Diray - 8

Wednesday, July 16 I accompanied Mike Vitez on an interview he did with an old lady who had problems with her health insurer - they wanted her to pay some $25,000 for a treatment several years ago although she had an insurence. Mike plans to do a series on people who don't have health insurence or their coverage is not sufficient. I went with him to another interview as well on the following Monday, July 21; it was with the medical director of a city-run clinic that provides free care for those who don't have insurance or can't afford co-pays. After this latter interview, we had lunh in the 70-year-old landmark diner, the Mayfair in North Philadelphia. I had the best cheesburger I ever tasted in the U.S.

The interesting thing about Mike's stories is that even though the U.S. is famous for the fact that more than 40 million of its residents don't have health insurence, it is not so easy to find tragic cases. Because there ARE ways to get care even without insurence and money, so the picture is not as bleak as I thought it was before.

What I admired the most about Mike's work is how confident and relaxed he is when interviewing people. He has excellent communications skills you must be born with, I guess. I was surprised to hear that for years his job was to find stories on the streets of Philadelphia; he just went out each morning, talked to people on the streets, then came back with a story. By the way, Maria also told me that when I don't have a story idea, I should just go out of the newsroom. She even told me about an ex-editor here who literally pushed his reporters out of the newsroom when he felt they spent too much time inside. And just yesterday, as I walked with Maria on the street after dinner, she went in a bike shop and asked about their business - their answer resulted in a story idea. From all these lessons, I learnt a lot about key issues of my training plan: developing story ideas and humanizing business stories.

Fortunately, I had an own story as well which was my very own child from the idea to reporting and writing, and which I am quite pride of. When I was reporting on the Jersey Shore a couple of weeks ago for another story I heard that foreign students who were here for summer work are hit hard by the slow U.S. economy. I decided to go after this information as I had my own experience from 9 years ago working here as a foreign student and as the story held the promise of giving voice to the voiceless.

So after contacting some employers and organizations that sponsor these students I went to the Shore Thursday, July 17, exactly one month after the unforgettable Iron Maiden show in Camden. I needed to strenghten myself with the positive forces of the date as I was a bit nervous about the drive that laid ahead from Philadelphia to Wildwood, then to Ocean City, then to Atlantic City, then back to Philly. I am not an experienced driver and it was quite a long trip to anticipate some difficulties, which came, indeed.

First, I had some trouble finding the way from the newsroom to the Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey, even though I have already done this route before. At least I had no more problems all the way to Wildwood. Here I had some pre-arranged interviews at Morey's Pier, just like in a hotel in Ocean City. These interviews were not very useful; the employers provided me with students who were just fine. But in Ocean City I tried to find some students for myself, and I did find some interesting stories. I finished with the interviews around 7, bathed in the Ocean, went to Atlantic City for a dinner, then left for Philadelphia around 10.15.

Now if I am a not-very-experienced driver, I have even less experience in driving in dark. Anyway, I blame darkness in the first place for the fact that I could not find my way to the expressway, but endend up on Route 30, also going to Philly, but through all the towns in-between. I made one attempt to get to the expressway from Route 30, but when I found myself in the middle of a forest on a curving narrow road, I decided to make peace with Route 30.

However, just before Camden and the Ben Franklin Bridge of wich I was thinking of as my Saviour, I got lost. When I saw a police car with flashing lights standing on the road for some construction, I stopped and asked for directions. I was told that I was on the right road, just heading for the wrong direction. So I turned around and finally got on Ben Franklin and to Philadelphia.

Where I got lost again. I did not care much about that, as I already felt safe. I had to ask again for directions but then I finally got home, by 12.30.

Saturday, July 19 I went to a Hungarian Day which was held in Barto, PA. Hungarian immigrants from 1956 bought a big piece of land there in beautiful environment, and built houses, an artificial lake with a fountin, and a pool. There was surprisingly many people, even though the younger ones spoke English, not Hungarian.

The next week I wrote the foreign students story and rewrote parts of my commentary for the Foreign Service Journal, as requested by their editors. The weekend I went to a Narrative Writing Workshop organized by the Society of Professional Journalists in Richmond, VA. I travelled by train on Friday, July 25, which was scheduled to leave at 4.55 am. So I got up at 3.30, but when arrived at the station the board announced a 2-hours delay. I turned out to be 70 minutes only, and I arrived in Richmond by 11.30. I walked to the hotel then took a bus back to the city center, visited the Museum of the Confederacy, walked by the canal and the James River, and had a very good dinner at the Elephant Thai Restaurant.

The Saturday workshop held at the University of Richmond by Tom Hallman, Jr., a Pulitzer-winning reporter of The Oregonian was interesting and useful, althought not as practical as I expected. It reinforced several things that I learnt at Poynter and at the Inquirer.

After the workshop I went to Washington - fortunately I did not have to take a bus as I planned as I met two journalists from the Washington-based military newspaper, European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, and asked them for a ride. In Washington I met Sopan, we had a dinner in a Thai restaurant, then went to his residence. Next day we met Chlea Benson, whom I knew from Philadelphia, and her husband, Peter, who covers Obama's campaign for the LA Times. We had lunch at Zorba, where Susan also joined us. Then Sopan and I went to the National Gallery of Arts. I left for Philly at 8 pm.

Last Wednesday I was invited for dinner by Chris Mondics to his new Philadelphia home, a nice and spacious duplex in Center City. This Tuesday I was invited by Jane Von Bergen, and this time I met her older son, Joey, who is a college student in Pittsburgh. This week I studied the handouts I got in Richmond, including some of Tom Hallman's writings. I have been trying hard to find some affordable accomodation in New York, which is no easy task. I bought a portable hard disc for my computer and a new pair of pants. There is a new foreign fellow in the newsroom from this Monday, he is a Burns Fellow from Germany, Fabian Loehe.