Role schemas, media frames, emotions pictures . . . I am overwhelmed this week. What happens when you work for five years trying to hone a skill and you realize you might have been doing it wrong all along? As I went about my interviewing this week for the myriad of assignments I had, I realized I gravitate towards individuals I recognize as being concise well spoken individuals who can give me paragraphs of useable quotes. However, these fabulous individuals also have agendas the size of the Lone Star State. As wonderful and useful as statistics and press releases are stories do not lie between the lines of a written statement. They hide behind the eyes of the people in our city.
I have been writing short features for The Dallas Morning News about education and after school programs for inner city children. The past several events I have covered a teacher from South Dallas has also been there. As I interviewed the "programs director" for my assignment this week I watched this teacher timidly tap out rythms on a drum set in front of me. Now, did the programs director have fabulous quotes. Yes. But the effort this teacher was putting forth to reach her students encouraged me more than a statistic sheet ever could. People are what they do and not what they say.
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