Don't Talk About It

Alright, do I have a posting for you!

I guess I will begin my posting with my morning in Brentwood; then I'll complete it by discussing my interview with Leah Hallman of Campus Pro-Life. Yay!

Last night was a tricky night for me, as I had just decided on what story I should work on for my COMM3707 class, and I wasn't sure whether it was to be a good topic or not. Alas, after much contemplation and roaming around the house looking for ideas, I decided to focus on the new proposed Transit Oriented Development in Brentwood. It is a topic that many journalists in Calgary have already discussed, so I was hesitant at first, but I found my angle: how the new development project is going to affect the small businesses in the area. This is perfect, considering my beat is Business!!! :)

After a few hours of research on the topic (even though Ron has said that research accomplishes nothing, haha), I began to formulate my questions. I was having trouble formulating, as I did not really know what I wanted to know except for "how will this new project affect your small business?", but from that question I began to formulate following questions, and before I knew it, it was 1am in the morning (should that be written 1 in the morning, or 1am-in the morning??) and I had a full page of questions!

Flashfoward to when I was up before first light this morning, and I was on my way to Brentwood to ask my newly formed questions to the beautiful business owners in the area. I first decided to go to the Liquor Depot where I was told to contact a man at headquarters. That was a bust. No worry, I told myself, I will just go over to A Buck or Two and ask my questions there... alas, no luck, again: I was asked to contact the owner of the store another day to initiate a sit-down interview at a better time (it was Christmas inventory today), so I will follow this lead at another date. My next stop was the Fish&Chips resturant owned by a Chinese man who a) didn't speak english, and b) didn't want to speak. Case closed... Next stop, Ginger Beef Peking House whose owner was not around. From there, Pro-Grace Dentistry who made clear that she would not speak to any media regarding the development project. Another case closed. I didn't loose hope though. I walked over to Pizza Hut where I began a lovely conversation with a source who knew more about the development project than she lead me to believe. After a lengthy conversation, I took her name, and NOW HAVE A SOURCE! Moreover, Jameson's is willing to speak with me about the development, so I have ANOTHER SOURCE!!

I think that my determination to find a source was what kept me going. I could have easily walked away from Brentwood expecting everyone to tell me nothing, but my persistence lead to future interviews, and one named source! It feels so good to actually know that I am on the right track.

Directly after my Brentwood excursion, I had to go meet with Leah Hallman for Campus Pro-Life. On my way over to the University campus, I could start feeling nervous; I had my questions all prepared, but I was worried about the conversation: would my questions be good? Will her answers be short or long? Will I know how to pad our conversation so it doesn't seem cold and script-like? Before I could even start worrying about these questions though, I found myself speaking with Leah in a quiet room... this was it! It was at that moment that I just seemed to relax and tell myself that whatever happened, just happened. If I made a stupid comment, then so be it! If I made moments awkward, then I would learn from them!

In all, I felt my interview was quite good! I was even able to fill the pauses with other questions that I never intended to ask, and it went fine. I felt so good afterwards that, again, I accomplished something, and that I was on the right track....

...Now I just have to sift through the 1hour and 15minute recording to find a quote I enjoyed...