Fall Internship: Day 1

For the fall semester, I am going to be interning in the Media Relations division of the WFU Athletic Department. Although I use this blog to talk about an assortment of things, I am going to try to gear it toward all that I am doing and learning throughout this internship.

Today was actually my first day in media relations and I really enjoyed it! My role throughout the semester will mostly be to write feature stories and bios for the website, but I'll also be assisting the Media Relations team at games and may have the chance to photograph some games.

The time that I spent in the Miller Center today was focused on writing bios. My supervisor sent me about 10 or 11 questionnaires that had been filled out by administrative staff members at Bridger Field House. I then went through each questionnaire and reorganized the information into a short, but interesting biography about the individual. Each of the blurbs that I wrote will appear with a photograph of the individual on the Wake Forest sports website: wakeforestsports.com.

I also talked to my supervisor today about the first feature story that I'll be writing for the site. It will be focused on a cross-country runner (who happens to be from the UK - awesome) who competes in triathlons internationally. The central purpose of the story will be to talk about the most recent triathlon that he competed in, which was in Spain.

I am so excited for all that this internship has in store for me. It definitely will not be has high-octane as working for the Knicks or even as the time that I spent at Turner Sports. However, it will allow me to delve deeper into my love for Wake Forest and overall college athletics. I will also be given several more real opportunities to show what I can do and perfect my skills as a writer and as a 'media relations'-er.

Can't wait to keep you informed!
Until next time,
Calais

Goodbye sweet prose

One of the hardest things for me to do is to edit out any sentences from my writing that I find to be utterly beautiful. That sounds really cocky, but anyone who loves to write knows what I mean. For some reason, the words just clicked together without being overblown or unncessary. The only problem with them is that, after other edits, they become irrelevant to the theme of the work. Here are a few lines that I just had to delete out of something I'm working on that I didn't want to let disappear into oblivion:

"But then it happened. I found myself sauntering around the city without having to consult a Tube map. I started saying ‘cheers’ to those who held doors for me and chose tea with milk over coffee when my afternoon slump kicked in. My skin took on an aristocratic pallor that I never would have welcomed in the States and I developed a taste for hearty foods and the weight of a thick, dark beer. And these were only the physical reactions to my time in old Blighty."