often, interviewing people and other things as such. I guess I saw it as a challenge. I enrolled in this class only at the firm recommendations of another teacher. We will be reporting just like we would be in the actual workforce, on a regular basis, not as amateur students, so I’m thinking, even if I’m not crazy about objective news reporting and I’m certainly not crazy about the Bronx, it can’t do me too much harm (assuming I don’t get shot at or attacked). My work will be edited by a guru in journalism, I may get published and I will certainly become braver, after having gone there. I will be a connoisseur in the community of the Bronx. That can’t be too bad, can it? So, let’s hope to God no incidents will occur, and that this will be one of the most interesting most useful classes ever. I trust it will be a success.
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Can you hear me biting my nails already?!