Poynter Summer Fellowship
Dave's Log: Cyberdate 7.28.07
"David, have you ever wondered what causes people to write about other people?"
We notice Emma is in an inquisitive mood today.
"My first reaction Emma, is to say people want to learn more about themselves. My second is out of curiosity."
"David, I've been running a scan to locate people who are just starting out in the profession of writing about others. I set my search parameters to exclude college seniors and concentrated on who is out there trying to improve the art of journalism. I located an institution that I thought you might be interested in. They have a program called the Poynter Summer Fellowship. Can we please visit?"
Before I can even utter one word, Avelina speaks out:
"Destination: the planet Poynter located in the quadrant of Creativity."
Emma's curiosity has aroused ours. Throughout our travels we have encountered more folks in the writing profession than any other. But we have never encountered folks so young. This will be a treat. We love the spirit of this generation. We love their passion. We love their need for freedom, connection and expression. We think we understand mostly where they are coming from. Gabriele has schooled us and we have paid attention to life as it tries to slip around us. What we are looking for today is a better understanding on what drives them to write.
Emma lands the Starship out in Tampa Bay and we boat to shore. We are greeted by Ashley Mills on the last day of the program. She tells us of incredible hard work, endless editing and new friendships. Ashley's need to capture stories seems to revolve around a need for acceptance, especially from her mentors. A crowd of the program's graduates gathers and we begin to mill about.
Julia Robinson is on a journey. A journey to overcome her fears which in turn, as a photojournalist, will allow her to connect with people and to create picture-telling-stories. Chasity Gunn stared at us as if we were from another planet. (We were wearing pants, weren't we?) There was heat-seeking curiosity in her eyes. We couldn't get to why Chasity writes. She asked too many questions and we became the subject. Matthew Pleasant has discovered at an early age, what will propel him along his life's journey - journalism. Matthew possesses an ability that seems to run common with this crew - the ability to sculpt a metaphor from a life event and to use it as a tool of understanding. The art of doing this and the insight gained will enrich their careers beyond the wildest of expectations. Marissa Harshman beams a will to excel. Marissa writes because something deep insides says that she must. Also deep inside is this ability to, as Emeril says, "kick it up a notch!" Bam!
The red alarm signals on our cultedge meter, Emma has finished. Perhaps we didn't discover the reason why all of the folks from this group write, but we caught a glimpse of the passion that will continue to surface again and again in their stories.
On the return trip home we notice that Elle is furiously writing in a notebook. Passion breeds passion.
