Sadly, this is my last day.
Friday’s are usually slow in The Age Online office, so I wont be published unfortunately. I have, however, been spending my spare time writing an article on my friend Jacob Simkin, who lives in Afghanistan. It’s a 800 word, self-sourced feature article that the editor helped me tweak and refine. As a result it has a special spot in my heart. They were going to publish it today, but to give it a better run they have decided to push its publication back a week. I’m quite excited.
During my time here I have learnt that yes, I do love writing. While I might not want to focus particularly on hard-writing, I loved working on my self-sourced article and I get extreme pleasure out of finishing an article. I also noticed my flaws during the internship that I will try and work on improving. For example, I need to be more thorough during my initial interviews to make sure I get as much information as possible. Sometimes, important facts would be missing and I would have to call people back and get them to answer more questions. I also have to improve my spelling, which I knew was a downfall from the beginning.
I am extremely glad I did this internship, but I am also glad that it is coming to an end. Juggling a full-time uni load and trying to excell within my internship was very, very draining. As it was around the time when everything was due, I completely ran myself into the ground. But it was worth it!
As the editor was leaving the office today, I pulled her aside to say thank-you and what-not. She, in turn, told me that I did a very good job and “definitely pulled [my] weight” and when I was on the field and filed my article over the phone, ”did better than some of those who had been doing it for twenty years”! Needless to say, I was completely ecstatic.
Now back to my normal life!
I am very exited to share the news that two of my articles were featured in the top ten user-read articles of the week!
By Reko Rennie, Jamie Waterhouse93,804 page views, 55,039 visitorsBy Jamie Waterhouse48,197 page views, 46,565 visitors
Today I hit the pinnacle of intern-success. Following up on the anti-abortion protesters article I wrote a few days ago, I was sent out on the field all by myself!
I had to gather information and formulate an article in the middle of Flinder’s Street Station, before calling in and filing it over the phone. I felt I had gained considerable trust within the office to be sent out to do this and I was told afterwards that I did extremely well.
Anti-abortion group calls in US support for protests
By Jamie Waterhouse
A Melbourne-based anti-abortion group has called in support from the United States as it carries out 10 days of protests throughout Victoria and NSW… [con't]
You may notice the mistake I made in the first article when I called them an American-based group. Unfortunately I made this mistake from something the cop I interviewed said. I should have been more careful!
Later I discovered that the anti-abortion groups had picked up the article on their blog (warning: graphic anti-abortion images may feature on this site) in which they tried to rip the article to shreds. This amused and please me greatly as now I was officially a commented on member of the press! Delightful. I don’t understand their anger towards the article; you would think that coverage would be the point of the protests?
I did some ad-pars for the article “April Fool’s pranksters out in force“, which means I wrote some extra paragraphs that were added to the article later. It was one of my favourite articles to work on, because people were so open to sharing and it was quite humourous.
[full article] …Age reader Phil McConnell, of Beaumaris, said he gravely informed his son during breakfast that Ferrari were quitting Formula One racing as a result of the global financial crisis.
Mr McConnell, who regularly partakes in April Fool’s pranks, strengthened the joke by faking a print-out from the Ferrari website confirming the news.
“About 6.30 in the morning he was hurtling down to his computer to find out all about Ferrari,” Mr McConnell said. “Of course he couldn’t find any.”
Mr McConnell said his 12-year-old son was absolutely mortified when he found out the news was a prank and immediately warned his father, “I will get you for this.”
Ryan Bigg and his boss in Graceville, Queensland, tried to fool colleagues into thinking their office had went bankrupt by moving all the desks to the backroom and hanging a “for lease” sign on the door.
The jokers then made their way to the local coffee shop to wait in hiding. The prank, however, was unsuccessful
“They didn’t believe it,” Mr Bigg said. “But we had a good laugh after that.”
Sydney social worker Dominic Mapstone also enjoyed some April Fool’s cheer, when he sent out about 10,000 emails last night saying that the GST rate applied to schoolies accommodation would increase to 40 per cent.
To boost his credibility, Mr Mapstone posted the claim on the schoolies web forum this morning, and included quotes from himself indicating how outrageous the tax increase would be.
Sticking with tradition and pulling the prank at 12 pm, Mr Mapstone replied to the post with a joyful “Happy April Fools Day!”
The Student Youth Network radio station SYN FM announced on their website this morning that they were to rename their station “Female Youth Network”, or FYN FM, in a hope to gain additional funding… [full article]
This piece also showed that my writing is improving, or at least shaping towards the Age style, as my ad-pars were barely edited.
Angry locals scuffle with abortion protesters
By Jamie Waterhouse
Outraged Bendigo residents clashed with anti-abortion protesters today in an attempt to seize graphic images displayed by the group… [con't]
Here is a draft of the Allison Shreeve article that never got online. It is an earlier draft as the final draft is lost somewhere in the Age editing program…
Allison Shreeve is still ecstatic despite failing to finish her record-breaking Windsurfing attempt across Bass Strait yesterday.
Fighting unexpectedly strong winds and oncoming hypothermia, the 27-year old pulled out of her 250-kilometre journey just 80km off her Inverloch target.
“I did a really good job and I’m really pleased with my result, considering the conditions I was in,” Shreeve said to The Age today, “It was just a shame that it was just about 5 naughts too windy for me.”
Shreeve, a four-time world windsurfing champion, set off from Stanley in Tasmania and was expected to arrive in Victoria’s Bass Coast Beach between 7pm and 8pm yesterday evening.
Although disappointed she was unable to finish her journey, Shreeve still talks with obvious enthusiasm and pride of the .
“The challenge was a lot of fun and while I was sailing it was a really exciting and just an amazing adventure,” said Shreeve, “At one stage… we had 50 dolphins just come on the waves and swim all around me for about 15 minutes!”
Training intensively for months with 7kg packs on her back, Shreeve notes how it is impossible to prepare completely for such a difficult task.
“You can’t really train the bass strait until you actually get there,” Shreeve said, “I don’t give up lightly; I’m a person who likes to finish things.”
“In the end I just couldn’t go on.”
While t will only take Shreeve a week to hop back on her windsurfer, another attempt at crossing the Bass Strait will have to wait till next summer when the days are longer and the seas warmer.
“My spirits are good and I’m really happy to be challenged,” says Shreeve, “And there is always next time!”
Go to www.bassstraitchallenge.com to see footage of Shreeve’s attempt.
Daylight savings glitch causes havoc
By Jamie Waterhouse
The millennium bug may have been a dud, but the daylight savings glitch has struck – yet again… [con't]
Edit: This article ended up being featured in The Age Online top ten user-read articles of the week!
As soon as I walked into the office today I was asked by the editor to write a piece on windsurfer Allison Shreeve. Sweet. Considering I work at a call centre making cold calls, I was petrified to call and conduct an interview… but it was easy and I am ok. It hasn’t been put up on the web yet and I fear it’ll get left to the wayside…
Lucky enough however, I did get a really good article published about six new baby platypus that were found in Victoria:
Platypus find promising, say researchers
By Jamie Waterhouse
Scientists are hailing the discovery of six baby platypus in Melbourne’s south-east this week as an extreme success, but say “human interference” is threatening the rare mammals’ survival. [con't]
I think it is my favourite yet! Though I am dissapointed at the small mistake we let slip through, writing “in Melbourne’s south-east” twice.
A quick post – just before I was talking to the sub-editor and she told me that I am doing really well! I was absolutely estatic in recieving the compliment as I was really unsure if I was doing ok.
I spent most of today in court trying to get information on the ATM scam and didn’t really write anything. However, I do think I made a good impression because I sent an email to my editor with various article ideas that I would like to write. Hopefully this shows that I am willing to push to get my name out there.
My head is still killing me and I’m surprised I can even think at all.
