In looking for some sidebar video for a blog post, I stumbled across this lovely clip of Maya Angelou discussing from where she draws her inspiration. Her thoughts seemed worth sharing.
Her thoughtfully chosen words, spoken with a beautiful, powerful voice, are an inspiration.
He hung out with prostitutes, madams, fishermen, immigrants, field workers and hitch-hikers. Then he wrote their stories.
The city in California where he was born once burned his books.
He was a war correspondent in Europe who toured Russia on his own after the Second World War. He wanted to see what life under communism really looked like. Some Americans wondered if he was a communist.
He had three wives.
He won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
See, John Steinbeck is way cooler than you thought during that high school English class in which you were forced to read Of Mice and Men (or worse, the never-ending saga Grapes of Wrath).
I wrote this article detailing a weekend itinerary for exploring where Steinbeck grew up and drew inspiration for his life’s work.
Once you spend a weekend roving around his old haunts in Monterey County, its clear why Steinbeck painted in such stunning language both the landscape where he lived and the struggles of the tough immigrants who worked - and tried to earn a decent living - in the Salinas Valley. Both are tremendously inspirational.
What’s unique about the Salinas Valley is that its beauty - and its immigrant workforce - are still intact.
I am about halfway finished reading the book International News Reporting: Frontlines and Deadlines. The book explains a lot about how the news “works” (a lot of info I wish my media-bashing boyfriend would read!) and makes the case for why professional journalism (something apart from citizen journalism) is important and will continue to be necessary - especially breaking news, analysis and war coverage.
What I’ve re-realized is just how much footage I see on CNN and BBC comes from freelancers. I am always conscious of how much newspaper content comes from wire services, but I’d forgotten that the same goes for broadcast journalism (a term I once heard a managing editor describe as “an oxymoron).
I particularly liked Chapter Four, on freelance journalism, written by a famous (at least in the industry) cameraman called Vaughan Smith. He founded Frontline Club.
He writes that working for an employer (i.e., being employed by a newspaper or station) is for journalists tantamount to sacrificing, on whatever level, journalistic purpose in its essence.
“ But it is still remarkable how many highly intelligent journalists lose their capacity for critical analysis when considering their own industry and profession. For which too few assume any responsibility,” he writes.
A few pages later:
“Journalists can choose to work on the outside, and freelance journalism, unfiltered and fettered, when conducted skillfully and with integrity, though its reach may be shorter, is journalism’s highest form.”
I gotta say, I have the utmost respect and admiration for freelance journalism, which I normally associate with international stories. The journalists who pursue that work remind me of crazy athletes I’ve interviewed who make a hobby of Ironman Triathlons. They (the athletes and hardcore freelancers) are people who often neglect the personal relationships in their lives to pursue their ‘mission.’
But also, I often find that these people have sidelines in other work. Or they are financially supported by a family member. Or they’re older journalists who established themselves by working for, well, the establishment.
I can’t really decide if I agree with Smith’s premise that being employed fulltime sacrifices journalistic integrity. I think this outlook is certainly worth consideration but may be entirely too academic.
Regardless, reading Smith’s chapter reminds me of a short interview/chat I did/had last year at DNA2008 (Bernd produced the video):