Talking to students

I've been fighting something. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's a pain in the neck. It's either a cold, or sinus infection or something like that. At any rate I've been running on fumes. So my apologies to faithful blog readers who have been checking in for new material and have gone away disappointed.

I do have something new to report today. But it's really quite old. It's something that happened on Monday. Which just goes to show you that I've been working on this blog for a couple of days. I wrote a little of it on Monday. A little more on Tuesday. Now it's time to finish it up.

Monday I was at the University of Maryland. I was invited by Deb Nelson. She's a journalism professor, and a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. She wanted me and some of the other members of the Dart Society to come out to the school and talk to her students about trauma. I got up and spoke about my experience on 9-11, and some of the other tough stories I've had to cover throughout my career. As a friend says, we see, we document, we photograph, and we touch our stories. The stories also touch us, because we also feel.

Gary Tippet is one of the finest journalists in Australia. He is the senior writer for the Age. He's been writing and reporting longer than these students have been living. He was the first Australian to be awarded an Ochberg Fellowship by the Dart Center. He spoke to the students about what it's like to sit in a bedroom talking to a father about the loss of his son. The students might learn how to write, and to ask questions in their classes, but they learned compassion from Gary. What you ask and how you ask those questions are such vital pieces of iinformation for young aspiring journalists. He taught these undergrads that compassion and empathy are just as important as a reporters notebook and pen. This will probably be the only time these kids will be in a classroom listenting to a Pulitzer prize winner and the winner of the quivelent in Australia the Walkley. Gary won a coveted Walkley for his reporting, he has also won two Quill's and three legal reporting awards.

Up next Natalie Pompilio. That's Natalie pictured in New Orleans with Dave Cullen. Her resume is very impressive. She reported from Iraq, and was on the ground in New Orleans before and during Katrina. Natalie helped put together the Dart Society drive to work with journalists in New Orleans on the rebuilding effort in New Orleans. Natalie is unique in that she prides herself on what she does best, crime reporting. But with that type of reporting comes the stark reality of dealing with grieving parents who have lost their children through violence. Natalie talked about dealing with one woman who lost her son. Natalie is a great writer, and great reporter, but the best thing about her is her big heart.

As we were leaving the classroom Gary confided in me that a couple of the teachers assistants had come up to him to tell him that we were the best speakers that they had seen on campus this year. College students can be a tough crowd, so I was pleased. Not bad! Have a great thanksgiving!