Strong stories
Jamaal Bachelor
Issue date: 8/24/06 Section: Viewpoints
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Every weekend, I drive down to Montgomery County to cover stories for their local newspaper, "The Courier." For the most part, I write about community events like church barbecues or a hometown soldiers' return from Iraq.
When my articles are finished, I lay out the obituaries page for the following day, and before I leave every night I upload new stories and photos to the paper's online edition. They pay okay and it's been great for my portfolio, but usually they're just cutesy fillers for the paper.
But every once in a while I cover a story that touches me, and it's on my mind even after the day is over and I am lying in bed trying to go to sleep. I call these stories "The Clingers." Sometimes they're strange, other times fascinating and some are just really interesting.
Like the time I drove out to Lake Conroe to cover a party thrown by some rich couple from California. They had recently had a $5 million dollar home built on the lake, and they were throwing the party as a way to thank all the workers who helped build their home, which took a little over a year to complete. This was around the time of the Hispanic Rights protests going on around the country, and since most of the workers who built the home were Hispanic, I guess my boss thought it was "timely." The couple was Hispanic as well.
The home was beautiful; a sprawling 10 bedroom home equipped with an elevator and a guest house that was bigger then every other house on the street. These people were rich. There was a sauna, pool, fitness room and cabana. They even had a room for their live-in help, who had moved with them from California.
They were a sweet couple in their late 50's and were the nicest people you could ever meet. The wife, who coordinated the party, spared no expense; she had hired an authentic mariachi band for music, had security verify all the guests and the seafood dinner was one of the best meals I had ever had in my life.
I had no idea what these people did. I was still new on the job at this time and wasn't sure if that was an appropriate question to ask. After all, my feature was about the party, not about their wealth. So I never asked. It didn't affect the article, so I just assumed they were in the oil business. However, when I got home that night, I still thought about the couple, so I "googled" their names.
When my articles are finished, I lay out the obituaries page for the following day, and before I leave every night I upload new stories and photos to the paper's online edition. They pay okay and it's been great for my portfolio, but usually they're just cutesy fillers for the paper.
But every once in a while I cover a story that touches me, and it's on my mind even after the day is over and I am lying in bed trying to go to sleep. I call these stories "The Clingers." Sometimes they're strange, other times fascinating and some are just really interesting.
Like the time I drove out to Lake Conroe to cover a party thrown by some rich couple from California. They had recently had a $5 million dollar home built on the lake, and they were throwing the party as a way to thank all the workers who helped build their home, which took a little over a year to complete. This was around the time of the Hispanic Rights protests going on around the country, and since most of the workers who built the home were Hispanic, I guess my boss thought it was "timely." The couple was Hispanic as well.
The home was beautiful; a sprawling 10 bedroom home equipped with an elevator and a guest house that was bigger then every other house on the street. These people were rich. There was a sauna, pool, fitness room and cabana. They even had a room for their live-in help, who had moved with them from California.
They were a sweet couple in their late 50's and were the nicest people you could ever meet. The wife, who coordinated the party, spared no expense; she had hired an authentic mariachi band for music, had security verify all the guests and the seafood dinner was one of the best meals I had ever had in my life.
I had no idea what these people did. I was still new on the job at this time and wasn't sure if that was an appropriate question to ask. After all, my feature was about the party, not about their wealth. So I never asked. It didn't affect the article, so I just assumed they were in the oil business. However, when I got home that night, I still thought about the couple, so I "googled" their names.
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