Just before Christmas, I went to St. Ambrose Church in Wall to write a story about the first Filipino Christmas mass (8 days-worth) they were having this year. Although the service was beautiful, I was stressing at the end of the service, because aside from the songs being sung in Tagalog, it was not much different than other Christmas services I have been to...
When the group invited me to join them in the fellowship hall after the service, I was elated. First, because I never give up an opportunity to try new, delicious foods, but also because I knew I would have more opportunity to talk to people for the story.
The people were very gracious, and made sure they filled my plate with all different kinds of foods, brought me a drink, and two people brought me bowls of soup! They were so excited that someone from the Standard-Times was there to write a story, they kept me talking for several minutes after my plate was put in front of me.
One of the ladies was telling me that the hospitality I was being shown is common in Filipino tradition.
"No matter how poor the family is," she said, guests are always given the best of the best."
She continued talking as I was taking notes.
"And no Filipino will ever eat before their guests eat first."
I wrote that down, then realized what she said. I looked up, and the other 5-6 people at the table were all looking at me, smiling.
I realized then, that they were waiting for me to eat, before they did! I quickly obliged. I was so glad that I did, too- the food was delicious!
Luckily for me, once they started eating, they continued talking. They were so welcoming, and very willing to give me plenty of information for the story. After some concern in the beginning, it ended up being one of my favorite stories of the month!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
"Radical" need to reorganize
Several months ago, the Faith editor asked me if I would be interested in writing a story about a new book called "Radical." Since I love to write the Faith stories, of course I said yes.
Typically, stories come to fruition anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks after the idea is proposed, but a few take longer. The "Radical" story was one of those. The story about the book that has quickly become a movement of sorts in churches throughout the US was to have local interviews, about churches in San Angelo who have read the book. By the time I was given the book to read, call churches throughout San Angelo to see which ones have read the book already, and contact the author of the book, in addition to my already hectic life with a husband, four kids, and a couple of college classes, several weeks had passed since the first interviews.
So, the week that the story was due, I started collecting my story notes. I typically do all story interviews in the same notebook, but since more time had passed on this one, I ended up finishing up the steno pad and starting another.
I had three of my interviews, and started on the story, thinking that I would locate the other interview later in the day. The day before the story deadline, I started seriously looking for the interview notes I was missing. It was, after all, one of the key interviews of the story, so I could not finish the story without it.
At midnight the night before it was due, I finally found the notes (not that I had time to look continuously throughout the day; it was Christmas Break and I had to entertain my kids too- In fact, it was during a game of Balderdash that I remembered where they might be).
The next day, I had promised to take the kids to Paint Rock, to see the Indian pictographs. We left at 9:30, and my plan was to be back by 1:00. Since we didn't leave Paint Rock until 1:00, and were 30 minutes from home, THAT wasn't happening! Missing the turn back to San Angelo didn't help either.
After getting the kids lunch in Eden, about 40 miles away from San Angelo, we headed back home. At 3:15, I got the kids home, got everyone settled, and settled down at my laptop to finish the story. An hour later, the story was done and emailed the editor.
Here's the copy from gosanangelo.com: Radical story
Typically, stories come to fruition anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks after the idea is proposed, but a few take longer. The "Radical" story was one of those. The story about the book that has quickly become a movement of sorts in churches throughout the US was to have local interviews, about churches in San Angelo who have read the book. By the time I was given the book to read, call churches throughout San Angelo to see which ones have read the book already, and contact the author of the book, in addition to my already hectic life with a husband, four kids, and a couple of college classes, several weeks had passed since the first interviews.
So, the week that the story was due, I started collecting my story notes. I typically do all story interviews in the same notebook, but since more time had passed on this one, I ended up finishing up the steno pad and starting another.
I had three of my interviews, and started on the story, thinking that I would locate the other interview later in the day. The day before the story deadline, I started seriously looking for the interview notes I was missing. It was, after all, one of the key interviews of the story, so I could not finish the story without it.
At midnight the night before it was due, I finally found the notes (not that I had time to look continuously throughout the day; it was Christmas Break and I had to entertain my kids too- In fact, it was during a game of Balderdash that I remembered where they might be).
The next day, I had promised to take the kids to Paint Rock, to see the Indian pictographs. We left at 9:30, and my plan was to be back by 1:00. Since we didn't leave Paint Rock until 1:00, and were 30 minutes from home, THAT wasn't happening! Missing the turn back to San Angelo didn't help either.
After getting the kids lunch in Eden, about 40 miles away from San Angelo, we headed back home. At 3:15, I got the kids home, got everyone settled, and settled down at my laptop to finish the story. An hour later, the story was done and emailed the editor.
Here's the copy from gosanangelo.com: Radical story
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