I started with everything I didn’t know. I’ll be the first one to tell you that there’s a lot under that heading. (But that’s why I picked journalism, right?)
So let’s put Ted Loewenberg under the heading of “things I don’t know anything about”. Or people. Whatever.
Welcome to my whole weekend project: Operation Discover Everything I Can About Ted Loewenberg.
At first, it was like shooting the dark, and I was pretty much happy to hit anything at all. I honestly knew nothing except what he looks like (props to me, since I met him on Wednesday night) and that he’s president of the HAIA. The only other things I really knew were what Yvonne told me about him, and I was trying very hard to shove those into the back of my mind so that they didn’t sway my other findings.
It really wasn’t hard. I can be quite one-track-minded, which is exactly what happened when I started searching for him. A lot of what I found in the beginning was pretty lame stuff (address, phone number, small business owner of Harper House, he’s a movie buff, blah blah blah). Things I need to know, obviously, because they make up the man, but nothing particularly important to know for my profile. (I mean, unless readers WANT to know where exactly to find him, which I find highly doubtful).
Anyway, I continued my search and eventually found something about him from 2002. Part of me was super stoked, finally knowing something about him before 2010 or so, and another part of me very angry, because I now had a huge gap in his life from 2002 to 2010. Cue more searching.
I figured most of it out, with a lot of digging through the archives of this mysterious wonder known as the Internet, with one small gap of a year that I’m fairly positive he himself can clear up for me right quick. (Oh wait, nevermind, just as I said that, I looked through my notes and I have figured it out.)
So, over my weekend, I have learned everything I can about this man from Google. I know where he was and what political crusade he’s been working on for nearly the past decade without even talking to anyone about him.
I feel uncomfortable talking to someone about something I don’t know at all, so it makes me feel much better knowing all about him (from the completely impersonal perspective that only online pages can provide) before I talk to him. Otherwise, how would I possibly know what to say? Everything would be more shooting in the dark. I don’t feel like firing random questions at an actual person (which just makes me look like a newbie reporter who doesn’t know how to do her homework first) makes me look like far more of an idiot than doing the same to Google. Can Google trash-talk me, or deny me search results? No. Exactly.
Now my only problem is finding people who know some things about him, and getting them to talk to me about him. I see two crucial issues here: getting the officials he’s worked with to actually see me, and finding people who have something to say about him from the other side.
Challenges, challenges. At least I’ve already accomplished something. And I’m pretty damn proud of myself.
You tackle those obstacles girl. Get 'em good. I know exactly what you mean when you get to that 'it' moment where you feel like your work has finally paid off. You'll get there. You've got a doggedness about you.
ReplyDeleteHave you tried looking through city hall records? Literally tells you urrything, down to divorce and debt.
Lisa, thanks for sharing all that! I'd love to hear your story of what you found through city hall records, how you used them. Cassie, I love your blogs, your presentness, your ability to express your challenges and your pride in tackling them, which is what journalism is all about. I'm sorry if I said too much about Loewenberg. I know my expectations are high, but I have belief in you.
ReplyDelete