Verbatim: Face the music

Professor Smith is a well-rounded woman, and she's made repeated musical references since January: spontaneous song and dance, our infamous news ballads and of course, the occasional pop culture witticism.

As the semester draws to a close, here are a few of my favorite music-related quotes.

ON CHRIS BROWN AND RIHANNA
They’re recording a new song together? What’s it called, “I Beat You Up And Put a Ring On It?”

ON CROSBY, STILLS, NASH & YOUNG
“He has probably four verses, and the rest is just na na na na na na. You know, Neil’s not a fool.”

ON THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS
"They didn't have news of John Lennon being shot in Bulgaria. I guess that wasn't newsworthy in communist Bulgaria."

Byline: Running out of crime

I begin this post with a Tweet from Alex, my Partner-in-Crime.

atilsley: @laura_nelson It's a good thing we're almost done with the crime beat because you've got to be running out of crime puns by now...

The answer is never, my friends — never will I run out of crime puns!

Even after our duties are done and we hang up our reporter's notebooks until August, I will still have a surfeit of work-related word play that I'll spring on you during the summer months.

You could say my DT punniness is... criminal.

• • •

This morning, I was bursting with excitement as I stood in line at TroGro.

This semester wore me down journalistically. Writing on deadline became so rote and front-page bylines so frequent, sometimes more than one a week, that the thrill faded.

But it was Christmas in April when I stepped up to the TroGro register, picked up a paper and saw my byline attached to a story of which I was truly proud : "University's image not shaken by crime, students say."

"That's my byline!" I grinned at the TroGro woman, who didn't react, instead smiling blandly with slightly buggish eyes, as if I was a rather interesting wart she'd just found.

This PR story took me a week — about six and a half days longer than we usually have to publish a story — and some interviews took longer than an hour.

Calls went unanswered. Multiple secretaries blocked my efforts to talk to more than one branch of the administration. Students said dull or unenlightening things. I have a 100-page reporter's notebook chock full of quotes and interviews that I didn't end up using.

But today, for the first time in a long time, I felt I'd surpassed my expectations.

If I'd had another night to work on the story, I didn't feel it could have improved. I walked away from edits with Kate and Tiffanie absolutely glowing, with the satisfaction of producing something of which I was truly proud.

This may be my last crime story of the semester, barring any breaking news this week (knock on wood). I'm excited that I may go out with a bang.

If you get five minutes, please read and comment (even if you don't have time, please do it anyway): University's image not shaken by crime, students say.

Step into my office

(click to zoom)

And by my office, I mean a screenshot of my desktop. Today is April 27, and it's warmer in Chicago, IL than it is in Los Angeles.

That is all.

Curious about what other Widgets on my Mac Dashboard? Follow along clockwise from "midnight."

• Japanese lanterns: Nothing's more eco-friendly than imaginary lights. They blink, chase each other, stay on/off depending on my preference and give my dashboard some wonderful mood lighting. You can also turn them into Christmast lights, shamrocks, Hanukkah lights, chile peppers, balloons, maple leaves and anything else you could ever think of.
Download Festive Lights 2 here (note: Japanese Lanterns are a plug-in).

• To-do list: Yes, it's always this long, if not longer.
Note: This is the Stickies application, which comes with any Mac.

• Screen capture widget: This black, oblong widget helps me take timed screenshots, full screenshots and sections of screenshots, then preview the image before deciding to save it or retake. Very convenient.
Download Screenshot Plus here.

• Twitter: I have two Twitters — one for my journalism class, which is unprotected and deals with academic topics, and one for personal use, which only friends can see — and this helps me keep them separate. This is my journalism Twitter, so whenever I need to Tweet for class, I just call up my Dashboard.
Download Twidget 2 here.

• Countdowns: I may be a writer, but sometimes, I'm a numbers girl — especially when I can count them on two hands. Using this widget, you can count down using weekdays or all seven days of the week.
Download Countdown Calendar here.

• Flowers: What girl doesn't like having fresh flowers lying around on her desk? Water the blossoms and watch them grow and bloom.
Download Virtual Flowerpot here.

• Shopping list: I've made an effort this year to keep track of everything I need, so I only have to go to El Supérior once in a blue moon. Right now, I guess I need Kleenex, paper towels... and a voice recorder? The lists tend to be somewhat eclectic.
This widget is standard fare and comes with every basic Mac.

• Lava lamp: Again with the mood lighting. Change your lamp color and lava color to your liking. Oh, and it's also an iTunes controller!
Download plasmatube2 here.

• Harmonic 2: We have a running joke in my family that my mother only knows 10 words to every song. This widget, which connects to iTunes and provides the lyrics to the song that's currently playing, is my solution to the genetic curse : I can gaze at my screen, seemingly entranced in my music, and look at the lyrics so I can sing along with everyone else. Guilty.
Download Harmonics 2 here.

• Dashboard-gate: Yep, that is what you think it is — a paper shredder for digital documents. I'm paranoid that someone will apprehend my laptop, hack through my two layers of passwords and discover any type of personal information that I deleted from my machine months ago (address, etc).
Click and drag a document through the slot, watch the little scraps come out the bottom. It's fun AND safe!
This widget has three security settings, or "shred levels" — low, which is basically a trash can without the option of retrieving the file; medium, which overwrites your shredded documents with a US Department of Defense compliant 7 pass procedure; and high, also called "Virtual Paper Pulp," which the company claims ensures that the file will never be recovered again, ever.
Download Shredder here.

• Weather/Time: The Nelson family may be scattered across the country, but I try to keep up with the weather and time at every family member's home or time zone.
These are standard widgets as well.

Verbatim: The last week of class

I'm in my final four days of class – I can't believe how fast this semester has gone! – and in the spirit of finals, here is our favorite professor, Erna Smith, talking about her test.

ON ATTENDANCE
Student: Can you give us a sample question?
Erna: I did. (pause) You weren’t here!

ON MENTAL CAPACITY
Erna: Many of you will make 100 on this test – you should make 100 on this test — and if you don’t, you’re braindead!
(maniacal laughter)

Byline: As crime goes by

It's been a busy few weeks around the Daily Trojan, especially as finals approach.

Although there's not a lot of back story on my last few articles, I'll put them up here anyway.

If you're as busy as I've been for the last 10 days or so, you won't have a chance to even read this blog post, let alone poke through my clips... but I invite you to read them over if you get a chance!

"Area car theft up, DPS says," April 22, 2009.
Although I didn't write the headline, which is misleading, the story is about car burglaries near campus doubling since this time last year. Pretty interesting.

"Hit-and-runs near campus worry students," April 23, 2009.
Following March's fatal hit-and-run, attention to car-related accidents has obviously been piqued — but the collisions continue.

• • •

Looking ahead:
I have a piece running tomorrow morning which I'm very excited about – a survey of the high-profile crime that's happened this year at USC and its effect on the university's image, if any.

It's the second part in a three-piece series.

Check out my partner Alex's piece, the first article, which ran this morning: "DPS: Amount of high-profile crime 'unusual.'"

The piece running tomorrow may also be my last crime story for a very long time (knock on wood – please, news gods, no breaking stories this week...) so I'm hoping to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

If you can't stand the heat...

... then buy an air-conditioner.

Popsicle: Me.
Melty popsicle puddle: The pool of misery and heat in which I am currently wallowing.

OK, lame analogy. But you get the idea.

The last few days, we've been having almost-record temperature highs in Los Angeles (it hit 100°F yesterday), and today isn't any better. As I type this at 6:30 a.m., the broken fan rattling dischordantly behind me, my Mac dashboard weather widget says it's already 72° and climbing.

In the Midwest, we're used to heat like this. We build air conditioners, stay inside and hit the swimming pool.

Sadly, Californians don't seem quite as prepared. Especially not the people who built the USC freshman dorms and didn't buy air conditioners.

My fan is on full-blast, my hair is pinned in some ridiculous up-do and my window is open, coaxing in the faintest tantalizing hint of a silky morning breeze. I'm thankful on days like this that I live on the fifth floor of a building with awnings – kids in the lower dorms are baking in the heat.

What I'm really craving now is a Popsicle and a day at the beach, but it's too hot and too early to leave the room.

Byline: In which I interview Katie Couric

Wednesday at 8 a.m., I dragged myself out of bed reluctantly, straightened my hair and threw on a white skirt, a pink sweater and matching sandals.

My friend Jason and I were heading to the Walter Cronkite awards down the street at the Davidson Conference Center, where we'd heard they would be serving free breakfast AND free lunch (what college student doesn't love free gourmet meals?).

Broadcasters and their stations were receiving awards for excellence in political broadcast journalism reporting during the November election, and we'd heard Katie Couric would be there.

Katie Couric, shortly after getting her hair cut in December. We gave the new 'do a thumbs-up!

Plus, apparently not everyone got invited, so we felt somewhat special.

After arriving, seeing business-like black suits left and right, dashing back to Birnkrant to change into blazers and dress shoes, and registering at last, we drifted – but with purpose – towards the Continental breakfast.

During the most awkward half hour of our lives, we watched all the female honorees meet each other for the first time but laugh and hug like old friends, low-carb muffins and fruit plates clutched in their well-manicured talons, while the menfolk straightened their ties and dumped Splenda in their lukewarm TroGro coffee.

Broadcast journalists are a strange breed, I decided. So different from Central Casting's wrinkled, cigar-smoking, somewhat-alcoholic print journalist that always comes to mind when I think about newspapers.

The Cronkite Awards did NOT look like this, nor did the recipients look like these journalists.

We whispered about leaving, and I even texted other people to see if we were really stranded in an ocean of broadcasters (indeed yes, we were). But we ended up staying – thank goodness – to observe the scene from a corner, gripping plates and looking uncertain, until it was time for the panel discussion down the hall.

During an hour-and-a-half discussion, where we saw Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos (from "This Week") and the other honorees, we learned broadcasters' opinions on the print journalism fiasco.

Read it here: "Journalists talk industry development"

George's wife Alexandra Wentworth, George and their daughter

After the panel discussion, during which I furiously scribbled notes on Jason's scratch paper, I ran back to Birnkrant for the second time, thanking my lucky stars that my dorm was so close, thinking, I can't believe I forgot my notebook. What kind of reporter am I?

Then, we settled down for a long awards lunch. At my table, I chatted with employees of the Norman Lear Center, USC-Annenberg professors and broadcast professionals.

We watched clips from the award-winning broadcasts, including local elections in Pennsylvania set during a mud festival and excerpts from Couric's interviews with GOP-VP pick Sarah Palin.

Afterwards, I was out of my chair like a rocket, standing in the line to meet Couric. As I watched graduate student after professional after colleage after friend shake her hand, I got more and more nervous.

Jason got to her first – "Hi, I'm Jason, and I really just want to shake your hand," which she did, graciously – and then, it was my turn.

"Hi, Ms. Couric. I'm Laura Nelson with the Daily Trojan, the campus paper."

We shook hands, kicking off a three or four minute interview on the fly.

The only downside: I towered over her. Somehow, celebrities always look smaller in real life.I was about a foot taller than George Stephanopoulos, too.

I wished I could have surreptitiously kicked off my heels before we talked, but too late – instead, I gazed down at her and tried not to cast a shadow on her face with my repoter's pad. She meets about 400 people a day and won't remember anyway, I'm sure.

But when she disappeared into a waiting car, I was glowing. What a thrill!

Again, read her quotes and the rest of the story here: "Journalists talk industry development"

Byline: Crosswalk Talk

I can't believe it's been just two short weeks since March's hit-and-run.

The days following the accident reverberated with charged emotions; there weren't enough hours in the day to cover the necessary stories with delicacy, accuracy and speed.

But since then, life has settled back into a comforting rhythm and our hit-and-run coverage has slowed to a trickle.

After all, legal circumstances aren't promising: neither the car allegedly involved in the incident nor the passenger of the car, Josue Luna, has been found since March 29.

However, the city of Los Angeles has teamed up with USC and the Department of Transportation to make more immediate changes closer to home.

Read "USC, city mull intersection modifications" here.

(I'm dressed up for the Walter Cronkite Awards at the Davidson Conference Center, where I interviewed Katie Couric! More on that later.)

Kansas Connection: Parkside, SMSD style

Kansas Connection: Parkside, SMSD style
I stood up from the table, yawned and gathered up my dishes. I was just pushing my chair in when someone at the table next to me said, "Hey!"

I turned around – it was Femi, a guy I'd met at a birthday party earlier in the semester.

As he and I started catching up, his friend to the left introduced himself.

Guy on the left: Where are you from?
Me: Oh, far away.
Guy: Where though?
Me: Kansas City.
Guy: Really?! Me too!

At this point, I've completely forgotten about the friend I'd walked over to talk with.

Me: What part of Kansas City?
KC Boy: Shawnee Mission.
Me: I WENT TO SHAWNEE MISSION EAST!
KCB: I went to North!

(long pause while we digest this information)

SMN: I'm a junior, what grade are you?
Me: Oh, I'm a freshman. I'm sure we don't know any of the same people.
SMN: I don't know, I hung out with a few people from East. What juniors do you know?
Me: I really only know about five or six. I worked with them on the newspaper.
SMN: Who?
Me: (naming off the six or seven kids I worked with)
SMN: (jaw starts to slacken) DUDE! Those kids are like, my best friends from East!
Me: (starting to get weirded out) No way!
SMN: And your newspaper adviser was named Dow Tate! And the paper was the Harbinger!
Me: Yep! Yep!

All in all, I learned that he knew my Homecoming date from sophomore year, the ins and outs of my high school paper and some of the seniors I looked up to most when I was a sophomore.

Small world.
Parkside dinner.
Kansas connection.

Journalism is pain. Literally.

Here's a brief, shining moment of irony for everyone as firmly entrenched in work as I have been lately.

I woke up Monday morning with excruciating neck and back pain, completely clueless as to what had caused it. I'd played an hour of softball on Friday and walked laps for Relay for Life, but I'm relatively active and have never had issues with walking or batting in the past.

I scheduled an appointment with the health center. After two hours of X-Rays, consultations and waiting rooms, I discovered from the wonderfully friendly, hilarious nurse that my aches and pains were caused by four things:

1. Lack of sleep. The little sleep I do get, she said, is the wrong kind. (Note: did anyone know that there was a "right" way to sleep?) I'm a stomach sleeper, and when I turn my head to the side in the night, it messes with the alignment of my spine.
2. Stress. She reached out to massage my shoulders, and couldn't stop herself from exclaiming how tight my trapezius and deltoids were.
   Actual quote: "Girl, you need to relax!"
   
3. Typing. Yes, there IS a right way to sit and type, and (surprise) I haven't been doing it.
   So none of you make my mistakes, be sure that you:
   • Always sit, rather than lay or stand, as you type.
   • Sit with your hips and back at a 90° angle
   • Keep your neck in a straight line, not tilted down towards the screen. To do this, remember to keep your chin up!
   • Plant your feet firmly on the ground (use a phonebook under your feet or thighs, if necessary) and don't cross your legs.
   
4. Interviewing (I kid you not): I always clutch my cell phone between my right shoulder an my ear. It's a trick I picked up as a little kid when I watched my mom conduct phone interviews at home, and it's always served me well: I have both hands free to type, jot notes, rifle through papers or even just doodle as the person talks.
   Apparently however – journalists everywhere, beware! — this is one of the most harmful positions for your shoulder as you type. Your fingers connect through your elbow to your shoulder to your neck to your back, and if your fingers are positioned unnaturally, your back may feel the consequences.

No sleep, stress, typing and interviewing: sound familiar?

Yep, they're the four factors I generally associate with the Daily Trojan. We've all been there — exhausted and achy and stressed — but after a few grueling weeks, the irony is really killing me. The job that I love so much and give up so much of my time for has given me bodily harm.

I got a lot of mileage out of this story tonight in between gales of laughter.

Now, I'm off to bum some Advil off my RA.

Byline: Continued hit-and-run coverage

What a week it's been for the Partners in Crime and the rest of the Daily Trojan.

Since my last, somewhat emotional post, my partner Alex and I have continued to cover last Sunday's hit-and-run case with the help of our two news editors, Kate and Tiffanie.

In the first week after incidents like the hit-and-run occur, updates fly thick and fast. It's all we could do to keep up with everything that's been happening in the case.

Here's most of the coverage the four of us have done in the last week.

Take a look:
• "$135,000 offered as reward in hit-and-run case" — my coverage of the first reward funding
• "Adrianna Bachan, 18, remembered for her passion" — Kate's obituary.
• "Donor gives $100,000 to reward fund" — Alex's breaking update on the reward fund's anonymous $100,000 donor.
• "Hit-and-run sparks talks about safety"— my story on crosswalk safety and the University's plans for the intersection where the incident occurred
• "Hit-and-run driver booked, passenger still wanted for questioning" — my co-byline with Alex following the case's first arrest
• "Car, passenger in hit-and-run still missing" — my and Alex's continued coverage of the case's progress

I'd encourage all of you, even non-SC students, to read about this case if you have the time.

Some (okay, a lot) of my homework has basically gone by the wayside, as has Alex's, but somehow, doing justice to Adrianna, Marcus and this case is so much more important.

The hardest part of crime reporting.

I've never cried on the job before.

Usually, I can separate myself from the emotions of a story.

But yesterday morning, standing outside a Los Angeles City Hall courtroom with a mother's sobs echoing in the hallway, I fought against a massive lump in my throat.

Sunday morning around 3 a.m., Adrianna Bachan and Marcus Garfinkle, both USC freshmen, were crossing Jefferson Boulevard when a driver allegedly ran a red light and hit the pedestrians, according to LAPD. Adrianna died after being transported to California Hospital.

Marcus stayed on the hood area of the car for a distance, according to eyewitnesses and LAPD. Then, the car's front seat passenger allegedly got out and moved Marcus from the car's hood before driving off, leaving Marcus on the sidewalk. Marcus sustained serious injuries, but sources have called his condition "stable."

Read the first story, to which I contributed reporting, here: "Student killed in hit-and-run near campus."

Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a $75,000 reward for information leading to conviction of the suspect involved in the hit-and-run. Monday, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors set aside $10,000 for the same cause, and USC contributed $50,000 of its own money Wednesday.

The total: $135,000 for information about the still unknown hit-and-run suspects.

As over 100 solemn-faced students – who had taken buses downtown to show their support for Adrianna, Marcus and the $75,000 proposal – slowly filed out of the courtroom, Carmen Bachan sobbed to a flock of reporters in a blend of English and Spanish.

When I felt her raw emotion, a tear rolled down my face before I could stop it. I realized then that crime reporting is more than sirens and yellow caution tape: it's seeing, understanding and reporting the repercussions and aftermaths of the crimes committed. It was a sobering realization.

I've met Marcus, and friends of mine know him well. I'd never met Adrianna, but the knowledge that neither student was at fault terrified me. That anyone my age, crossing with the light, not breaking any traffic laws, could be helpless to stop horrific incidents like Sunday's hit-and-run scared me beyond words.

This funding story – cut and dry, full of numbers and matter-of-fact quotes – may not seem like it, but the 10-minute group interview I had with Carmen Bachan made it one of the hardest I've ever written.

Read the second story, which I wrote, here: "$135,000 offered as reward for hit-and-run case."