Hoop dreams, writer dreams

By Jacqui Banaszynski in Blog, Journalism, Students, Writing Tags: journalism, Missouri School of Journalism, students, teaching, writing

My Guy loves basketball. He accuses me of exaggeration, but during March Madness I had to nudge (nag?) him away from the TV more than once to get him out the door for errands or into the kitchen for dinner. He can be transfixed by the jazzy squeak of sneakers and the aggressive-yet-fluid moves of the players.

What does that have to do with journalism or writing or anything these posts claim to be about?

Maybe a lot, according to a recent piece in The New York Times. So if you’re a young – or not-so-young – journalist/writer impatient with your progress, or frustrated with your career status, or just wondering how I’m going to connect these dots, hang in.

Out of my inbox

By Jacqui Banaszynski in Blog, Editing, Interviewing, Journalism, Reporting, Students, Teaching, Writing Tags: editing, journalism, Missouri School of Journalism, teaching, writing

I cringe when I think of the practical wisdom buried in years of disorganized and deleted email exchanges.

I’ll send up a flare when I’m struggling with a deadline project and get quick help back from some generous soul who knows stuff I don’t. That’s a whole lot of souls.

Or I’ll get a ping from a student, journalist or first-time Thanksgiving dinner cook desperate for some career or craft counsel. The pleas pile up my inbox. I scan, reply best I can, hit SEND – then move on. As Jed Bartlett would say, “What’s next?”

Incoming, Outgoing. And over time, a trove of lost treasure.

Learning to teach, teaching to learn

By Jacqui Banaszynski in Blog, Journalism, Reporting, Students, Teaching, Writing Tags: Missouri School of Journalism, students, teaching, Writing Process

The University (in the capital-U sense) wants my “teaching philosophy.” Reasons for that request are happy, which isn’t always the case with a cap-U request. But happy doesn’t get the work done. So…

First: Thank God and Whoever Else had more important things to attend to while I taught at Missouri for 15 years without figuring that bit out.

Second: Even greater thanks, with apologies, to the students on the receiving end of me figuring it out as I go. And a deep bow to the Missouri Method – learn by doing – which doesn’t end with students.

Third: I have to write something. Cue anxiety, procrastination, much abuse of the F-word, coffee and wine.