And On to the Next (Or Not)

Prof. Padwe called an impromptu RWI class today, mainy to give us our next assignment. This year's report on nationwide poverty rates just came out, and it was not a good year for New York City. One in five city residents (that's 1.6 million people) were living below the poverty line last year. That's just stunning.

Our assignment is to put a face on this story -- to find a person or family who is struggling. (We're all trying to figure out how to do that without stopping random people on the street and saying, "Hi, are you poor?")

I turned in my candidate profile, having gotten two whole hours of sleep. If last week's lesson was to not start writing the night before a story is due, this week's certainly was to start reporting a story as soon as it is assigned. But did I follow that advice? No.

Instead, I went over to my parents' place, ordered in lunch, and then took a nap. And later I went out to dinner with my folks and various aunts, uncles, and cousins who were in town for a family wedding.

I made exactly zero progress on the story.

Quote of the day:

Take the figures and turn them into human beings. -- Prof. Padwe