I left my heart in Sacramento

It’s really a shame that it’s taken me so long to get back on my blog, because there are so many cool news-related things that have been going on lately in my life. (My Thanksgiving was fine, by the way. Thank you for asking.)

A couple weeks ago on Saturday Nov. 12, I went to the Journalism Association of Community Colleges Nor-Cal Convention with most of the staff of The Skyline View newspaper. I was hesitant to go at first, mostly because I was not keen on waking up at 4:30 in the morning to spend my whole Saturday in Sacramento. But I have to say that all things considered, it was a really great experience.

I got to carpool up to Sac State with a few of my buddies (our friend Diana was kind enough to provide transportation), hear a key-note address from a reporter who works for the Sacramento Bee, attended several workshops, and even took home an award for myself.

I received a certificate for honorable mention in opinions writing, which I was particularly proud of (especially since I don’t have very strong opinions to begin with).

By far the best workshop I attended was given by sports writer Bill Bradley who founded the website SacStateSports.com. He touched briefly on how to create your own sports site before opening up the floor to questions, at which point I went into sponge mode trying to absorb everything he was saying. If there’s one thing I remember most from the workshop, it’s that one needs to capture the drama of the sport in their writing. If you can hone in on, and highlight, the dramatic aspect of a given sporting event, you’ll garner many more readers than you ever would with straight game coverage. I probably figured that out subconsciously a long time ago, but I’d never heard it said until I attended Mr. Bradley’s workshop.

So, the JACC Nor-Cal Con. was a big hit as far as I’m concerned. I learned a heap of stuff, got into the competitive spirit, but probably best of all I got the chance to spend an awesome day in the company of many people on The Skyline View paper staff who I now consider to be my friends.