finally have a chance to catch my breath after all the deadlines earlier this week. whew.

things are really getting going at school. in addition to our bi-weekly neighborhood stories, we've started "spot news," which means we cover an event in one day's time. it's stressful stuff, esp. since this time around we had to come up with our own story ideas related to the state primary election on tuesday. i had no story idea related to the chinatown primary elections, so i was really worried, but then, as always, at the last minute i got a story tip from a source i happened to call. so i schlepped over to flushing and got a great story about problems at the polls. i've also been busy doing informational interviews with a lot of community folks, some of which have been more interesting than others. but i definitely feel like i'm getting a better sense of the neighborhood and its issues. i met with the head of nyu apa studies yesterday since he teaches a class on chinatown and the american imagination, and he was like a breath of fresh air to talk to. he really knew his stuff and was interested in how information circulates, and, what impressed me the most, said that his intro apa course was based on the feminists of color paradigm (i.e. your background -- gender, class, priveleges, etc -- has a huge impact on your experiences, which should always be taken into account when considering ideologies and groups). he also helped me piece together why the apa community scene is so much different here than in the bay.

i also got invited to go to an OCA ny chapter banquet in flushing next friday by a source. yay sources! and yay banquet food. there are a lot of big community folks being recognized there, so i'm excited, and bethany is coming with me.

i feel like i'm learning a lot of many levels every day. it's stressful when there are so many stories to write so frequently, but the process is fun. i've also gotten to know my section classmates a lot better, and i've decided i got a great section, and the majority of them are definitely cool. there isn't so much competition among us as the feeling like we're all in a sinking ship, so we should all be sympathetic and help each other when we can. it's really great. we spend a lot of time outside of class complaining about stories and commiserating about how tough things are, and i think people have put their egos aside after our first stories came back to us with all those comments! so that's the deal with school.

ok i have to run since i'm meeting with the organization i'm going to start volunteering at.