futurejournalismproject:

Short Enough to be Interesting

Summers come. Summers go. And this summer we were fortunate to have Kat and Gabbi join us for our summer internship program.

We’re getting smarter about these things. Where we previously brought people in and threw them into our general mix, Jihii made sure we did things differently. Differently means we basically said, What interests you? What subject do you want to do a deep dive in to? Let’s talk about that and hone your focus. Got it? Now go.

Kat chose the evolution of college newspapers for her research. Gabbi chose the evolution of documentary film and its distribution as hers. We, hopefully, challenged them on their assumptions and provided additional ideas on how they should and could follow up on their topics. My personal hope is that they learned as much from us as we learned from them. Because, really, we learned a lot from them.

I also thank them for being guinea pigs of a sort. This is, after all, the first time we said, Whatever you want, let’s do it. And it was great.

But it succeeded because they are nerdlings.

Total. Geeky. Nerdlings.

Very different from each other, to be sure, but very connected in their geeky passion for the topics they covered.

So I give a giant hat tip to the both of them, apologize that I wasn’t completely present at the beginning of the summer when all this started but absolutely look forward to collaborating in the future.

Moving forward, Kat will be tumbling with us. Gabbi, less occasionally as she’s off to Australia for a study abroad… which we’re jealous of. If you’re in that neck of the woods give her a warm hello.

Most importantly though, thank you both. Time moves too quick but, Gabbi and Kat, you are most wonderful. — Michael

Image: Part of a note included by Jihii in her departing gift to to Kat and Gabbi: Letters to a Young Journalist by Sam Freedman. The quote is generally attributed to an anonymous Texas newspaper editor.