The fork in the road

It's been a while since I've posted with any regularity here at Creative Ink. Humble apologies to any regular readers I might have. My creative and productive energies have been diverted elsewhere for the past few months into some very important and meaningful personal projects that required my full attention.

As a result, I've had little brain activity leftover to share meaningful thoughts here. I'll try to do better as life starts to settle into the normal workday/school day routine. Part of what I've done this summer is explore where I want to take my career moving forward. I have possible paths, but certainly nothing definitive. I am at the proverbial fork in the road.

I've spent four and a half years working full-time as an independent journalist from home. It's been great in so many ways. Here are some professional highlights:

• Started Creative Ink in March 2004 and through that writing began reconnecting with the dreams of my younger self.

• Traveled to New York City for the first time twice in 2004 and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Big Apple on my own.

• Got my passport and my first passport stamps when I traveled to Seoul, South Korea in 2004. I was one of the only female speakers at East Asia Journalists Forum, which obligated me to perform many toasts during our meals.

• Had my first PD feature published in May 2004; lead to weekly book reviews in PD for 18 months before burnout set in and freelance budgets were slashed.

• Traveled to New York City and Las Vegas in 2005, both times with awesome traveling companion Jill Zimon. 

• While in Las Vegas in 2005, had exclusive interview with former New York Times reporter Judith Miller upon her release from prison.

• Discovered the beauty and soulfulness of Thomas Merton; wrote article in 2005 on his influence on modern-day Catholics that started a three-year working relationship with Catholic Universe Bulletin. Oh, and that story also won first place in religion coverage in 2006 Ohio SPJ Awards.

• Traveled to Chicago in August 2006, but I'm disappointed to say that I saw little of the city other than the conference hotel and the Billy Goat Tavern. I hope to return soon.

• Had first article published in Continental Magazine in October 2006.

• Applied for and was accepted as a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors in February 2007

• Traveled to Anniston, Alabama, in April 2007 where I met Gay Talese and Rick Bragg among a host of other wonderful southern storytellers who continue to inspire me.

• Risked much professionally, personally and financially by calling out national SPJ leadership on a bad decision that ultimately was reversed in August 2007. Still a painful memory, but something I would do again in a heartbeat because it was the right thing to do.

• Started my third year of writing about small schools transformation at Cleveland Heights High School in August 2007 and discovered a passion for urban education that may dictate my future professional plans.

• Began consulting editor relationship with Catalyst Ohio magazine in November 2007 that continues to this day.

• Applied for Peter Jennings Fellowship for Journalism and the Constitution, was accepted and traveled to Philadelphia, Penn., in March 2008. Among my colleagues there was Atlantic national correspondent and author Mark Bowden, who has been very kind and generous in providing direction and assistance when asked.

• Had my first feature published in the Christian Science Monitor in April 2008, with subsequent stories in May and July.

• Was shocked, confused and then honored to be named Cleveland SPJ Distinguished Service Award winner in May 2008.

• Won first place in feature writing for article about group of St. Ignatius High School pallbearers from the Catholic Press Association in June 2008.

Over the summer I reached a few conclusions that will alter my writing future. First, is the financial reality that with my oldest son heading to college in three years, I need a more stable and consistent form of income. Second, is that I'm exhausted—I mean could sleep for a week straight exhausted—by the nonstop hustle of getting work and trying to get paid in something resembling a timely manner. Third, is that I realize my writing has reached a point of stagnation. Stagnation is akin to death for a writer. I need new creative challenges to push me forward. Fourth is that I'm tired of working in isolation. I'd like to be a part of a more collaborative working environment that allows me to brainstorm, share and learn from others.

So where do I see myself in the next few months? I honestly don't know. I'd like to continue being a journalist, though frankly the opportunities to do so and remain in Cleveland are extraordinarily limited. I check the job boards daily and there's little in Ohio, let alone in Cleveland. I've reached out to some colleagues, but the news is always dire about cutbacks rather than hiring. I'm not about to close off any path. I do have some potential opportunities in the works that could fall into any of the following categories:

1) Find a great job at an existing media outlet that allows me to explore narrative and new media journalism either as a writer and/or editor.

2) Get some funding and start my own new media venture that allows me to lead a team of professional, citizen and student journalists toward development and launch of a dynamic multimedia site.

3) Go to graduate school to study history and begin work on becoming a history professor.

4) Find another avenue for using my writing and editing skills outside of journalism. 

5) What every writer aspires to do: write a book. 

My path is not clear, but I hope it will be illuminated soon.  

Jennings roundup

As often happens when one returns from a professional workshop, the mind is overrun with experiences, conversations, information, possibilities, etc. This is certainly true of my weekend at the National Constitution Center for the 2008 Peter Jennings Project for Journalism and the Constitution.

I'm trying to pick a highlight, but I don't think I can. Certainly there are several people with whom I hope to remain in contact. We had some wonderful breakfast and dinner conversations that ranged from the lousy cooking of Irish mothers to the unique characteristics of Ohio versus Pennsylvania; from who will survive in "The Wire," to what it was like to work for a journalistic legend like Gene Roberts; and all around the colorful political history of Philadelphia ("the only city in which a mayor unleashed a bomb").

We gathered in the early evening hours Saturday in an auditorium careful not to walk into or trip over the C-SPAN paraphernalia lining the room. The room was quickly filling to listen to a discussion on Women and the Law. The featured speaker was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

She followed moderator Lynn Sherr onto the stage and looked so tiny, yet when she spoke it was quite clear that her mind is great indeed. She must have stories upon stories to tell about being a woman in a man's world. I would have liked to hear more.

When she graduated from Columbia Law School (at the head of her class) in 1959 she had a four-year-old daughter. No law firm in New York would touch her. But a professor in charge of finding clerkships got her started. He insisted this judge give Ginsburg a chance. If it didn't work out with her, he had another hotshot male lawyer ready to step in. "If you don't give her a chance," she told us, "I'll never refer another law student to you."

The conversation meandered through various discussions of women's struggles in the law profession and how far they still need to go. But Ginsburg mentioned that it was former President Jimmy Carter who deserves the credit for advancing women in the federal judiciary. When he took office in 1976, there was only one female judge. He gave her a position in his cabinet, which left none. By the time he left office in 1980, there were 25 women serving on the federal bench. It was his efforts that really paved the way for Ronald Reagan to appoint Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice.

Sherilynn Ifill, law professor at the University of Maryland and facilitator of my case study workshop, was absolutely outstanding. Both she and Gene Pratter, a U.S. District Judge nominated to the Third Circuit, recognized that women still do not hold the high positions in government, business, law firms and nonprofits, but that when they do achieve those positions, they hope women do so not by mimicking men, but by bringing those distinctive qualities of female leaders.

Ifill asks her female and minority students where they see themselves in the Constitution. Most would flip through to the 13th, 14th, 15th and 19th amendments. Only a few, Ifill said, recognized that they are visible in the first three words: We the People.

Our case study group continued to examine the issues in our case (Republican Party of Minnesota v. White) over breakfast on Sunday. When we tried to make the case about the validity of judicial elections, Ifill would bring us back to what the case was really about: freedom of speech and its possible tension with the right to due process under the law.

In the end, our group was divided 6-5, with the majority siding with Justice Ginsburg's dissent that the state of Minnesota's "announce clause" was not a violation of free speech. I spoke for dissent in our group, that in the actual case was the majority opinion. Instead of using the words of Justice Scalia's majority opinion, however, I drew from Justice Kennedy's concurrence:

"If Minnesota believes that certain sorts of candidate speech disclose flaws in the candidate's credentials, democracy and free speech are their own correctives. The legal profession, the legal academy, the press, voluntary groups, political and civic leaders, and all interested citizens can use their own First Amendment freedoms to protest statements inconsistent with standards of judicial neutrality and judicial excellence. Indeed, if democracy is to fulfill its promise, they must do so. They must reach voters who are uninterested or uninformed or blinded by partisanship, and they must urge upon the voters a higher and better understanding of the judicial function and a stronger commitment to preserving its finest traditions."

I asked, during our workshop, what the role of the press was in informing citizens of the qualifications of a good judge. That led to an interesting discussion that prompted our small group to ask: What does open-mindedness or judicial temperament mean in the judiciary? Aside from graduating law school and passing the bar, what intellectual requirements comprise a good candidate?

Certainly, the press can do a much better job of explaining to the electorate why partisan issues are not the basis for selecting a good judge.

The experience has left me charged up and ready to tackle more—more of what I'm not yet certain. But as the weekend continues to simmer in my brain, I'm sure all will become clear.

At the end of our time together yesterday, against a spectacularly clear and sunny day, we listened to two Fellows from last year tell us how the project informed their work. Both confessed to getting push-back from their news organizations. Can you imagine? Getting push-back from news organizations on the Constitutional implications of stories?

Word of the day
tenacious: persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired

Blasted rain!

Had to cut my afternoon short because of a downpour. I could've stayed out longer had I been smart enough to take the umbrella that the hotel so thoughtfully provided in my closet. But noooo, I didn't want to carry it. After all, it's the same overcast gray here that it's been for months on end at home.

So here's my afternoon in a nutshell with a few visuals. I picked up my goodie bag from the National Constitution Center, which includes two heavy hardbound books (thank God I bought the big suitcase). I went across the street to Independence Hall, which in a very surreal way reminded me a bit of OU's campus. The nice park ranger there informed me I needed a timed ticket for the tour, which could be had in the visitor center across the green.

You can have breakfast with Ben Franklin on Saturday mornings at the visitor center (reservations are required). Anyway, I picked up my ticket with just enough time to stroll through the Liberty Bell exhibit and clear security for the tour.



Security isn't so bad. I always asked about taking photos instead of presuming it was okay and they only asked me to open my coat and to search my purse. Took less than a minute each time. I felt sorry for the parents with the stroller and the diaper bag and four small kids and all the kiddie crap that, frankly, in this post-9/11 world I think would deter me from ever sightseeing with the young'uns. For a minute, I thought security was going to sniff the contents of the little girl's Dora the Explorer canteen.

Our tour guide at Independence Hall was kind of annoying. Maybe it was just her East Coast accent or maybe it was the volume and pitch of her voice—or maybe it was a combination of all the above—but I was getting a headache. But she had a few interesting details.

She reminded us that two signings occurred in the famous hall—Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—but only six of the Founding Fathers signed both documents. Thomas Jefferson did not since he was a minister in France, and John Adams did not since he was a minister to England. Both were busy settling treaties at the ratification of the Constitution.

The old sage Ben Franklin, however, was present at both. And I liked her description of him as America's Leonardo da Vinci ("both were multi-talented and both knew things before their time").

She also called the Declaration of Independence a "well-written press release, not a form of government." George W (not THAT George W) admonished all 90 participants not to speak of the proceedings with any family, friends and certainly not the press for the four-month duration of the assembly. Can you imagine such a thing today? We have the scribe James Madison to thank for official record of what transpired.

The room itself, though it appears massive in the famous painting by Howard Chandler Christy, is actually quite intimate, save for the expansive ceiling. Call me crazy, but I really dig the gray-ish color of the woodwork.



Most of the items in the room are period pieces, but the only actual piece that was there during the Constitutional Convention is the so-called "Rising Sun" chair, in which sat the stately George Washington. It was so-named by the elderly Ben Franklin who had looked at the carvings on the back of the chair trying to determine if it was a rising or setting sun. The rising sun, of course, is a metaphor for the rising nation.

My stomach led me to The City Tavern, founded in 1773 and a favorite gathering place for the Founding Fathers. When independence was nothing more than a whisper, the great minds of democracy would gather in secret from the British. Ironically, the tavern is designed in the style of London tavern, so I guess we weren't that independent.

The servers are in complete Colonial dress, with the women in lacy Betsy Ross caps and the gentlemen in knickers. Since the misty sprinkles were just starting, I opted for some New England Clam Chowder and a salad. Amazing how cold a pewter mug will keep a beverage. The Thomas Jefferson sweet potato biscuits were divine.

I was setting to leave when I noticed the rain pouring off the awning outside. I was only a block or two from the hotel, but in the time it took to get back, my hair was soaked and has reverted to its natural frizzy state.

I'm warming up the flat iron to get rid of the frizz and then it's off to the National Constitution Center to meet my fellows and the faculty.

Word of the day
epistolary: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter

Philly at first blush

After an uneventful flight (just the way we like 'em), I had a rather harrowing ride into the city. Philly is a lot like New York City with traffic everywhere, only smaller. I was in a shuttle van, riding shotgun, with a bird's-eye view of every near miss—vehicular and pedestrian.

The driver blamed the traffic on the Philadelphia Flower Show, occurring this weekend. Apparently, it's a HUGE draw.

I'm in the Old City neighborhood, which is fantastic with brownstone-lined streets and some lovely little shops and cafes. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are literally across the street. So I'm going to go do some walking before the weekend begins with a reception at 5.

But before I do, I'll share this little story about how my kids never let me forget who's really in charge. My lovely little Mikey, all of age 9, has a number of silly sayings, one of which is "You need a squoosh in the toosh?" So I'm unpacking, hanging up my clothes and noticed something stuck to the back of my suit jacket for tomorrow. Using my label maker, Mikey made a sticker that read, "I need a squoosh on the toosh."

Can you imagine my horror, walking in tomorrow with that taped to my back? Thank GOD I found it there!

Of course, afterward I started howling laughing because it's just like him to do something like that, just to let me know who is the boss.

I'm out for a stroll.

Constitutional immersion in the City of Brotherly Love

In a few hours I'll turn my attention away from the mass of editing and toward packing for my weekend as a fellow in the Peter Jennings Project for Journalism and Constitution. I depart for the City of Brotherly Love tomorrow morning and, hopefully, will have a few hours before the weekend begins to explore the area around Independence Hall, where I'll be staying.

I don't need much—a good local bookstore, a walk through Independence Hall, and a stroll through the historic neighborhood of Society Hill. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and my photos will turn out. Otherwise, I'll find a good coffee shop nearby and while away the hours with my book.

For now, I'm in packing mode. Gotta make sure I have all the necessary traveling items—iPod, cell phone and charger, journal, laptop and cords, notebook, business cards, boarding pass, gum, throat lozenges, camera and batteries. Should I bring my tape recorder? Nah. I don't want to mess with it and will prefer instead to absorb the info.

I'll be posting a bit here and there as the weekend continues. The conference is a mixture of small group case study workshops with larger discussions on the Constitution and race, women and the law, and interrogation and the Geneva Accords. Sherilynn Ifill, University of Maryland law professor, will lead my workshop on a free speech case involving Minnesota judicial candidates and the "announce clause."

Early this morning I was thinking about what my husband would say when friends ask, "Where's Wendy?" His response is likely to be: "She's in Philadelphia for some work thing." That response is fine, but the real reason I'm going is to become a better journalist, to get inspired by the subjects that first inspired me to go into journalism.

A trend began to slowly emerge as I sat down to write my personal statement for my fellowship application. It began with the realization that all my life I've been counseled by well-meaning people not to rock the boat. But the longer I wrote, the more my path became clear. I'm giving a voice to those who don't have one or can't use theirs. I write about ordinary people, sometimes doing extraordinary things, living extraordinary lives or facing extraordinary challenges. These were the stories that stood out from nearly 20 years as a journalist:

"For the farmers who watch as their fertile land is stripped from them so that the wealthy can build their mansions; for the blacks and whites who must daily work on the delicate balance that an integrated community requires; for the business owners who find their livelihood stripped away at the hands of one man's greed; for the undocumented immigrant mothers who are torn away from their children in order to serve the interests of the law; and for the educators who embody in loco parentis in the hopes that they can save a generation of children from economic despair."

I write out of a belief that we can—and must—do better as a nation. For my part, I'm going to Philly to learn how to do better by those ordinary people about whom I write.

Word of the day
introspection: a reflective looking inward : an examination of one's own thoughts and feelings

More on Jennings

Here's the official press release on the Peter Jennings Fellowship from the National Constitution Center and the list of fellows. We've got some "homework" to do in advance of the weekend. Kinda reminds me of my constitutional law class in college. Somewhere in one of the many boxes marked, "Wendy's stuff" in the basement is my old constitutional law book. It was one of my favorite classes and for a time I actually contemplated law school. (Student loan debt made me rethink that idea.) My professor's favorite word was repugnant and he used to practically spit on us when he said the word, "repugnant," as if he were pushing it out from his gut.

Philly in March

One of my 2008 goals was to participate in a fellowship. Unfortunately, so many mid-career fellowships are out of reach because I'm not willing to miss any of my kids' lives to leave for six months to a year. But I had been reading about one that piqued my interest last summer.

After corresponding about whether or not freelance journalists were eligible, I finally bit the bullet and submitted an application.

Today I received a letter congratulating me on being selected a 2008 Peter Jennings Fellow. I'll be traveling to the National Constitution Center March 7-9 (along with 30 other mid-career journalists) in Philadelphia to participate in "The Constitution in our Midst: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties."

I don't have many of the particulars yet, but I look forward to learning more about how constitutionalism reaches into our daily lives and affects so much of what we journalists write. I am absolutely thrilled to read that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be leading a panel on "Women and the Law."