This was a fairly slow day. Derek didn’t have any other stories for me on the budget, so I knew I would just be finishing up the rape story. When I got into the office, I set out on flushing it out.

I was able to write a decent draft with only Captain Pacheco’s interview, in case Derek needed the story sooner than the following week. While I was finishing up the story, I had looked at this document that Morgan sent me the previous day with a ton of data on the police department.

I was able to come up with two interesting story ideas:

1. Traffic accidents were on the increase in Seguin in 2014, so SPD tried to increase their traffic stops to try to cut down on that number. I thought it would be interesting to look at the data of accidents/stops for the first six months of 2015 and compare it with 2014 data to see where the trend was, and also find out of traffic stops are still a priority.

2. The number of arrests were up in 2014, and SPD attributed that to license plate scanners. I thought I’d see how that was going too in 2015, also compare the numbers.

I emailed Derek my finished (without the Liaison interview) rape story, but explained about pushing it if it was okay. I also sent him my story ideas.

He responded back that pushing it was fine, and that it looked like I had two stories. He recommended that I go ahead and get on Morgan about the records requests.

That’s pretty much what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing. I drafted a record request letter and emailed her for the data. I knew it could take awhile for her to get back to me though.

I waited around another hour or so, just in case anyone needed me to do anything or there were any pages to proof. Around 3pm, I told Derek about the email to Morgan, and asked if there was anything anyone needed me to do. He said that I was okay to head out, so I gathered my things and headed off.

About the time that I got back into Austin, I saw an email from Morgan asking how soon I needed the data. I asked if i was possible to have it by next Thursday or Friday, and she said she would definitely get on it Monday. I appreciated that, it looked like I could get my story going next week then.

I was pretty excited to do these two stories. This entire summer, Derek usually has stories and contacts ready for me, then I run the stories and interviews. This is the first time I’ve pitched a story idea and ran one of my own for Seguin. I’m very excited to see how this turns out!

On my way into work, I saw the budget that Derek had emailed out. He had me down to cover the increase in rapes in San Marcos, and wanted me to do a story on what women could do to prevent rape and what the reason is for the increase.

My drive down Highway 123, I thought about my story. I didn’t really like the way it was framed. The majority of rapes are committed by people the victim knows, so the only practical advice is don’t hang around creepy people? That sounds like horrible and insensitive advice to me too. The stereotypical advice like don’t wear short skirts, don’t walk alone at night and whatnot are kind of common sense, but they also sort of victim blame, and anyone that reads this article and sees stuff like that who has been raped may feel like they were somewhat at fault.

This story would have to be very delicately framed to avoid victim blaming or just downright stupid advice. Derek mentioned in the budget about self-defense classes, and I did think that sounded like a good idea. I decided to instead frame this part of the story as someone who wants to empower themselves in case they ever find themselves in a situation such as that. I also thought it would be a good idea to include where women could turn to who have been raped, and what their options are. I knew it would be a heavy article.

I got into work and settled into my desk. I felt rather refreshed, very awake. Not long after I settled in, Derek sent me another email about the story with more details. I dived into my notepad and started planning my interview questions for Morgan Ash, the city’s Public Information Officer. As I was finishing my questions, Felicia called me over and asked if I could do an advance on this event that was happening in Marion. It was a sausage festival, I believe.

I prepared some quick questions for the contact that Felicia gave me, and then gave the lady a call. Unfortunately, I just got a voicemail. I let Felicia know. She told me that she had told the lady not to play phone tag with me and that she would likely be calling very soon. I decided to hold off on calling Morgan for the rape interview, because the Marion festival was priority in getting flushed out over the rape story, and I didn’t want to miss the festival contact’s call.

It was one of them waiting games at this point. I can’t really remember what I did, truthfully. I might have poked around my email a bit. Around 1:00pm-ish, the festival lady called me back. The interview with her went very well. After her interview, I wrote up a story. Normally I would email Derek my story for final approval before it goes into the editorial drive, but since Felicia was the one that asked me to write the story, I decided to email her. I asked if it sounded okay and said if she thinks I’m missing anything I could call the contact back.

Felica praised how quickly I turned the story. After she read it, she called me over and went over it with me. She gave me some really fantastic advice on writing it and arranging the details in it. I had a more newsy lead, but she told me that since this festival was a tradition and a fun, family event that a more…trying to think of the word…I guess, active lead that draws people in. I could see what she was saying and liked the lead that she had come up with. She also suggested rearranging some of the details. After talking with her, I did need to contact the source back to find out why they changed locations for where they usually hold it and how much barbecue plates cost. Even though this was a fairly short advance, I feel like I learned quite a bit with it!

After the Marion festival story was done, it was onto the Rape story.

I called Morgan and got her right there. I explained the story and asked if I could interview her. The interview with her went…ehhhh. She tried to heavily play down the increase in rape. On one had, I totally understood where she was coming from. Seguin actually only had five more rapes in the first six-months of 2015 when compared to the first six-months of 2014, which really isn’t that much. Due to the small sample size, it showed the city had a 56 percent increase. But I don’t know, some of the ways that she was playing it down were rather unrealistic. She had said that just because they were reported didn’t mean they actually occurred and so it’s possible that number could end up being lower. An example she gave was that a neighbor could look from her yard into another neighbor’s bedroom and see them having sex, but for some reason think one of them is being raped and call the police. She said in this way it would be factored into the number. That example felt so absurd to me. I don’t know, I imagine unless you’re into some kind of BDSM type thing, a couple having sex probably won’t look like someone’s being raped.

Anyway, her interview was pretty much not useable. She did give me the contact information for Victor Pacheco, the captain of operations with the Seguin Police Department, and said that he could likely better answer my questions. She asked for my email address too so that she could give him a heads up that I would be calling. I don’t have a Seguin Gazette email, I use my Texas State one, so I gave her that one. When she heard the txstate.edu part, she sounded a little confused and asked if I was at school. I told her that I was the Gazette’s intern. When she heard that she sounded a bit sympathetic with the tough story that I was writing and sounded like she really wanted to help me out. I guess I appreciated that haha.

I gave Pacheco a call and he answered, but he said that he was in the middle of a meeting at that moment and would have to call me back. So, I gave him my Seguin office number and awaited his call.

While I waited, I transcribed Morgan’s interview. Even though I didn’t think it was really useable, I figured that there could be something possibly in there. After an hour passed, I was worried that Pacheco might have forgotten about me. He had originally said that his meeting would only take about ten or fifteen minutes. So, I sent him an email with my contact information. Public officials in Seguin get their emails right to their phones, so I figured that it would reach him pretty quickly if he did forget.

About fifteen minutes after that he called me back. The interview with him actually went really well. I got a lot of details from him. I received a more realistic reason for the increase, that due to programs in the community people were feeling more comfortable with coming forward to report rape. So it wasn’t necessarily an increase in rapes, but an increase of reports in his opinion. It still down-played the increase, but this explanation did seem reasonable.

After his interview, I transcribed it and set out to writing. It was nearing 6:00pm, and I knew that I would likely have to finish this story up tomorrow. I was only half-way done with it. It would probably have to be pushed into the following week as well. The person that I really needed to talk to was the Crime Victim Liaison with the SPD, as they were the best authority on this topic. Unfortunately, the city was between Liaisons and the new one didn’t start until Monday. Pacheco gave me some great information, but for some of my questions he also pointed me to the Liaison, so I knew I really needed them.

Derek was wanting to wrap up the office so he asked if I could wrap things up. I was at a good stopping point anyway, so I gathered my things and headed out for the day.

When I got in, I didn’t have any other stories to write, but I knew it would be a long day getting this Stars & Stripes story done. I spent awhile transcribing Ryan’s interview. Then I spent awhile staring at a blank page and rewriting the lead over and over and over before I felt I had a decent one. I didn’t love it, but if I didn’t get past that dang lead, this story was never going to get done.

I peeled through the interviews and managed to get a decent story together. I remembered that Derek had said magazine writing was slightly less formal or newsy, so I tried to be not as rigid with it and make it fun.

At the end of a very long day, maybe 5:30p-ish? I emailed what I had to Derek. I asked Derek if he could look it over and tell me if I needed to re-write it. I explained that this was my first dabble in magazine writing, but I was determined to get it down. He said he would look it over and then next week when I came in, if I needed to change it I could. The article was for the Sizzle, and the Sizzle’s deadline wasn’t until late August, so there wasn’t a rush on it.

I thanked Derek and then headed home for the day. My brain was completely fried from working on that story non-stop all day.

This day was spent mostly finishing up stories. I had hoped to get a hold of someone from Rockport FD on Monday, but unfortunately I didn’t hear back form anyone. I think Derek decided to hold the story until I could though, because it didn’t run on Tuesday, and that seemed to be my project to work on for Thursday. I think there was too much stuff running anyway on Tuesday, so it ended up working out well and buying me some time to get that interview.

I had also hoped to meet Ryan Smith, the Stars & Stripes president, on Wednesday, because he had told me that would be the best day for him. But he cancelled at the last minute and asked to reschedule for Thursday. Wednesday afternoon I contacted Derek to make sure they didn’t have anything for me to cover, and he said it would be okay. So I set-up an interview for 3pm today.

When I got in, I contacted the Rockport FD facebook page again and asked about the interview. While I was going over my interview questions, they called back! The interview went well. Once it was over, I set to transcribing and then writing the piece.

The Fire Dept voice really added to the story, and it sounded fantastic. I really like the lead that I went with on this one. I tried to be creative with it. This is the story that I am most proud of writing so far as an intern for Seguin Gazette, and I really love how it came out. On Facebook, this story reached a staggering 442 likes and 39 shares, which really blew my mind that so many people were reading something that I wrote. It was a very incredible story though.

Around 2:30p, I headed out to get the Stars & Stripes interview. The place was much quieter than before, it was very peaceful feeling. Ryan came out of his office and we sat at one of the booths for the interview. It went very well also, I got a ton of information for my article. It was actually so much information it would make the article hard to write because I wouldn’t know where to begin.

After the interview, I thanked Ryan and headed home for the day.

When I got into the Gazette, Jessica gave me some information about my next story. I would be doing a story about a Seguin teen who help when a trailer was on fire, while he was on vacation in Rockport, Texas. The teen helped remove items from the trailer and tried to help put it out. The teen’s brother contacted the Facebook page about the story, so Jessica floated his contact information to me I would need to call and interview him.

After preparing my questions, I gave him a call. I didn’t get him immediately, so I left a voicemail. I also sent a message to the Rockport Fire Department Facebook page, and asked for someone to call me back. Jessica said that would probably be faster than calling their listed number. I did almost immediately get someone, it was their Public Relations person, who said they would call me back in a little while that day.

While I waited for the brother and Rockport FD to return my call, Derek sent me a press release from Morgan Ash about the decrease in crime in Seguin, and asked me to write a story for the Staff Reports. I wrote up a decent story about it and sent it along to Derek.

A little while later, the brother of the teen called back. His interview went extremely well. The story that he was telling about his younger brother was very incredible, and I felt kind of honored to be writing a story about this.

The brother gave me the contact information for the teen’s father. So I called up the father and interviewed him as well. The father’s interview went okay. He didn’t give long responses, so I had to push various questions a little. At the end of his interview I tried to see if I could talk to the teen, but the Dad didn’t really seem like he wanted me to. He said that the teen was shy and wouldn’t like to talk on the phone. I offered to give my number in case he changed his mind, but he was pretty adamant. I didn’t push though, because I didn’t think that would be right after two fairly certain no’s.

It took me a little bit to transcribe the interviews. While I was doing so, I heard Derek and Jessica talking about the Staff Reports article. Derek was looking at a chart that was at the bottom of the press release and it showed that while overall crime was down, some of the heavier crimes like theft, rape and such had actually increased. Unfortunately, the computer I work on at the Gazette does not have Microsoft Word, so I have to write all my articles in Text Edit. Text Edit did not display the graph, which is why I didn’t see it. It wasn’t a bad thing though, Derek took over the article from there. He made some edits to it and contacted Morgan Ash. He kind of panicked her about his questioning of the stats and she passed him off to the SPD’s Captain of Operations to speak with.

The article that I had written remained mostly intact, but Derek added a few things about the crimes that were up.

After my Fire Kid interviews were transcribed, I wrote up my story. It came out really good! Rockport FD never called me back though, and I really wanted their interview. The day was starting to come to a wrap. I emailed Derek what I had, as it could run with how it was and be okay. But both of us really felt that the Rockport FD voice needed to be in there. I told him that I would try to call them Monday and update the story and send it to him, if they call back (the story was slated to run the following Tuesday).

With that done, I packed up and headed home for the day.

I once had a professor in the Theater department here at Texas State, Tom Copeland, say that in the film industry people don’t call in unless they are about to drop dead. I try to prescribe to that even in jobs outside of the film industry. I don’t call in if I have a stuffy nose or just feel kind of crappy. Unfortunately, I was feeling very sick this day. Stomach in agony, and–well, I’ll save the details. I just wasn’t in shape to be driving to Seguin or running stories. I sent Derek an email the night before, maybe around 2am, to let him know that I couldn’t come in.

This isn’t quite related, but Tom Copeland also had some advice that I try to use to this day too. It pertains to being on time in the film industry:

If you’re early, you’re on time. If you’re on time, you’re late. If you’re late, you’re fired.

Most jobs probably aren’t quite that strict as the film industry, but I do try to prescribe to that to keep myself on time to everything. I’ve always thought it was very good advice.

This day was a bit slow until it was time to cover the Pecan Classic Steer Show. This was a steer competition put on by a non-profit organization in Seguin for students involved in FFA and 4-H programs in their schools. Jessica was going to come too to take photos. She had asked earlier in the day if I knew how to take photos. I told her that I did, and I had experience with it through my classes. I think she had a lot on her plate and was maybe wanting to see if I could handle the photos myself. She ended up coming along though.

That is one thing about this internship that I wish I could do, take my own photos. Seguin Gazette really prides itself on high-quality photojournalism. Some of their photos recently took home some Texas Press Association awards. I feel like I could really learn a lot from them because of that. At the same time, it’s very fast paced and I think they want to make sure the photos come out good, so they’re paranoid about letting me take them myself. If I mess it up, I guess I could ruin the story. Everyone in the office has their own high-quality camera like a Canon Eo5 or Rebel or models like that. I only have my iPhone. My iPhone can take very good photos, but a phone can never quite have that level of depth as an actual photography camera. Anyway, that is one thing about the internship that has been a little disappointing, but I do understand.

When Jessica and I reached the steer fair, we went inside and sat down with the President of the organization and his mother (I think she could have been the Vice President? Definitely a high-up position). We found out that the actual competition wasn’t taking place until tomorrow, Saturday. Jessica decided to leave me to handle the interviews and then she would come back the next day for photos.

The interview with the president went well. After our interview, I jumped on this Jeep-like vehicle and he drove me around the lot, giving me a tour of everything. At the end of the tour, I asked if I could speak with some kids to interview them and he said it was okay. He drove me to the barn area where they were all getting their steer ready.

I walked around and interviewed a few students. I also managed to step in cow dung. It was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was stepping. One boy that I interviewed would make the story kind of tough to write later. He said he went to Marion and was involved in a 4-H program, but when he said Marion, he looked to his friend and laughed. When I got back to the office, I would realize that I think he was joking about going to Marion High School, and there wasn’t a 4-H program at Marion, they only had FFA, which is also why I suspected that.

I learned a lot from covering these events. I had asked questions a bit inconsistently about where the students were from. Some told me only their high-schools, others the city they were from. It was a learning experience about locking this down next time. Also, I need to start having people spell out things that I don’t recognize. One student said she was from Steele High School, or at least, I think it was Steele High School. It was a little bit of guessing work based on where she said she lived, as that was the only high school near her home-town with a name like that. I kind of felt a pit in my stomach about not knowing for sure, and I vowed next time to definitely get things spelled out.

At the show, I did take some photos and wrote some cutlines for them. I kind of hoped that Derek would like them and at least run them online. I knew they probably wouldn’t make the paper, but I thought online would be okay. They ended up not being used though and Derek never said anything about them, so I guess he didn’t like them.

The day ran really long because of how long I spent at the pre-steer show. I was at the office writing until around 6:30pm and it was just Felicia and I. Felicia said that it was okay to finish at home and email the story in, so I packed up and headed home. At home, I did just that, I finished the story and emailed it in.

The drive to work was fantastic! My a/c was fixed the day before so no driving in the awful heat and getting my hair messed up from having to keep the windows rolled down! It was amazing and wonderful.

I got into work a little later than I intended, closer to 11a. I had seen the budget though in my email on my way to work. It only showed that I would have a story on Sunday for the Pecan Classic Steer Show that would take place on Friday and Saturday morning. Although it has the word “pecan” in it, it isn’t a pecan event. The event is a good ol’ FFA style cattle competition. It seems geared toward kids and the goal is to raise money for scholarships and another steer show that they held later in the year.

After I made it to my desk, Derek called me in to talk about my next assignment: the Stars & Stripes drive in theater that had opened up in New Braunfels! He asked if I had any familiarity with magazine writing. I told him that I hadn’t written a magazine style article before, but I was confident that I could do it. Magazine writing seems very similar to blog style writing, very casual, but only maybe a bit more professional sounding. Derek told me that he would forward me an email from a journalist at the New Braunfels paper, that had the contact information for the PR firm that handles the Stars & Stripes.

I called the number to the Stars & Stripes PR firm, but got a voicemail and left a message. I also sent them an email as well.

Derek emailed me information about brush pickup and asked me to write a story on it. I spent the majority of the day just working on this story and waiting around for the PR firm to call me back.

At the end of the day, the PR firm never called. I told Derek that I could go down to the Stars & Stripes at 6:30p when they open and see if I could talk to someone there. He said that was a good idea. So I hung around the office until about 6:00p, and then headed out.

I had never been to a drive-in theater before. It looked really cool! The Stars & Stripes is located in the middle of a corn-field in New Braunfels, it looks really incredible though.

When I pulled in, I went down this long drive-way. I explained who I was to the ticket booth guy, and he waved me through. I parked at the front of this large diner type place that was at the center of the drive-through, and then went inside. The staff were still setting things up for the night. I walked up to the counter and explained who I was and asked if there was someone I could talk to for an interview. They mentioned the president of Stars & Stripes and went to get him.

A few minutes later I met Ryan Smith. He said that he would be okay with an interview, but asked if I could wait 30 minutes. I said that would be okay and took a seat. Waiting 30 minutes saves me more time of having to wait around in the office a few hours (if I have a day that finishes at 3p, for example, at the Gazette), so I was totally cool with it. Plus, it gave me some time to absorb everything.

Well, 45 minutes passed, and no sign of Ryan. People started flooding into the diner, and slowly all the food booths were taken up. I decided to interview patrons for about 15 minutes, and then go find Ryan.

I interviewed a couple that was with their children first. Then I interviewed two sisters that were there with their children. Both of these groups were very excited to be at the Stars & Stripes and their interviews went very well.

After their interviews, the hour mark had passed. I looked around for Ryan in the diner but didn’t see him. So, I walked around outside. I spotted him speaking to an employee, so I headed that way. When he saw me, he didn’t say this, but I could tell he had forgotten. He may have gotten super swamped, it looked very busy in this place for sure. I asked if he could still do the interview, but said that if it wasn’t a good time that I could set-up a time to come back. He said that setting up a time to come back would be better and gave me his card.

By this time it was close to 8p and I was exhausted. I headed back home and thus concluded day 10.

When I got in, it was time for a new punch card. As I was getting my name on a new one and punching in, I was greeted by Felicia from across the room. She told me that I had a new desk. Jessica would be taking over my desk and I would be getting Ron’s old desk. Ron’s last day was the day before.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to say goodbye. I think Ron is a fantastic journalist and I really have a lot of respect for him. As weird as this might sound, I felt a little honored to be taking his desk. I had quite the shoes to fill!! Okay, I’m still just an intern haha and all that changed was my desk location, but I still liked it.

I actually really liked the new desk and location. The desk is at the very back of the room with my back facing the wall, but me able to view everything going on. I have a pet-peeve about people peering over my shoulder to see my computer screen, so I like the privacy too. The only downside is that I’ve tended to get way into writing my stories or researching and zone out.

My chair was upgraded too! The chair at my old desk was slightly broken and wobbly. Felicia realized it before Jessica had come in. I offered to trade the chair because the old desk was shaped like an L and it was frustrating before when I used it and was not able to wheel between both sides of the desk. My new desk faces one direction, so I don’t really need to wheel around. However, Felicia said that it was okay, so she left the wobbly chair for Jessica. My guess is that they’ll probably replace it either way.

As I settled into my new desk, Derek came by and told me that he emailed me the budget. He mentioned that there were a couple of stories for me to do and that Felicia had the contact numbers. Felicia was busy at the copy-layout desk, but she said that she would get them to me shortly. I told her that there wasn’t a rush. I was still settling into the desk and wanted to look over the budget anyway.

My two stories would be pretty easy this day: one on closure of government offices for the holidays and an advance on the fireworks show that Seguin does, neither would need photos so they would be short stories with over-the-phone interviews.

Maybe about 15 or 20 minutes after Derek came by, Felicia gave me the contacts. She gave me Seguin’s public information officer’s number, and a number to contact for a Guadalupe County judge. She said that the judge could likely point me in the right direction on who to contact for county closures. As for the fireworks, I was given the number for a parks and rec director in Seguin.

Once I had my contacts, I set out to writing my questions and researching. It took maybe 20 or 30 minutes to do. Felicia also emailed me the press release about the closures from the public information officer contact. I looked over the press release. It seemed to already go over everything that I was planning to ask, so I wondered if I really needed to call them. I asked Derek and he said I might give them a call if I want fresh quotes.

I decided to call the fireworks contact first. However, I was told that he was out of the office and in meetings all day, but given his email. The officials in Seguin have it to where all emails go directly to their phones, so he would be able to see it. I then sent out an email to him and asked if he could call me before 5 p.m.

Next, I set out to the closures contacts. After I called the number that Felicia gave me and navigated the automated email, I realized that it was a number for a county judge. I wasn’t sure if that was correct, so I did some research. I came up with a directory of numbers for Guadalupe County and saw that it was indeed for a county judge. At the bottom of the list, however, was the county information desk. I asked Felicia about it. She said that I could try that, but she wasn’t sure who I would be talking to.

I gave it a try. I got an operator. I explained who I was and asked if she knew who I could talk to or if there was a public information officer for Guadalupe County. She said that there wasn’t, but she could send me to the assistant to the commissioner judge or something of that sort named Doreen. I got Doreen’s voicemail though and left a message.

Then I tried the number Felicia gave me for the county judge and left a voicemail for him as well.

Not long after, Doreen called back. I had a quick interview with her. She seemed a bit uncomfortable giving me her name, but I got it from her. With the interview in hand, I set out to write the story.

It didn’t take very long to write; it was super short. Doreen had mentioned calling the Sheriff’s office for emergencies. I knew that 911 would of course be available as well so I included it too. I didn’t think anyone would think they could only call the Sheriff’s office for help, but I decided to err on the side of caution and basic common sense and include the 911 bit. When the story was finished I emailed it to Derek.

It was the waiting point of the day. I didn’t know how long it would take Jack Jones with the Parks Rec to get back to me. I knew he was in meetings all day, but there was just no telling. So, I opened up my laptop and started working on my internship blog. This exact entry in-fact.

A little while later, Derek emailed me back the story and asked me to put the contact info for the public information officer in there. I modified the story and then it went back to him.

He also asked me how the Fireworks story was going. I told him I was still waiting to hear back from Jack Jones. Felicia gave me another number for a Parks Rec contact, but she seemed like Jack Jones would be a strong source because he was the Director. I tried that source, but also got an office worker. She said that the second source was at the wavepool. I’m not really sure what that is, but she said that she would give her my callback information and let her know that I called. I also looked up second source’s email address and sent her an email too. I figured she might get it sooner if her email is connected to her phone too.

While I waited for the potential two sources for the one story to call back, I took the time to work on the blog some more. Then I checked up on my financial aid appeal. I went over on the maximum hours that you can take by one or two hours after the spring (max hours is 45 for a second bachelors, after the spring I was at 47 hours), so my aid was denied for the fall. Someone in the SJMC office told me that I had to declare a minor when I was filling out the paperwork to declare myself a full-major, but I don’t think they realized I was a post-baccalaureate. Anyway, by the time I realized, it was too late and I wasted about 9 hours on a minor I didn’t need before I finally went to an adviser and dropped it. Those 9 hours I guess would have  been my final fall semester here for aid.

Anyway, the denial of the appeal was disappointing to see. I was hoping with only one more semester left that I would be approved. It means I have to drop a class for sure, unfortunately. I’ll probably only be at 6 hours next semester, as that’s the minimum hours I have to maintain to be eligible for employment with the ETC.

I was calmly, but in-my-head frantically, freaking out to make sure that my Sallie Mae loan application that I had submitted earlier this year was enough to cover tuition for 6 hours (although just barely, it was thank goodness). Derek brought me over a page to edit, so I gladly shift focus to that and got to editing. I found a few AP style errors and noted them.

Around 2:45 p.m.-ish, I asked Felicia about another contact on the Parks and Rec contact list on their website. She said that it was worth a shot, but that person tended to pass you off to the other two that I had already tried. I decided to wait 30 minutes to give the other two sources a little more time to contact me. When 3:15 p.m. finally rolled around, I called the Parks and Rec office again. I asked for the third source and they transferred me, but the Director Jack Jones picked up! He was the first source that I was trying to contact. I interviewed him, wrote up the story and sent it off to Derek.

The day was mostly done, but I decided to wait around in case there were more pages to proof. Megan was out of the office, I think on maternity leave, so Derek was doing the page layout today. I wasn’t sure if he might need help. So while I waited, I worked on my blog some more.

I waited around another thirty minutes or so, just to be sure there weren’t any other story edits or pages that needed to be proofed. Then I asked Derek if there were anymore pages. He said that if I wanted to I could head home. He also said that if I wanted to take the next day (Friday, July 3rd) off, that I could. I told him that I was okay with taking it off. All offices in Seguin were going to be closed the next day, so there really wasn’t a story ready for me to cover. I was really excited for it though. I was getting Saturday, July 4th off from ETC, so that meant two days off in a row, a Fri and Sat! It was like a mini-vacation in the middle of the summer.

Anyway, so I wished everyone a good 4th of July and headed off. Thus concluded week five and day nine of my internship adventure.