Week 3

I am aware that there are nuances, but, as it strikes me, there are two entirely parallel universes existing, and transmitting their stories, out of 300 WAVY Street, both compressed into the absurd quantum form of tiny information-dots that congeal into faces, then into stories, then into feeling-forms come realized, summoned from the mythical information-fragment depths and translated by that ultimate Ouiji Board of selective reality we call the TV screen, upon which we then fix our gaze, unlock our consciousness, and unhinge our minds hungry for nourishment, terror, or both, neatly enfolded into a story.(Forgive the nauseating dead-end metaphors- welcome to the wonder and much-coveted experience of an Alice Minium stream-of-consciousness reflection and ode. Not sure what, in this instance, odes have to do with anything, but I just wanted to remind you that odes exist and are a thing. If all else fails, you may always consider, as I am now seriously considering, pursuing a high-status career as a professional ode writer. About as practical as journalism, right? Anyway- odes. Think about them.  Ode to Joy, you know? Now, I insist that we Ode back to my hilariously lackluster analogy.)

There is both comfort and terror broadcasting from those looming umbrella-mushroom satellites at WAVY, and the story depends as much on the medium as it does the audience.

WAVY News tells you things you don’t really want to hear, but you know you need to hear them (and you don’t want to stop listening). These things are important, concrete, actual, very much like shock- they have the hard feel of truth, which is occasionally sexy but more often than not steady and fierce; it is unrelenting, it is aggressive and fiendlike and in no way resembles in tone a healthy equilibrium for the mental life of a human being at any time.

I love it.

However thrilling Breaking News may be, there is a softness and poignancy to the other side of this office, a side caught in glimpses of almost unreal simplicity, pleasantry, human decency, sophistication, and calmness- there are stories about puppies, and wine festivals, and food (narrated far too engagingly to be banal)- it seems almost unreal to hear about these things and to appreciate the very human, engaging style of writing on HRScene that comes to craft its tone. WAVY is what you need to know so you don’t accidentally die. HRScene is what you need to know, in the Hampton Roads area, to live– and to live a really good life at that.

These twin voices obviously have entirely different tones and topics- (traffic & murder vs. puppies and wine), but the hard-hittingness of WAVY is what makes it the best, and the cognizant humanity of HRScene and the Hampton Roads Show is what makes you feel a sense of wonder, home, and belonging, just from watching a few minutes of the show or stopping by their website.

I was lucky enough to meet and work with Taylor, a Digital Content Manager for HRScene, this week, and she is both incredibly talented and down-to-earth. Taylor effortlessly delivers the tone of HRScene’s writing to the letter, and I watched her spin out compelling, vivid, cohesive prose s copy for any random story like she was doing it in her sleep (I realized I, clearly, have a lot to learn.) Meeting her was honestly hugely refreshing because she made sure to take the time to give me projects to work on whenever I asked for them (and work was desperately wanted at this point, as I was struggling with reconciling my desire to help in this a fast-paced environment within which everyone was already doing their own thing, and I avidly wanted the opportunity to work on any task in a news room that I realized was brimming with people who had important things to do, so that I started to wish for having a Thing To Do every day- any thing to do), and Taylor welcomed me asking for work without making me feel like an inconvenience. Even when it was just something like copy and pasting event descriptions and formatting calendars for the site, it felt like happy, creative, and meaningful work to me, because I was really, really thankful to be offered a concrete way I could help contribute. Working with Taylor, every time I asked her if I could do something to help, she gave me something responsibilities, and trusted that I could handle them, and never made me feel like what I was doing wasn’t important. It made me feel relieved and also safe to have someone willing to invest in working with me, someone who projected the welcoming attitude that she was looking out for me and treating me as an equal.

Taylor projects a palpable confidence and competency for her career role that I really admire, among the many other strong professionals I’ve been lucky enough to work with.

Getting a feel for different projects really enriched my experience, and it is a beautiful, hilariously apposite balance between the two compelling yet utterly contraposing stories (of the HRScene and the News) that come out of our work in that room, and honestly, I can’t tell you with confidence which one I love the most. There is a rare breadth of experience and diverse work applications I’ve observed in that news room, and I really, truly feel like I’m being exposed to the best of both worlds- and finally, at last, it feels like I’m settling into a role and that this internship is taking off.