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Mike Morris
John Hobday
Margit Karkela
Lynn Keillor
Alanna Simone Tyler
THE TRIP
April 22-23 - Days 1-2
April 24 - Day 3
April 25 - Day 4
April 26 - Day 5
April 27 - Day 6
April 28 - Day 7
April 29 - Day 8
April 30 - Day 9
May 1 - Day 10
May 2 - Day 11
May 3 - Day 12
May 4 - Day 13
May 5 - Day 14
May 6 - Day 15
May 7 - Day 16
May 8 - Day 17
May 9 - Day 18
May 10 - Day 19
May 11 - Day 20
May 12 - Day 21
May 13 - Day 22
May 14 - Day 23
May 15 - Day 24
May 16 - Day 25
May 17 - Day 26
May 18 - Day 27
May 19 - Day 28
May 20 - Day 29
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May 13, 2003
Hønefoss
Lynn Keillor
I'm excited that it's my turn to write today, because I accomplished one
of my main goals for the trip: becoming a Norwegian journalist.
My vocational day took place at the local newspaper, Ringerikes Blad.
It's a subscription-based paper and goes out to nearly every home in the
Ringerike area.
I arrived in time for the tail end of the morning meeting, and in perfect
time to get assigned a story. I nearly fell off my chair with excitement
when the managing editor Trond Johansen said to me, "Lynn, I want
a story about how Ringerikes Blad is changing to a tabloid-sized format.
You can sit in on the design meeting, and I want pictures." While
the assignment really wasn't too challenging (much unlike the reporter
who was assigned a major story on the 13 of 15 local restaurants
that didn't pass weekend health inspections, deadline: 3 p.m.), it was
both thrilling and scary at the same time.
After a quick tour of the facilities, which I admit I wasn't paying full
attention to since I was trying to formulate some questions, I got a reporters'
notebook and attended the design meeting.
My challenges were multifold: 1. To write a story that readers of Ringerikes
Blad would find interesting; 2. Figure out what information those readers
would actually find interesting; 3. Write something accurate; 4. Ask worthwhile
questions and take accurate notes in Norwegian; 5. Correctly interpret
what people were saying and meaning; and finally 6. Test my Norwegian
vocabulary to the max by writing the piece in Norwegian.
I think I was able to accomplish most of these tasks, but to what professional
degree, I do not know. I printed out a copy of my story, and if the piece
is worthy of publication, I can compare the two later.
Probably the most difficult task for me were writing accurately and taking
good notes. I think I had decent questions, but note-taking (or
more importantly, being able to actually read the notes later) in a language
in which I'm not totally proficient really presented some difficulties.
If I
get a chance to do this again, I'd benefit from a tape recorder! And because
the note-taking was tricky, I was afraid that I interpreted things incorrectly.
Plus, it made direct quotes difficult.
The outcome is TBA. Trond had to rush off to a meeting and the editor
Tore Roland was too swamped with other stuff to be able to read
it before I left. I don't know when it will come out: it's not really
a time-sensitive story, as it's about a format change in the paper scheduled
for October.
But I'm hoping it will come out in the next couple of days. You can check
for it at www.ringblad.no and let
me know if you see it. A key word to look for is "tabloid."
I must say, though, that the people I met were really encouraging and
supportive of my efforts. Trond even commented, "If I'd walked into
an American paper and they asked me to do this, I would have turned around
and ran out of the building."
We also had some interesting dialogue over the lunch break. They were
curious about how we produce our snowmobile magazines. Plus, I found out
that they have some similar dilemmas to our magazine: the conflict between
editorial and sales; the difficulty of keeping the same news fresh and
interesting; the atmosphere of writing to a small audience/industry; and
how resources are allocated (or not allocated) to the Internet.
My previous vocational days were really a good buildup to this, and perhaps
by the time I go to my next (and final) vocational day on Friday, I'll
be editor-in-chief of the national newspaper Aftonbladet!
In addition, tonight local GSE coordinator Marit Hendricksen and her husband
Jo opened her home to all host families and GSE members. We had a lovely
meal of peel-and-eat shrimp with tasty strawberries and ice cream for
dessert. And when I say peel-and-eat, I mean taking the head off, scooping
out the roe (or eating it, like Alanna was brave enough to do), and cracking
apart the remainder of the shell. We then made a pile of the shrimp onto
buttered white bread, squeezed some lemon juice and added a generous portion
of mayo. The shrimp are boiled in sea water, so they really have a great
taste.
We were also the recipients of a special gift from Marit: mittens that
she hand-knit over her Easter vacation. All have a different pattern,
and I think that most of us are too afraid to use them because they are
so lovely. Mike said he's only going to wear them to church, and Alanna
is considering some way to display them as art. Tomorrow, Alanna, Margit
and I are going to meet a knitwear designer, so we may come away with
even more knitting ideas. John and Mike are having their vocational day.
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