Hi there,

So the subject has nothing to do with the content; I just wanted to get your attention. I hope you haven't died or anything, because I'm counting on you to get me a good position on the Legend staff next year.

Just kidding, hope you're having a great summer and relaxing and getting tan and whatnot. In your free time you should make some retro record bowls.

Anyway, i've just finished Mosaic and just started Newspaper by the Bay. Mosaic was one of the funnest experiences of my life, I keep in touch with all the editors and kids, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, the newspaper is up online at mosaicworkshop.org. But I don't want you to read it yet!!!!!! I want you to read the actual paper.

Either you wait until school starts or I find some way to slip it to you, either way, I'm very extremely proud of it and so are all of the other kids. I was the only one who managed to write about three stories and take pictures. I had to; when breaking news took place in front of the Kerry rally, there was no-one to snap photos but me.

Anyway, i was only at Newspaper by the Bay today for about 2 and a half hours,( i hate it because the commute is hell) but I'm noticing some distinct differences between the two programs.

Mosaic benefited the individual more, career wise and as a reporter. It's main benefit was that it provided an opportunity to really step in a reporter's shoes and have to call tons of sources, meet deadlines, work all day long, and get nagged at by our editors to move the nutgraph up, change the lead, and slice up the whole piece. Thank god I'd already gotten a sense of having my work mauled from you, or else the process might've been pretty daunting. I like mauling, though. It really lets you know what you need to improve on.

It also helped me understand a lot of things you said a lot better. You always told us, "Get tons of sources!" Now I know how to target good sources, get ahold of them and utilize them to say what I want them to say. You always told us about finding our target audience, and sort of angling our work to cater to that audience. For Mosaic, we had to take every story or idea we had and make it something that a teen would want to read. I also learned how to shed light on an issue while covering both sides of it (tough, but if you get good sources it's easier).

Newspaper by the Bay is aiming more towards people who already have experience. And if you don't have some experience, you really don't even deserve to be there...there are editors-in-chief of the best student newspapers in the country, zoning in from 10 different states excluding California. And they're trying to give you the information you need to run your newspaper efficiently and to take the skills and advantages your paper has and build on them to make it better. They've already given us a lot of helpful tips. I mailed in our April issue weeks before, so Gil Chesterton, the guy running it, had plenty of time to analyze it and give me some one-on-one criticism. They also gave us a sheet that I think will come in handy to help criticize issues.

One thing I dislike is that it's very obviously less intimate than Mosaic. There are the same number of editor/advisor type folk, but 87 kids versus 20. Wow. We all have to sit in this big lecture room and I have no space on my desk/arm rest, and I dont have a computer. They expect us to write our articles by hand!!! gasp!!! It's terrible.

You wanted me and Andrea to work on updating the geting-to-know journalism stuff next year. If we can take advantage of the school's copy machine, I got some really great handouts from Newspaper by the Bay that will lighten our workload a lot. One of them teaches how to structure an article really well: I'm completely in love with it. Lede, second sentence, sexy quote, nut graf end with past,future,kicker...blah blah blah. Wish I'd had it from the very beginning. It almost feels like cheating using it now.

I don't know if this was some sort of shameless plug, but it didn't look like they had any sort of association with it. Anyway, they told us to tell our advisors (so I am, obediently) about this book by the Southern California Journalist's Education. It's called "Practical Ideas for Teaching Journalism" (I know, underline, not quote...I don't know where the button for it is though) and they said it's a great help to advisors. Also, they said to look up the National Scholastic Press Association. You might already know all of this.

Well, that's it for this insanely long email. Hope you're still awake. have a great summer

-Stephanie