Diary - 4

On Saturday, May 17 I drove to Cherry Hill, NJ to do interviews with people who went to sell jewelry to a "trading show" that was advertised in a whole-page advertisement in the Inquirer, just in time for me to get some material for my story about diamonds. Although I did not meet anyone with diamonds, I did some good interviews and managed to convince my editor that we can use them to illustrate the story. So I wrote it and was pleasantly surprised when the editor only wanted me to ask one more question from one of the jewelers; based on my previous experience I made myself ready to do a lot more additional reporting.

After I drove back from Cherry Hill I met Umar who came for the weekend to visit Philly. We had a dinner together with my colleague Barry Zukerman, with whom I went to a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra. They played two symphonies from Schubert, and it was Christoph Eschenbach's last performance as conductor and music director.

On Thursday, May 22 I got a sudden assignment at 16.30 to go to the airport and ask people about their reaction to U.S. Airways' plan of introducing a $15 fee for the first checked-in luggage. It was the third time I was sent to the airport and I totally agreed with my editor who gave me the assignment saying he knew it was "only a pain in the ass". I felt the pain especially intense when in the afternoon peak it took me half an hour just to get onto the expressway just a few blocks from the office leading to the airport. But I was lucky with the persons I approached and in less than 30 minutes I had a couple of good quotes. And in the end my byline landed on the first page, so it was worth it...:)

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in New York. Umar and I met Susan, Randy and Sopan on Sunday for dinner.

For next Wednesday and Thursday, I had three interviews scheduled for my next story about the current restoration on one of Philadelphia's most impressive buildings, the Masonic Temple. I originally wanted to write about the Masons themselves and using the restoration just as a starting point, but then was convinced by my mentor and my editor to focus on the restoration.

I talked to the director of the Masonic Museum and Library, to the Grand Master of the Masons in Pennsylvania, and to one of the partners of the architectural firm that oversees the works. Although I was really interested in who the Masons really are, the interview with the Grand Master was quite boring as he of course did not want to reveal their secrets. But the other two interviews were really interesting, especially the one with the director of the museum who was very kind and even gave me a tour of the building.

So based on what I had I decided not to write about the Masons at all and focus exclusively on the restoration. But my editor did want something about the Masons and more about the history/significance of the building. Fortunately I had everything she wanted on my records and we could more or less get everything done on Friday and today, before my departure to Florida.

I also had a chance last week to observe the editing of an investigative story. It was interesting to see how the writer and the editor discussed which words and expressions to use at critical points, and what kinds of details the editor wanted to be added. One of the deputy managing editors also came by and gave his suggestions and there was an ethical issue that was discussed as well.

Sopan came over for last weekend (we saw a great jazz performance at Natalie's together with Maria) and I had a dinner with Susan yesterday. She came to the Inquirer today and we had a lunch with Maria, Vernon Loeb, Dotty Brown and Tom Ginsberg. I finally got a haircut today and in the evening Maria and I were invited for dinner by Jane Von Bergen. After the dinner, we did a quick visit to the house of one of Maria's best friend who lives near Jane's house.