i met with my thesis advisor last week, telling her the many many problems i've been having choosing a topic. after unleashing my woes, she looked at me and said, "are you a shy person?"

am i a shy person?

i do hate doing interviews, and i'm very sensitive about asking appropriate questions. but does my reluctance translate to being shy? laugh if you will, but she was definitely implying that i need to grow a backbone to be a better journalist. lame.

excerpt from RW1 midterm evaluation:

"Lisa is an energetic reporter, a lively writer, and a critical thinker who has managed to make some important inroads into the difficult neighborhood of Chinatown from the outset. She has made steady progress since the beginning when she was writing thinly-sourced stories that made one unchallenged point (thanks, hardboiled -- ha!). She is now ferreting out multiple sources, such as she did for a complex immigration tale surrounding ESL classes. I count on Lisa to bring a critical news sense to class discussions. ... She has an instinct for the unusual, for the unpredictable. As I alluded to above, she struggles with finding multiple sources in order to tell a full story, rather than just a piece of it. ... Needs more showing and less telling. She needs to step away from personal opinion more and enter the world of larger analysis in order to truly tap into what will distinguish her as a first-rate journalist in the weeks ahead."