What a Day!

You wouldn't believe the day I had Wednesday, September 27th. It was busy as usual, but completely exciting because I was at the Capitol capturing sounds for my Intern Edition story.

First, I had to get my press pass, which by the way, I'm proud to say I accomplished obtaining it all on my own. Getting a press pass took a little maneuvering--I had to call the media office to find out about the process. I went through the correct paperwork and then obtained a letter from the news desk stating I was "legit."

It felt good walking freely around the Capitol building. What I really enjoyed was getting to hang out in the Speaker's lobby just outside of the House floor. The lobby is where members of Congress go to relax in between votes, and of course, it's also the place where the press likes to hang around in order to grab interviews. Once the votes started happening, it became pretty hectic, with lots of mingling between the press and the Representatives.

Incredibly, I was able to personally interview three members of the House: David Price, Adam Putnam, and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz. At first, I didn't think I would get any interviews with any of them, but there were ushers that helped me out. It was also really cool seeing the congresswoman from my home state, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and the staff director I worked under as an intern with The Committee on The International Relations’ Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia.

-Jason Hesch, Audience and Corporate Research

Rock, Paper, Scissors!

RPS 2006: The Saga Begins

As a reporter for Intern Edition, I plan to attend the Rock Paper Scissors World Championships in Toronto and win three important things: 1) $7000 CAD, 2) a reputation as the greatest RPS player on the face of the earth, and 3) respect as a broadcast journalist. From where I’m sitting now (i.e. my desk), it seems I have two major obstacles in my path: 1) mental toughness, and 2) statistics.

Last summer I made my debut on the RPS Circuit at the DC Nationals, where I bowed out in the first round alongside Cheddar Ted, the JoJo to my KC. To give you a glimpse of my experience, here is an excerpt from my post-tournament diary:

After winning the first best of three set then going up 1-0 in the second, I managed to give it all away to this dude with some sort of Viet Cong combat helmet on his dome. Apparently, this bro ruined a pep rally at my friend’s high school by hiding in an overturned trash can and walking into the step show, where he had to be tackled in the trash can by a gang of faculty. He also cheated by delaying his throws and looking at my hands instead of into my eyes like a true gamer. I attempted to alert our completely oblivious, chain-smoking judge to this underhandedness, but I’m pretty sure she had no idea that she was at a Rock Paper Scissors tournament. Perhaps she believed she was working at an outpost of Staples that was being ransacked by Neanderthals.

After a few depressing moments at the bar, the night was salvaged in some street RPS games upstairs where Cheddar beat the #16-ranked Awesomer Thanyou in a cash game. Awesomer, whose real name is James, also lost in the first round of the tournament and by my calculations squandered about $150 in side games. He seemed poised to play a best of three match for his house. In summation, he seemed like a man with nothing to lose. My brief conversation with him went like this:

Me: Yo Awesomer, how long have you been in the game?

Awesomer: Only a couple of years. I went to the World Championships in Toronto last year. It was awesome.

Me: Was it “Awesomer” than this?

Awesomer (seriously): Hey, man, don’t make fun of my name.

After this experience, I know that RPS is no joke, and if I am going to emerge victorious in Toronto I know I have a lot of training ahead of me in the next month. So far I have mostly been playing games against my mom for use of the television (this is a lie) and using this online RPS simulator (http://www.shotgunrules.com/rock_paper_scissors.shtml), which is like the modern-day equivalent of putting chess moves in bottles and throwing them into the ocean. In other words, very unfulfilling and mostly useless.

This is just the beginning…

-Christopher Schonberger, Weekend Edition Saturday

Interns <3 the Digital Age

In their first month at NPR, several interns have written sidebars for the NPR website. Check it out:

Erika Engelhaupt, Science Desk intern, wrote "Tailoring your Coffee Drink" for Alison Aubrey's September 28 story, "Coffee: A Little Really Does Go a Long Way" and helped write "Others Weigh in on Gallaudet Protests" for Joseph Shapiro's October 11 story, "Gallaudet's President Struggles with Protests."

Adeline Goss, Executive Producer of Intern Edition, wrote "Painting the Early Universe's Picture" for David Kestenbaum's October 3 story, "Big-Bang Detective Work Wins Physics Nobel."

Afton Woodward, Online intern, wrote "White Collar Crooks: Pleas and Punishments," for Wade Goodwyn's September 26 story, "Enron's Fastow seeks - and receives - Leniency."

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Nothing says "autumn" quite like pumpkin-harvesting in New England. But giant pumpkins? Lindsey Larson recounts her recent interviews for Intern Edition:

* * *

My Intern Edition story took me to Topsfield, MA last weekend to report on the 188th annual Topsfield Fair. Following a core team of five pumpkin growers over two days, I became well-versed in the particulars of growing the mythical giant pumpkin.

A squash of fantastic proportions, giant pumpkins can gain 30 to 40 pounds per day and require 500 gallons of water per day to support that fattening regimen. Each summer throughout New England, dedicated growers resign themselves to the garden for three whole months in hopes of winning the giant pumpkin weigh-off.

Five members of the Ipswich Bay Giant Pumpkin Growers Association invited me to help pick each others' special harvest. Using a tripod, which was once employed to move gravestones, they carefully lifted each pumpkin and placed it on a palette covered with rugs and couch cushions. The next morning, "convoys" of pumpkin growers arrived at the Topsfield Fair from across New England. They began unloading the pumpkins at 6 a.m. and the weigh-off got underway around nine.

Throughout the events of the morning, I interviewed both young and old to try to determine why they were obsessed with a vegetable that is - they admit it - ugly. With many weighing in at over 1,000 pounds, giant pumpkins maintain a variety of globular shapes and unusual colorings. At 1 o'clock, the judges announced the winner as the weight flashed on the digital screen: 1,347 pounds, a new Topsfield Fair record!

-Lindsey Larson, Radio Expeditions

10/4 Intern Edition Meeting

For this week's Intern Edition meeting, we had guest speakers NPR Arts and Information reporter David Folkenflik and John Barth, managing director of PRX. David shared valuable information on interviewing people and how to deal with problems that might pop up. The most important things seemed to be 1) don't talk too much as the interviewer, 2) be prepared before you start an interview, 3) get comfortable with your equipment, 4) don't ask yes and no questions, and 5) really listen to what the person is saying.






Interns gather around to listen to
David's engrossing stories.

John Barth is the director of Public Radio Exchange, a website that is "a web-based marketplace for public radio pieces. Programmers find and air work from other stations, independent producers and international broadcasters. Producers - station-based or independent - license their work directly to stations." (Taken from the website at www.prx.org. For more information about PRX, please go to the website. )





John encourages the group to add their
own radio pieces onto PRX's site.

We would like to thank both David and John for taking some time out of their day to speak with us.

Bertina Yu, Washington Desk/IE Blog Editor