I rarely post personal information on this blog. In fact, I don’t think one of the posts on this blog has a thing to do with my life as it is happening on a day-to-day basis. However, I’m going to make this a first because of the exciting events that have happened during the past couple of weeks, and especially the past two days.
First thing’s first. I am a graduate student at Ball State University studying digital storytelling. What is digital storytelling? No one really has an answer for that, but I’m using this time to really work on my skills of telling interactive stories for news.
That being said, I have been working a documentary for the past 8 months about Iraqi refugees who have resettled in Indianapolis, Indiana. The documentary is almost done, and my defense for this creative project is on March 24. So, at that point, I will find out whether I will graduate in May or not. (Most likely, I will.) I’m getting really excited about the end product. We’re talking about doing at least one screening in Indianapolis at the Interchurch Center, where the International Interfaith Initiative rents and office. The venue is beautiful! It used to be a Christian seminary, so there’s a large room with stained glass windows that we’re talking about using for the screening. This screening would be for all of the people who have helped us finish the film— the family, the International Interfatih Initiative, some people at IUPUI and any others who want to see the film.
We’d also like to do a screening in Muncie, probably at Pruis Hall. This is for the great supporters we’ve had at Ball State University, but again, it would be open to anyone.
I feel like short documentaries like this one are the way that online journalism is moving. There are two paths…the short headlines path and the long, in-depth looks. This one is an in-depth look at how this family is adapting to the United States and the Midwest. The site www.thealhurs.com will be up and running in a couple of weeks.
In other personal news, a paper I wrote this summer with Nancy Carlson and Megan Trent, was awarded first place in the debut category at the Broadcast Education Association annual convention. The paper “The Mommy Factor” surveyed about 60 television news women about their experiences as mothers in the industry. What it found was that while most rated their companies as “somewhat supportive” of motherhood, they still felt their jobs were threatened or halted because they had children. I never really thought I would be an award-winning researcher, but now I can put that claim on my business cards.
Finally, the biggest news of the past two days is that I’M ENGAGED! My Web site will change in about a year to accommodate my new name: Jessica F. Sparks…wow…I can’t even believe how wonderful the past few weeks have been. Despite the stress of all of this going on, I am extremely excited and cannot wait to share all of this success with the world.