At trivia night last Tuesday, buddy Stals Kinborg said to me: “It’s all well and good for you to offer tips on your blog, but the rest of us aren’t exactly working with important world events.” It seems he thinks he’s writing about small potatoes for the union magazine, covering Vacation Bible School and new school principals.
OK, so Stals was bit whiny, but only because we had missed a question about the first word of the Declaration of Independence. I was ordering food and didn’t see him writing down the word “We.” I had wrongly assumed he knew it was “When.”
Anyway, Stals, let me tell you, pal, if you want to work for the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, then pretend you’re there now. Throw everything you’ve got into each story. Look at your output….is it good enough to make it into one of those top-tier news agencies? Sell your soul to the craft. UM professor John Franklin says it takes half a lifetime to learn this craft. But we do it in order to tell stories, he says.
Nigel Coke, a media relations expert based in Jamaica, says communication needs to be loved. If not, then it needs to be dropped. What he means by this is that one has to get excited about the details – is the headline catchy, does the first sentence grab the reader, will the piece sustain? All that needs to be loved.
Stals, you can choose to give every story your best, no matter how small it is. Try different formats, try getting published in major newspapers. Think, “What kind of writing would it take to make the grade?” I’ll even lead by doing my best to demonstrate this idea on a story so small that it wouldn’t even make it in a union magazine. The following are a few of my own attempts at offering the most in-depth, comprehensive coverage:
The Washington Post
HEADLINE: Sweet Money
SUBHEAD: These Hawks are Bakin’ to Eastern Regionals
When Kate Duarte brought to school four-dozen of her chocolate chip cookies laced with peanut butter, she had no idea she would make her daughter's volleyball coach sick.
The mother of varsity co-captain Michelle "Micky" Duarte, Kate, outdid herself in raising money for the team by reaching the nearest customers: school staff.
"I must have eaten a dozen of them," said Coach Marcel Lawrence. "They were so good. Actually, I probably had 13."
While the woman's volleyball squad has been plagued by injuries and poor finishes in close games this season, players hope that funds from yesterday's bake sale will deliver them to next month's tournament at Eastern Union College. There they plan to prove how a now healthy team can recover from an abysmal record and dominate the region's final competition.
But before the team practiced bumping, spiking and defense, they're goal was to raise $500 -- enough to cover the tournament entry fee and travel expenses.
"We can so do that," said Faith Sakahara, junior co-captain. "I'll even wash cars, I don't care. We're going to get ourselves to the tournament no matter what."
Sakahara's road to varsity has
See BAKE SALE, A12, Col. 3
The Wall Street Journal
HEADLINE: Bake Sale Profits Could Send Lady Hawks to Volleyball Tournament
SUBHEAD: 15 % of Entry Fee Still Needed; Flower, Sugar Trading Remain Steady
The Lady Hawks will likely fly to the regional tournament next month after raising nearly their entire entry fee at yesterday's bake sale.
The Eastern Adventist Academy women's volleyball team brought in $423 boosted by strong selling cookies and Rice Crispy treats.
Donations to the sale totaled $30.
Adventist Academies in the region have garnered support for school clubs this year with similar sales, largely serving internal markets of school staff, other students and parents.
Commodities traders have seen an increase in sugar and flower prices, due in part to this spring's strong bake selling season, but more likely poor weather affecting crops in the Midwest and in Hawaii. Honolulu-based H&C Sugar (HCSU) closed yesterday at $12.86 a share – a 4.1% increase since Jan. 1. Golden Flower (GLDF) closed yesterday at $46.20, its 2.3% year-to-date gain stifled by a supply chain heavily dependent on rising oil prices, analysts say.
"While we have many customers in addition to the Lady Hawks, technically it would be accurate to say their sale and others like it are, in part, responsible for our strong first quarter," said Golden Flower chief executive Harlan Frubert in a conference call to shareholders last night.
Transaction records from yesterday's sale revealed several repeat customers for the team chaperon's chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter. The unit, at 75 cents, sold out early after one customer purchased a baker's dozen.
The team declined to offer bulk discounts.
"We're trying to raise money and we didn't feel our own coach was going to go cheap on us and ask for a lower price," said junior co-captain Michelle Duarte, 16 years old.
Yesterday, team officials said they plan to earn the remaining $77 of their tournament fee with a car wash. Players opted for a Friday afternoon operation after viewing National Weather Service reports and receiving parking lot access from Principal Johnson, who
Please turn to page A11
USA Today
HEADLINE: Behind a competitor, hardship and the will to win
SUBHEAD: For Lady Hawks co-captain, Friday's bake sale success could validate an unlikely resurgence
"We're gonna make it baby."
That's varsity volleyball player Faith Sakahara's game speak, her way of telling teammates she expects their bake sale to land them a tournament spot next month.
For Eastern Adventist Academy's Lady Hawks, the regional tournament (4 p.m. ET, 3ABN; game time 5:15) is a chance to mount a comeback for a team once plagued by injuries and late game breakdowns.
For Sakahara, 16, the tournament is all that and much more: a potential validation of an unlikely resurgence in sports and in life.
Two years ago, Sakahara was at rock bottom, struggling to come to terms with her release off nearby Eastern Public High's volleyball team and a series of finger injuries. Her parents had separated and her brother was into drugs.
"Before I got here I was so unhappy," Sakahara recalls. "I was kind of messed up and didn't have good friends."
Today, thanks partly to Mark Finley, an Adventist evangelist who saw something special in the Sakahara family, Sakahara has found her niche.
She's co-captain of a varsity team, one whose
Please see RESURGENCE next page ►
New York Post
HEADLINE: Teen Girls Found Selling at School
SUBHEAD: Principal Knew of Operation Involving Minors, Hundreds of Dollars
The Washington Times
HEADLINE: Free market wins at Lady Hawks' bake sale
SUBHEAD: Boehner praises enterprising approach to tournament entry
New York Times
HEADLINE: Iraqi citizens, poor left out of food distribution
SUBHEAD: Women without voting rights made to do all work
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