Week of difficulties

Snow fell quickly minutes before the Christmas parade began Saturday afternoon. Penny Wirtz, left, watched the sky warily as yak names Zak and Megan Shea waited for the parade to begin. Their float was a live Nativity scene for the White Stone Community Church in the town of Summit.

This week has been a very difficult one for me from a reporting standpoint. I had to do three stories that turned out to be the most difficult in my journalism career thus far.

first story

On Saturday, Dec. 1, I covered the Oconomowoc Christmas parade. The snow began to fall that morning and it was bad. The wind was blowing it sideways and it was coming down very quickly. As I looked out my window and saw few cars on the road, I thought the parade would be cancelled for sure. As I drove into town, there were people lining up to be in the parade, as well as, people standing along the parade route. I found a parking spot, got out of my car and began to interview people.

The reason this story was so difficult to do was for purely technical reasons. My paper kept getting wet and my pen kept freezing. I had to try so hard in order to write anything and what was written was barely legible.

Another aspect that made the story difficult to do was the snow and sleet that landed on my camera and in my camera bag. Trying to keep myself, my paper and my camera dry were very difficult tasks.

Although, I froze and was wet by the end of the parade, I had a lot of fun. It will definitely be a story that I will never forget.

second story
There were two other stories this past week that proved especially difficult for me, but for different reasons that those for the parade

On Sunday, Dec. 2, three high school senior boys were killed in a car accident on their way back from Wisconsin Dells. Although we learned about the accident on Sunday night, the staff at the Freeman wasn't able to much of anything until Monday.

As soon as I got in on Monday, I was told that I would have to go to the high school in Mukwonago where the boys attended and try to talk to family and friends. I bypassed the school, instead going to the h families' homes.

At the first home, I was allowed to come in. As I looked around, I saw little kids laughing and running around not understanding what was going on. The kitchen island was covered with bowls of food. In the living room, stood many family and friends crying and hugging. The story became very real for me. Not surprisingly, the family was unable and unwilling to talk to me, so I left my business card.

The second address I had turned out to be incorrect and the third family I reached by phone, but was also too upset to talk. The father, in fact, could barely eek out any words as he was so choked up when he answered the phone.

I returned to the office with no information, but managed to piece together a story through interviews with coaches and talking to three friends who knew all three deceased boys well.
There were more complications than that during the day, but in the end all that mattered was that I was able to get a really good story put together that covered nearly all the important points.

I was so relieved to be done with that story at the end of the day. It was emotionally and physically exhausting.

third story

I was concerned when I learned that I would have to attend one of the boy's funerals.

First, I had to borrow some clothes from a co-worker because I was wearing hot pink.

I arrived later at the church than I had wanted to because of getting lost in rural Mukwonago. As I entered the church, all I heard were sobs. Both high school boys, girls and adults were hugging, their faces red and tear-stained. The sobbing made me even more aware of the sobs that broke through it.

I was one of the last people to get into the long line into the sanctuary. I had to walk past four tables loaded with untouched sweets and past five boards with photos of the deceased boy. The photos showed him at all ages and doing the things we all love to do like dressing up for Halloween, spending time at Grandpa's and sitting on Santa's lap. I started to feel really emotional standing there absorbing the sadness around me.

I had to stand for the service, but once it began and I discreetly took notes, I felt better. I had something else to focus on. A teacher and an uncle spoke about Derek and his wonderful personality.

I know that after someone dies, the people who knew him always says what a wonderful person he was. These were truly wonderful young men who loved their family and friends and who gave so much to their school. I didn't expect to be so deeply moved by what I heard or what I saw this week.

This week definitely made me tougher and stronger as a journalist, yet, I still felt pain and sorrow. I hope that my stories were able to help readers feel connected and to remember how important our lives are.

Quote:
"Today is always here. Tomorrow, never."
--Toni Morrison (Beloved)

The Fire

I headed out at a little after 8 p.m. tonight to a house fire in the Town of Waukesha. As soon as the dispatch center started to send out fire engines, I knew it was serious. Back-up was being called and I could hear sirens screaming on the police scanner. At that point, I wrote down the address and headed out with my camera, a pad of paper, a pen and my gloves.

On my way to the fire, I realized I was going the wrong way when a fire truck sped the opposite way. I quickly made a U-turn and followed as fast as I could. We were joined by even more emergency vehicles.

When I did get to the scene of the fire, the neighboring streets were lined with emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. It looked the brightest and most amazing Christmas display.

I walked a couple of blocks to wear the house was with the fire. Before I could see flames, I could see smoke billowing into the air. There really weren't many flames visible, but it was clear that a fire burned deeply within.

Needing to take pictures in the dark, I felt relief when I found a tree to prop myself up against to stable myself. After getting a few decent shots, I walked around and began to talk to the neighbors that were huddled on their lawns watching the fire. Quite a few people walked to the scene. Many young children played on lawns while their parents stood wrapped in blankets.

I was directed to the family of the home on fire. They were an Asian family and many didn't speak any English. I did talk to one woman whose husband's aunt owned the building. She said that no one had been hurt and that she thought no one was home during the fire. Apparently, many people lived in the building.

I felt a bit rude taking pictures of the family as they gathered in the street in front of the home. Some of the members began arguing in a different language. I can only imagine what they might have been saying.

I think that the fire had to been fueled partly by the strong winds that blew. It was so cold out there, too. I felt like I had frostbite on my fingertips as I struggled to take pictures and to write what people told me in the dark.

I am thankful that no one was injured, but how awful for a family to lose their home on such a cold night so shortly before the holidays.

For more on this story, see The Freeman's Thursday paper at www.freemanol.com

My Thanksgiving

I am always saying that the happiest times of my life have been the unexpected moments that light up your day and your spirit. I had a really nice afternoon on Thanksgiving with my parents, my grandma, Aunt Linda and Aunt Ellen. We had a delicious meal that filled us all up and made our stomachs and minds very happy. After lunch, we watched the Packer game and talked.

It was all so nice, but unfortunately I had to leave for work. I was not looking forward to going to work as I just wanted to stay home and relax. However, as the second shift worker, I had to go.

My assignment, which I had suggested, was a fun one, though. I was to go to Fire Station No. 1 in Waukesha and spend time with the firefighters as they made a Thanksgiving dinner even as they were on duty.

As I walked into the station, my nose filled with the scent of turkey. The seven firemen and one firewoman were busy in the state-of-the-art kitchen getting a traditional dinner prepared. Everyone was in high spirits as they joked around and laughed. I took pictures and did interviews as all the preparations were being done. I didn't intend to eat since I was working and still rather full from lunch, but the fire fighters kept insisting. I gave in and ate some very delicious food. They even gave me some pie to go.

It's hard to explain why the assignment was so enjoyable for me. I think it was because how caring and polite these fire fighters were and how they welcomed me into their Thanksgiving dinner so readily. They had already gone out on nine calls in nine hours, but their spirits were so high. They described themselves as family and they really treated each other like relatives. For an hour I felt like a close family friend.

This is why I love journalism when I can do stories like this and really get a good glimps into the lives of other people.

Thanksgiving around a ping-pong table

This was always one of my favorite holiday shows with the colorful Thanksgiving food and the antics of Snoopy and Woodstock. There is always something so pure and earnest about Charlie Brown and his friends. Enjoy and have a happy Thanksgiving.

Simple moments = happy times

It is amazing how the simple things in life can mean so much to a person and bring them the purest of joys. This past week has been really stressful and busy, but during the times of great stress I have also discovered great moments of joy. There are the on-going joys like the support and love of my family and friends. Then there are the little joys that occur unexpectantly and last only briefly, but bring you the purest of joys that help to carry you through the day.

I have had several such joys over the past week and a couple of them had one thing in common: they were because of South Koreans.

I had my second tutoring session on Wednesday with my South Korean pupil. I am going to help her with her English writing and all around English skills. I am volunteering with the Literacy Council of Waukesha County and they matched me with Sujeong. She is new to the USA, but is married to an American man that she met in Seoul. Spending time with her brings so much happiness to my life. Her caring nature, eagerness and generosity in turn make me feel wonderful. On Wednesday, she made me chamchi kimbap and it was so delicious. Her friend, Yoon, also came for lunch. It was such an enjoyable lunch for me to be able to talk about Seoul with these two very kind people. Just thinking about it now makes me feel so happy.

The other little joy that occurred this week because of a South Korean friend just happened a few minutes ago. A former student of mine, Gyoung Dong just wrote me an e-mail telling me of his recent recognition for his poetry. He also sent me photos of his family. It is a great honor to be told of his literary success. He also shared some very kind words with me.

These simple human elements of our lives are really the best. They have extra meaning for me when I feel overwhelmed by stress. I do find the most joy in my life from human relationships and my relationship with nature.

The past two years has taught me something so important. And that is how wonderful Korean people are. I think that they have to be the most caring and generous of any nationality I have ever met. Their culture and approach to life is very different from Americans' in many ways, but there are many similarities too. The aspect that I like the most is how they welcome people into their lives so openly and will give of themselves so readily.

I feel so blessed tonight because of all my friends, who are from so many backgrounds and live in so many places, and for the unconditional love and support from them and my wonderful family.

Thank you all who have been there for me recently during my week of stress.


Quote:
"Patience and perserverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."
--John Quincy Adams

Glorious Birds

It's that time of year again when I keep the feeder full and watch the beautiful birds come to feast. I have a mixture of corn, sunflower seeds and millet out for them along with a suet and it's really bringing the birds in lately. Yesterday, I had chicadees, juncos, cardinals, blue jays, a nuthatch, a downy and a hairy woodpecker. Not to mention chipmunks and squirrels.

There are few things in this world that bring me as much pleasure as my bird feeder does. There is something about the cheerfulness that birds seem to approach life that lifts my spirit. Both wild and domestic birds seem to be such optimistic, content animals that I can't help but feel the affect of their attitude on my own attitude.

I am hoping to take more pictures of the birds from the screen porch. I took these of the chicadees as I stood a few feet away with my 70-300 mm lens on my camera. The lighting was decent and the chicadees were calm enough to let me get quite close. When they would hear my shutter close, they would fly back to the bush, but would quickly return. The second photo below was a fluke, but I really like how it turned out. I only wish the whole bird would have been captured.

Quote:

"One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats."

--Iris Murdoch

A weekend of fundraisers and silent auctions

There was definitely a common theme to my birthday weekend: fundraising. Most people would probably think it's strange that I would decide to spend my birthday going to fundraisers instead of spending the day seeking funds for myself. But, I've always done my own thing.

Actually, it is a tradition for my mother, my grandmother and I to go to the annual holiday church bazaars in Oconomowoc. About 10 different churches and organizations participate in this event. I have always loved going to them and seeing the crafts, eating the cookies and having a special lunch with Mom and Grandma. Unfortunately, this year was a bit disappointing because a couple of the churches did not have their bazaars. This didn't come as too big of a surprise because it is often the older women in the congregation who make and sell the items. I have been speculating the past couple of years that our tradition would be coming to an end soon. Even so, we still had a really good time on Saturday and I got to eat fudge, cake and pie. Yum.

Saturday night was another fundraiser that I also attended by choice. Kait and I went to the Avalon Therapeutic Equestrian Center (Avalon TEC) for its annual barn dance. I had written a story about the center for the Oconomowoc Enterprise and the owner said I could come for free because it was my birthday. The event included over 100 silent auctions, food, Irish music and alcoholic beverages. It was a good time, but much mellower than I had hoped it would be. No one danced and the music was the pub floor pounding variety. And, as I feared, Kait and I were some of the youngest people there. But, we still had a good time and the money went to a really good cause that I was proud to support.

On Sunday I had to attend the Waukesha Education Foundation's third annual Celebration of Excellence fundraiser for the Waukesha Freeman. The event was huge with over 900 people present, over 150 silent auction items, lots of food and interactive displays. It was great to see so many people come out to support education and to see so many student volunteers helping to serve food and sell raffle tickets among other duties.

There seems to be so many opportunities lately to attend fundraisers and to help causes. There are a couple of problems that arise for me with that, including the fact that I most often can't afford to go to these dinners and which ones do I support if I could. Every day lately I get about three to four charity mailings asking for money for their causes. I mostly support three: St. Joseph's Indian School, The Nature Conservancy and UNICEF. I have received a mailing about Women for Women that I might consider investing in later.




Yellow leaves at Nature Hill on Sunday.

Quote:
"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."
--A.J. Muste