Introductions can be uncomfortable.
I really enjoy meeting new people. I also pride myself on a sturdy but not overbearing handshake.
However, even I can sometimes leave gaps in conversations with people for the first time. My natural curiosity causes a traffic jam as several different questions attempt to speed down my brain and merge at my mouth, all at the same time.
Thankfully print media doesn’t allow for awkward pauses. There’s only the chirping of crickets if I decide to include them. And I have opted against that in this particular instance.
I just want to make a good impression, Moose Jaw.
I’m new to this city, all the way from the distant capital of Saskatchewan.
This is the most time I’ve ever spent here. As a kid I toured the tunnels, went to Temple Gardens Mineral Spa with my grandparents, attended some Warriors games at the Crushed Can, and I have good but fuzzy memories of eating fudge.
Essentially, I’m still easing out of my tourist phase into a resident and trusted news source.
I’m a third year journalism student at the U of R but I have the wonderful opportunity to work in the Times-Herald newsroom for three months, as part of my program.
Being a stranger to Moose Jaw when you live in Regina is embarrassing. Thankfully I don’t get embarrassed. It’s one of my greatest assets.
I’ll prove it. On my first day, my first assignment involved a drive to the Golden Nugget Centre to write about the traveling blood clinic that was being held. The clinic started at 3 p.m. and my deadline was 4:30. I was so excited to take the Times-Herald Jeep and roll on up to my first story – of course my piece was going to be amazing.
I was too busy daydreaming of where I was going to put my Pulitzer (suspended by fishing wire from the roof in the middle of my living room) to notice that Google Maps had informed me that the Golden Nugget Centre was located in the grass between the highways.
Et tu, Google Maps?
I got lost in Moose Jaw.
The gentlemen at the gas station out by Prairie Oasis were nice enough not to laugh as I asked for directions and bolted out the door yelling, “thanks, guys!”
I got the story and I shot some great pictures. Though I’m still waiting to hear from the Pulitzer people.
This paper has an impressive and important history. The very fact that the Times-Herald is still turning out organic content shows that the citizens of Moose Jaw care about their community.
It’s an honour to have my name – and now my face – in this paper.
I was over-analyzing this ramble like planning how to introduce myself to a beautiful woman.
Moose Jaw, I don’t want to take you home tonight but I think we got something here.
At least for three months.
