The year began with unbridled optimism – although it was in large part tempered as the spring, summer and winter wore on – with hope of change and the new presidency of Barack Obama. Forget the partisanship and bitterness that has occurred in policy as the months have passed, as in January there were more than one million people out on Central Mall in our Nation’s Capital to usher in the beginning of the Obama administration. And I can say I was one of them.Together with eight incredible friends who I worked with on Obama’s campaign last year and a reporter from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who tagged along, we road-tripped to Washington D.C. overnight through a snowy and tumultuous journey to witness the inauguration.
It didn’t hurt there was the free “We are One” concert that Sunday featuring The Boss, U2, James Taylor, John “Cougar” Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira and Beyonce among others. Or that we spent Monday and Wednesday touring D.C. and the monuments and museums.
The funny thing about it was inauguration day, Tuesday, was actually about seven hours of hell that was usurped in one hour of pure bliss. Waking up at 4 a.m. after constant prodding was followed by being in a massive throng of people at the Metro (subway), then outside freezing in sub-15-degree temperatures for hours before being allowed onto the mall.
Then it happened. I don’t condone the crowd’s booing of outgoing President George W. Bush – this was neither the right time nor place for that to occur. But then the shift officially occurred, first Joe Biden and then Obama taking their respective oaths. It was an incredible moment.
Returning to campus that Thursday night at midnight after another day of travel, I had a quiz the next day and roughly 60 new e-mails, but one more important than the rest. There was something from The Marquette Tribune saying they needed reporters for the Off-Campus desk, and applications were due back ASAP. It was in by 4:00 on Friday.
I got the call the next Friday. I was stoked and celebrated too hard. But I digress. So began the next phase of my Marquette career, the first true opportunity to get involved with something in my major. Originally doing general assignment reports, I shifted to the Milwaukee Metro beat in March and had the opportunity to interview a number of local officials and truly learn about the city I was living in.
There were two really interesting stories that came out of this beat. The first was when I nearly got myself arrested, while taking pictures of a penitentiary (it was for a story on the Milwaukee County Sheriff gaining power over appointments, and art content called for a photo). Nothing happened there.
The second happened completely by accident. I couldn’t get in touch with any sources about crime numbers being down in the first quarter of 2009 in Milwaukee, but then received a phone call from the Mayor’s office saying the Mayor himself had a few minutes free. That was easily the highlight of the semester getting accustomed and used to the paper.
Right before the semester ended, I also earned a promotion to a team leader position at the Phonathon after two years of calling, another fantastic opportunity. It was a great second semester of my sophomore year but summer was epic.
It began with a return trip to Arizona for a few weeks in May, some work at the Phonathon getting adjusted to a leadership staff role, and then the most incredible opportunity I’ve had yet – getting to go to Le Mans, France to cover the 24 Hours of Le Mans for motorsport.com.
In all likelihood, nothing will compare to my greatest opportunity in racing yet. My editor gave me chance of a lifetime getting to cover this race at Circuit de La Sarthe, going with one of our site’s assistant editors and two photographers. In one of the most surreal 10-day periods of my life, I was exposed to a completely different culture and a race that captivated the hearts and passion of fans worldwide. Not to mention touring the old city, staying in a French bed and breakfast and actually getting a lap of the track on the Monday.
I’ll expand more on it by including the piece I did for motorsport.com, but suffice to say that this was an experience that could not fully be captured by words or images. There were a lot of personal highlights in 2009 – I also attended President Obama’s inauguration in January with a team of friends I worked with – but nothing could top this. Le Mans is an experience that has to be lived to be believed, and I can’t believe I did at 19.
I got the call the next Friday. I was stoked and celebrated too hard. But I digress. So began the next phase of my Marquette career, the first true opportunity to get involved with something in my major. Originally doing general assignment reports, I shifted to the Milwaukee Metro beat in March and had the opportunity to interview a number of local officials and truly learn about the city I was living in.
There were two really interesting stories that came out of this beat. The first was when I nearly got myself arrested, while taking pictures of a penitentiary (it was for a story on the Milwaukee County Sheriff gaining power over appointments, and art content called for a photo). Nothing happened there.
The second happened completely by accident. I couldn’t get in touch with any sources about crime numbers being down in the first quarter of 2009 in Milwaukee, but then received a phone call from the Mayor’s office saying the Mayor himself had a few minutes free. That was easily the highlight of the semester getting accustomed and used to the paper.
Right before the semester ended, I also earned a promotion to a team leader position at the Phonathon after two years of calling, another fantastic opportunity. It was a great second semester of my sophomore year but summer was epic.
It began with a return trip to Arizona for a few weeks in May, some work at the Phonathon getting adjusted to a leadership staff role, and then the most incredible opportunity I’ve had yet – getting to go to Le Mans, France to cover the 24 Hours of Le Mans for motorsport.com.
In all likelihood, nothing will compare to my greatest opportunity in racing yet. My editor gave me chance of a lifetime getting to cover this race at Circuit de La Sarthe, going with one of our site’s assistant editors and two photographers. In one of the most surreal 10-day periods of my life, I was exposed to a completely different culture and a race that captivated the hearts and passion of fans worldwide. Not to mention touring the old city, staying in a French bed and breakfast and actually getting a lap of the track on the Monday.
I’ll expand more on it by including the piece I did for motorsport.com, but suffice to say that this was an experience that could not fully be captured by words or images. There were a lot of personal highlights in 2009 – I also attended President Obama’s inauguration in January with a team of friends I worked with – but nothing could top this. Le Mans is an experience that has to be lived to be believed, and I can’t believe I did at 19.
Besides that I covered five other races in person, the most in my four years with the site, including the final IndyCar race at the Milwaukee Mile, plus my first visits to the Autobahn Country Club in July and beautiful Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks later. I also got to make two trips to the best road course in this country, Elkhart Lake’s Road America, for the ALMS and SCCA Runoffs weekends. Those five were great.
On top of that I interned with the NBC affiliate here in Milwaukee, WTMJ-TV (Today’s TMJ4), in the sports department. That exposed me to the world of broadcasting while getting to go on trips to Lambeau Field, Miller Park, and the Milwaukee Bucks’ summer training facility.
And finally there was this semester just completed. It was personally challenging at times but rewarding living in my own apartment for the first time, with three awesome roommates – one of whom will be going to Spain next semester. I loved my new beat at the Tribune, the consumer/business beat, getting to look at business and technological trends. And also the food vendors. Oh, how I loved the food vendors. Rarely did a day or week I go by I wasn’t frequenting either the gyro cart outside the library or pita truck on Wells St. And my wallet was worse the wear for it.The thing that probably hit me hardest this semester was something that affected everyone at Marquette – when we lost a freshman to suicide in mid-November. I had had a rough evening to begin with but that was exacerbated when I was texting my freshman cousin who lived in the same dorm and she relayed the news. I can’t imagine what that family is going through as they have just gone through Christmas and now enter the new year without their son. I can’t imagine what his friends are going through.
Sure, work increased a bit as I had to assist with the story (major props to the reporter who went to the candlelight vigil and talked to everyone about it) on the police side as our police beat reporter suffered his own personal health issues. But in the grand scheme of things, it was a temporary adjustment.
Everything you have in front of you puts things in perspective. I didn’t know this student at all but he succumbed to whatever it was that ailed him. And it shouldn’t take something this serious to make you appreciate everything you have, but in a lot of cases it does.
Regardless of the work I still had the rest of the semester, I knew I could and would get through it. And I did. It wasn’t the best semester GPA-wise but grades are only a part of the whole body of work (In an interesting sidebar, President Obama was actually denied an honorary degree from Arizona State University in May because according to the university, his “body of work” wasn’t complete enough.)
There was one final highlight, being named to my new position for next semester as one of the Tribune’s assistant news editors. All things considered it has been a fairly meteoric rise and I can’t thank everyone on the paper, colleagues and friends who have recognized the work I put in.
I’m unsure yet as of my plans racing-wise for 2010. There are a couple options on the table and I will wait and see how those shake out, otherwise I may be on the sidelines and go back to just being a fan.
All told, a very satisfying personal 2009 and I’m optimistic of even bigger and better things in 2010! Out for this decade, and with that, cheers.
It is now Wednesday - my internal clock is still a bit off after what can only be described as a diabolical route back to the U.S. Suffice to say if I ever return to Le Mans, it will be on the TGV to and from Charles De Gaulle airport.
