Blog on the Blogs

President’s Day story

For the President’s Day story, I went down to the FDR memorial. Because the sun was setting I decided to take pictures of the memorial first before searching out a poor soul to interview.

I came across the Alexanders. Charles was taking pictures of the engravings in the stones and Patricia was sitting on a rock watching her husband. I approached her first then talked to Charles.

The Hicks family walked by just as I was finishing up with the Alexanders and I asked if I could talk to them about President’s Day. They agreed, although at first Marico didn’t want to give me his name. So his wife did most of the talking until I asked, “What would you do if you were president?” He jumped in, but I reminded him I couldn’t really use him since he didn’t want to give his name. He changed his mind.

Black History story

The lecture was interesting to cover. I didn’t really know who was in the audience until I heard the chair of the public history program thank the deputy superintendent of the National Capitol Parks East for attending that I realize I had to get a quote from him.

So when the lecture was over I rushed over before he left. When I told him I was with the press he was reluctant to talk officially. But after reassuring him I wasn’t trying to nail him on something, he obliged. Otherwise it was mostly listening and writing.

Cloud Dining story

Interviewing Cloud Dining Lounge manager John Andreas was awkward. He wasn’t very open or forthcoming. I would think a reporter doing a story on my business, which could possibly bring in more business, would make me more enthusiastic. He wasn’t.

We talked for about 20 minutes. At which point he said, “Are we just about done?” “Yes,” I said. During the interview, we sat at the bar. He ate. I wrote. He offered food or beverage. I said, “Just water.”

Safeway story thoughts

The Safeway story speaks for itself as far as my thoughts behind the story. I will say I didn’t decide to blog on the story until the last minute. I called Gregory TenEyck at Safeway and he gave me a few quotes.

Once I got off work, I stood outside the store in the cold temperatures and talked with shoppers as they left the premises. From past experience I knew as long as I was on the public sidewalk, security couldn’t bother me.