Completion

Last night I finished editing my project. I added transitions between the articles and a better nut graph. I posted it around 1 AM. Then I went to bed.

Today I had my first day at work. It was fun but standing for long periods of time is tiring. No word yet if I got the News Director position; I’m not getting my hopes up.

Here is a link to my completed project:

http://kstateinternetjournalism.wetpaint.com/page/Beets%2C+Jason

It’s good to be done.

 

Almost Done

On Monday morning I took my US Politics final. That was a fun class.

Afterward I finished writing the second rough draft of my paper for Baltrip to review. Editing is so much quicker than writing. I then turned in my draft to her. One of my sources got back to me and told me that I had misunderstood part of her story in my first draft, which I corrected. I also improved the quality of several graphs in my project.

I then received a call telling me that I got one of the jobs I applied for. That was such a relief. I will be working in the Recreation Center in the K-State Student Union. I am really looking forward to it. That night I drove to Salina to pick up my Social Security card for the Union’s safety training and paperwork day on Tuesday. That started at 8:30 and went to 11:30. Afterward I picked up my second draft from Baltrip, went home, and went to bed.

Some friends from Quiz Bowl came over and hung out at my place Tuesday evening. On Wednesday I was interviewed for the News Director position at the radio station. The new Program Director says that she will notify me tomorrow and tell me if I got the job.  

Tonight I will be making the final changes to my project and will (hopefully) upload it to the website. My training by the Rec Center begins tomorrow.

What a Ride this Semester has Been

I wrote my first extra credit paper for History on Tuesday. On Wednesday I pre-recorded Friday’s show. I also stayed up late and finished transcribing my interview at the homeless shelter. Thursday was hectic. I went to my ethics class at 9:30. Then I went to US politics at 11:30. After that class, I wrote my second extra credit paper for history at the radio station and plugged Friday’s show on of my friend’s DJ shift. Computer Assisted Reporting took place at 2:30 and was immediately followed by our last radio class of the semester. Everyone who was graduating or leaving for the summer said their goodbyes. After radio class I went to quiz bowl practice where I worked on my take home final for History. After practice 3 of us from the team went to eat at Goodcents and ran into their closing time. I stayed up until 3 AM writing my history final. Then I went to bed. I woke up the next day and wrote a (low-quality) 2-page paper that my ethics professor let me turn in late. I also finally received the response to my FOIA request. Then I went to history and we covered everything that occurred in Iranian History from the mid-1980s until now. I then went to the radio station, filled in for someone else’s DJ shift who didn’t show up, and gave away tickets. Then I went home, ate, and went to bed around 5 PM.

It was an incredible relief to have almost all of my stuff done for the semester. Even though I finished so many assignments at the last second, it wasn’t because I blew it off. I had assignments due constantly and have been stressed and busy since the week before Spring Break until now.

On Saturday I woke up at 5 AM and did the dishes, made breakfast, which dirtied the dishes, and cleaned my car for the first time in months. Today I am working on writing a second rough draft for Baltrip to review tomorrow.

Another Homework-Filled Week

I am currently in the middle of transcribing my interview with the coordinator at the homeless shelter. Transcribing is tedious.

I also have two extra credit assignments and a take home final to complete for my history class by Friday. Oh joy.

I didn’t get the Program Director job, but it went to someone who will do well with the position. Over the weekend I cleaned, did laundry, and wrote my final show for the semester. Today I also wrote a cover letter to apply for any position at the university radio station that will be available over the summer.

I have almost made it to the end of this semester where I overbooked myself. I am almost there, and when I get there, I can relax.  

Two and a Half Weeks Left

I will be interviewing workers (and hopefully clients) at the homeless shelter tomorrow. Thankfully I just had to tweak my questions for the food bank only slightly. I will pick up the Morantz recorder from the radio station after I write this post.

I got my rough draft back from my teacher and she says that I should probably drop one of my sections because it is too technical. That means that it will be appearing at Truth Matters instead.

In other news I will be interviewed for the position of Program Director for the radio station on Thursday. I have also finished skimming the book I have to write a report on by Friday for my history class.

My metaphorical progress bar is filling up quite nicely.

Breakthrough

I have been doing a lot of work on my project lately.

I stayed up late Monday and Wednesday night transcribing my interviews with the Breadbasket and Kay Ann Taylor respectively. On Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday I wrote the rough draft of my project, which I just finished. On Friday I arranged to interview workers at the Homeless Shelter and they said they would try to arrange a way for me to interview their clients. I still have to write the questions for those interviews and email questions to some of the experts who wrote some of the studies I will be citing.

I am not as far along as I would like to be, but for the first time my project seems doable and I can imagine it being completed on time.

My sleep schedule last week was horrible. I spent last weekend covering a libertarian political conference for the university radio station. That pushed my work on the project for Computer Assisted Reporting to the school-week and my sleep to not happening. I probably did not have the time to cover the conference, but I got some great interviews. So I say it was worth it.

By Friday I need to read and write a report on a book for my history class. I will be quite busy until the end of the semester.

Slow and Steady Progress

For my project I have interviewed Professor Kay Ann Taylor and two employees at the Flinthills Breadbasket. Next I will email experts at the Pew Center for Social Mobility and the Heritage Foundation about the causes and consequences of poverty. After that, I plan to interview employees and the homeless at the homeless shelter. I am not as far along on my final project as I would like, but I am making steady and valuable progress toward completion.

Meanwhile I am also taking History of Iran, a homework intensive history class. In Ethics of Mass Communication, we have to write a two page paper every other week and do a group presentation for the class, which I did 2 weeks ago. It’s a great class, but there is a lot of work for it. I also host a weekly news and public affairs program, Public Occurrences, for my university’s radio station. I am also searching for a summer job. Needless to say, I have been quite busy the past few weeks.

Roadblock

My name is Jason Beets and I am a student in Computer Assisted Reporting. The class is taught by Kimetris Baltrip at Kansas State University. The class is dominated by one giant project that will determine your grade. That project is an extensive article on a single topic with quotes from experts and others. I have chosen to do my article on the causes and consequences of poverty.

So far I have analyzed data and publications on the topic. I have looked extensively at a Census report. 2011 is the most recent year for which the report has been published. I used the data in the report to compare the poverty rates of various racial groups in the US as well as to compare the racial makeup of those in poverty to the population as a whole. Some of those data points are calculated from the others provided in the report and elsewhere on the Census website. I also used the report to obtain data on the interaction between health insurance and poverty.

I have also looked at two studies from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project. The first studies economic mobility in the US. It found that all income groups saw growth in Absolute Mobility, the amount of inflation-adjusted income growth over time. However there is considerably less Relative Mobility, the ability of an individual to rise from the economic group they were born into (defined by income quintiles). 70 percent of individuals born into the lowest quintile (the lowest 20 percent of income earners) stayed in the lowest two quintiles. There is likely less relative economic mobility in the US than most Americans believe, but I actually expected that it would be lower.

The other study from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project compared relative economic mobility in the US to several western European countries and found that the US had the lowest relative economic mobility of all the countries studied.

I have the questions written that I want to ask experts on the topic. I will use their responses in my article. However, finding these experts has proven harder than I expected. I have found 1 Kansas State University researcher who focuses on poverty. I also plan to try to contact Pew’s Economic Mobility Project, but I’m not expecting a response.

I have not yet written the questions I want to ask the economically disadvantaged individuals who will make up the center of my article. And I have no idea what I am going to do my FOIA on.

That means that I will be setting up a meeting with Professor Baltrip for tomorrow. Hopefully that will get me past my roadblock.