This week at Next Generation Radio, a program designed to train journalists of color for public radio, I found myself struggling to keep up with my peers from the very first day.
Paired with KPCC reporter Erika Aguilar as my mentor, I worked to find a story – any story. It’s a daunting task for someone whose interests vary so greatly. I started with topical issues such as education, the prison system, and energy and slowly chipped away at getting closer to a focus statement. It was my first time developing a story pitch from ground zero and I wanted to do a story that “mattered.”
“You can’t be paralyzed by perfection,” Erika told me. “It’s ok not to aim for the top. It’s ok to just take that next step.”
Over the next couple of days, I decided I’d do something about a small Arizona town called Eloy. The town of about 16,700 people got on my radar because it was the site of a prison expansion. I wondered why a community would be so welcoming to an industry that has a negative connotation. Despite not having a clear story idea I secured several interviews and visited the town where I pounded the pavement.
After hours’ worth of interviews with residents, local business owners and city officials, I learned that the community hoped to benefit financially from the prison expansion. More prison beds means more prison guards, and that meant more people spending money in the community.
My experience working on this story has been invaluable. Erika taught me so much about managing my time, doing the best with the material I have, and knowing when to stop and take a break. I had never done a feature-length radio story, let alone a non-narrated story.
The story turned out to be nothing like I expected, but it was better because I learned so much.