Sturm und Drang

Is German for "storm and stress." According to -ISMS and -OLOGIES, (a book that found its way to my desk) "The phrase comes from the title of the 1776 play Der Wirrwarr, oder Strum and Drang (Confusion, or Storm and Stress")"

While this week has been very busy, it started quite amusingly. Sunday night, Megan had the brilliant idea of going back to the Banana Bar for a karaoke night.

I was painfully close to singing a country tune, but I got away with singing two songs with all the girls. I have a new respect for the Backstreet Boys.


"No matter the distance- I want you to know that deep down inside of meeeeeee.."

Thanks again megan. Just to recap: Megan loves karaoke. Caitlin, Emily, Jackie and I sang to a whopping crowd of .. 9 people. Four of which made a career singing at the Banana Bar, so (DJ, Mark, Lopez and Hedge) count as fellow entertainers.

So it was a great start to the week.

The past few days have been busy as usual. I wrote a story about Tim Geithner, the newly sworn in treasury secretary. It was an easy story considering we all knew Senate would vote to confirm him-- even though his history with taxes was less than legitimate.

I also wrote about Senate's debate on the reauthorization of SCHIP. States Children Health Insurance Program has been covering low-income uninsured kids for about 10 years now.. I'm staying current on the debate.. They still haven't voted on anything solid.. there only amendments to amendments so far (12:40 pm et).. Its notable to say that all of the amendments that were proposed to Senate Tuesday(2), Wednesday (6) and today (4 so far) were from republican senators. They were all rejected. I wonder why?

That also brings me to another topic: the stimulus bill. While I am still unsure of the impact it will have directly on me, I'm bothered that not one republican House member voted aye. The fact that it passed without bi-partisanship type agreements has really got me to thinking about the breadth of democratic power.

There is a common theme to this blog.. I admit. I am pulling for the little guy. I feel bad for the minority.

currently, I am working on sending similar but different copies of the SCHIP story to papers in Texas. The abilene reporter newspaper misprinted my byline (which makes the story useless to me in print) . I've got a few good contacts for this "version" that I could not include in the last story because of time. So.. should be a good day.. :)

Emily just informed me about a Mr. Larry Kilgore from Texas. I'm not always proud of those Texans - and this is one of those times. Apparently, he ran for governor of Texas in 2006 against Rick Perry. Kilgore believes in secession from the U.S. and believes "that Texas needs to become a free nation where those counties whose citizens value biblical law must be free to govern themselves according to it; those whose citizens reject biblical law must be free to create their own forms of legislation..." He got 18 percent of the vote too!

Oh Mr. Kilgore.

Since Emily did it..

Happy Friday slash Pizza Day!

Our current assignment from the Wire is to call up celebrities and ask for thier pick for the Super Bowl (Pittsburgh Steelers or Arizona Cardinals).

So I called Steven Tyler's publicist today.. rather the company that Mr. Dan Weiner works for. Then, I was directed to his assistant, Jessica. Maybe--just maybe-- I will get through to Jessica's people for an interview about who they think Jessica thinks Dan will pick.. which is nearly what Steven Tyler would think.

I also called John Ratzenberger's people. I loved him in Toy Story. His bushy little eyebrows are so special. Hes cute little old man without even trying.


Each of the interns was assigned three celebrities to call up.. among them are: Usher, Donald Trump, Sara Evans, Beyonce and Ringo Starr!

We are lucky little interns.. :)

I think I will be going to the Hill next week to cover a briefing on Medicaid. Usually I don't know about most of the events in the Daybook but Medicaid jumped out at me. I thought, "Gee, those are the folks who bought me medicine forever ago."

Oh I am soooo happy its friday.. and 5:29 is even better.

(I found it extremely hard to concentrate on work today.. there is a really cute guy looking at me right now. I would (for work's sake) but I don't think I'll be moving this little picture from my computer.)

the big day..

Yesterday is what I call 'a success.'

We woke up at the office at the crack of dawn. Usually, I am a morning person and immediately perk up within a few minutes regardless of the nights sleep. Yesterday was different though, after a very cold and uncomfortable night, I was fixing to tell Barack to wait until after breakfast.

We left the office at 8 a.m. sharp (one hour later than we expected to leave) and joined the masses of people. I was with Megan and Emily, a.k.a. super navigators.

We weaved in and out of lines trying to get passed barricades flashing our congressional press passes. It was a lot like a movie I have to say. I felt untouchable -- that is until we joined something resembling a line but it was more like a two lines joined at the front with us squished in the middle.

I met Myrtle Bell, an older woman from Austin, Texas. She said she was lucky to be born black, and even luckier to be born a democrat.

We stood in line for about an hour and a half until finally reaching the check points and getting through them shortly before the speeches started. We had blue tickets so we were still on Capitol grounds but very, very far away. The energy was magnetic though, the masses of people had smiles on their faces and were welcoming to the three of us. The photo is not of Megan, Emily and I, just some friends that were warmly embrasing eachother. It was all very emotional.

I have one complaint.. Now, Im definitely not in the George Bush Fanclub, but I could have done without the booing when he was announced.

Really the whole time I was in awe of what was happening in front of me. People young, old, black and white were joined together in this very peacful moment.. like we all could have joined hands at that moment. all 2 million of us.. to sing kumbaya.

So I wasn't completely graceful.. When President Obama was given the gun salut, Emily and I (who were not expectiong the loud noises) kind of freaked out. Megan was completely calm while emily gripped my arm and looked around.. frantically? Sorry Emily but you did look pretty freaked out.. Everything went off without a hitch.. or so we thought.. ! Apparently, there was some sort of mix up and Obama started reading his speech early.

After we made our way out toward the north side of the Capitol, we found ourselves with piles and piles of vendors selling insane Obama souvenirs. I never thought I, Alex Hering, would see an Obama hand puppet with my own eyes. Also, there were festive calenders, snowglobes, t-shirts, energy 'stix', pins, hats, scarves, Obama bedazzled beanies and so much more.

I have a photo of the O-BAH-MAH energy 'stix' at work.. will attatch it later.

I came back to the office, bought some gumbo and left again on another assignment. Congressman Ortiz from Corpus Christi was having a party at the Capitol and I was in charge of getting photos and video for the Corpus Christi Caller Times.


With in two hours of returning from the Capitol, I managed to write a story for the University Star about the 10 College Democrats (txstate) who made thier way to D.C. for the inaugural. This is the front page of the University Star. The text is very small but you can read it on the wire .. its only slightly amended.

(sign up to get all of our stories here, its free.)

All in all, it was an amazing day.. everyone, even the folks that didnt make it into viewing areas said they were happy to be in the "presence of history being made."

This blog was a day late but I'm glad I could document it.. I wouldnt want to forget any bit of it.

ps: Today Fox texted me that she was proud of me. Be jealous. :)

I just spent the day out in the cold, talking to folks and writing.. like crazy.

The photo is Yodahe Kidanu from Springfield, VA. He was saying, "He got a dream, Daddy," as they watched Obama talking on a Jumbotron TV screen.

I met a man, Sunil Paul, who booked his hotel in October for the inauguration.. He was so sure it was going to happen. He said if Obama didn't win, he would have sold the room to a McCain supporter. Sunil had his son and daughter with him, taking turns on his shoulders. Devin and Isabella were fraternal twins.. Devin had beautiful hazel eyes.

I took a video interview of a man from Florida who decided to come into town only seven days ago. He said "its not an inauguration its a celebration."

I had fun.. just like I thought I would.. once I get into "the thick of it" I really start to enjoy it and forget how cold it is.. but it was COLD. I had no idea that my feet would start hurting, stinging from the cold.

watch the celebration .. it was about an hour and a half long..

I miss Texas weather. Yesterday it was 18 degrees outside.. that should be illegal.

Its nearly nine (THAT should be illegal) so I'm leaving the office now.

-###-

Its all calm before the storm..

Happy Friday!

The interns and I are contemplating taking our tired little bodies out for drinks or some other non-work related activity after work.. I don't think I'll join, however the sheer excitement of not having to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow makes my little heart jump..

Today I finished writing my first story.. It took me a record (drum rolllllll) 3 days to write. I know.. thats awful for an aspiring newspaper journalist. Keep in mind the first day I spent "researching" the topic and not making many phone calls at all..

Leon Swain at the D.C. Taxicab commission is the hardest person to get a hold of.. I called Mrs. McKinney, a very rude receptionist, continuously for three days (the one phone call I did make on day one) only to hear that Mr. Swain was "in a meetin' right now, can ya call back in a hour?" What kind of meeting takes three days? I'll tell you what kind.. the kind that The Post has access to.

Needless to say, The Post got the interview and the story and my messages have gone unanswered. Well done Post reporter.

I got my photo taken for the website as well today.. I hope I don't look nearly as tired as I feel.

Please register with www.shfwire.com to read all the stuff I make up.

Today was incredibly slow.. hence the title of this blog. This weekend we are supposed to play with all the gadgets Jody bought for the interns. Next week brings a host of issues that apparently we are supposed to just figure out when we get there.

Our duties on the day of the inauguration include taking video interviews, photos, writing stories and twittering the event for Ventura County. ? We also get to ask celebrities who they think will win the superbowl for a poll.

Ive come to one conclusion: When working for a wire service, you have not one.. but many, many bosses.

"Barack Obama"

Taken from an e-mail written at the end of my second day:

"We spent most of the day at Capitol Hill, getting our press credentials for meetings and hearings. We took a very long time to get slightly, and I mean very slightly, familiar with the building. While we were touring we heard that Obama would be in the building eating lunch with dem caucuses. John Kerry arrived before he did and once the crowd of reporters and photags dissipated, we walked into a hallway and found ourselves with Hillary Clinton and her people. I was within arms length.. Not bad for a second day..

We also took a quick tour of all the press work areas and galleries. It was bustling and exciting.. I was more than impressed.

Tomorrow I think I would like to hear oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Apparently they are discussing one particular case in which a man robbed a bank with a fire arm then took a plea agreement to lower his sentence. So a few years later he had a tumor removed from his brain. In an appeal argument he said the tumor affected his judgment. Later he said he helped a friend defraud the US postal service then the court decided they would remove his eligibility for the plea agreement, meaning he would have to keep the higher sentence. He didn't appeal that decision until some time later. That is the extent of what I know about it now.. We'll see tomorrow.. All I know is that they are discussing whether or not to make a rule to recognize late appeals like those or not, considering it was made so much longer. The outcome could affect a number of people..

:/ I feel like I'm drinking from a fire hose.. just a bit overwhelmed. Later, we are deciding what credentials we will take for the day of the inauguration and the day before.. We have a limited number of press passes so I have to give a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. I think I will say I would like to be at the swearing in segment of the celebration, then on the parade route somewhere, and possibly an inaugural ball? Im not too sure about the last bit.. I will have to come back, get dressed into formal clothes and brave the cold air.. I might just say the "mall".. Its a pretty large area that I expect will be filled with people with interesting stories. They are expecting some three million people next week-- not including the ten thousand media staff..

I just found out I didnt get the Boston Globe internship.."

(photo by Emily Stephenson)

D.C. in all its glory

This is taken from an email I wrote my first day in D.C.:

"Im still at work.. we are composing our BIO's that will supplement every story that we (Caitlin, Megan, Emily, Heather and Diana) write. We spent the day talking about security at the building itself and policies and procedures when reporting on places like Capitol Hill and house and senate meetings...

Overall it went well, we met with Peter Copeland, the Scripps Howard Wire Service Washington Bureau Chief. Very cool guy, with a lot to say. He attributed the fall of papers to Craigslist. Our office is located on the 10th floor of a big high rise building with glass paneled windows all the way to the top. :) I can see the Washington Post from the windows (which are very large)...


I will pretty much report on whatever I am asked to and whatever else I come up with. Our office is two stops [south] of our apt and our apt is less than a block from a Metro stop.. about a 15 minute commute. There are two other interns working here for reporters. I should explain that Scripps Howard Foundation Wire is the "charitable arm" of the E. W. Scripps Company or Scripps Media Center. (It took a good hour and half for them to explain all the intricacies of the name changes)

Anyway this company has been around for a long time, and the Scripps and Howard families still have the controlling shares of the stock.. :) This company also controls HGTV, foodnetwork and a few other big network stations. It also owns quite a few local TV stations and other newspapers.

I'm really excited for the inaugural weekend because all of scripps tv stations and paper correspondents will be having a sleep over at our office and I might just join in to avoid having to walk 50 minutes to work the day of.. :/ But that should be very cool.."

I included a link to foodnetwork, because I love it.