Monday, December 3, 2007

Make my day

The first e-mail I opened this morning was from Rebecca McKinney, the West Seattle High School teacher whose journalism class I spoke with last week. She thanked me for coming and said the students enjoyed the visit. That was really cool.

Before my visit I confessed some trepidation to both Michelle and Mich -- high school students can be a rough crowd -- but figured that if even one kid came away feeling encouraged about journalism that would be good.

Given that, Ms. McKinney's note this morning really made my day:

Mark,
Thanks so much for coming out last week. Your talk was very informative. My students write a journal entry at the beginning of every class and on Friday I asked them what they learned from you. There were many good reports, but one in particular that I thought was worth sharing was, "Yesterday I learned that I really do want to be a journalist. He reassured me that this is what I want to do with my life. This guy was realistic and he showed the bad and good sides of journalism." Thanks again.
Rebecka McKinney

Nice.
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9 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 3, 2007 at 11:47 AM

    Nice note, Mark. That's gotta put a smile on your face.

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  2. RonelleDecember 3, 2007 at 12:13 PM

    good job Mark - now you know the joys of teaching. Pretty soon you will be getting the same positive feedback from the East coast - let's start thinking about how we want to get you involved with my kids. I would like it to do with critical reading of news articles as well as avoiding bias when writing news articles. What do you think?

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  3. Kate CohenDecember 3, 2007 at 6:21 PM

    been kinda thinkin all day ... I wonder where that kid will work. He's already in high school, so there will probably still be newspapers in the world by the time he gets out of college, but I still wonder ... what will he retire from 30 years from now? Maybe some business we hardly recognize ...

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  4. Kate CohenDecember 4, 2007 at 10:40 AM

    Hey how are you guys doing in that messed up weather. How's Rita? Once again, the news channels make us outlanders worry.

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  5. MarkDecember 4, 2007 at 11:45 AM

    Very wet, thanks for asking, but otherwise no probs here in West Seattle.

    A few places in and around Seattle have flooded, a couple of roads have closed, there was a giant sinkhole by a city park, Michelle said some people from work had to go home to pump out their basements. But here all is well.

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  6. AnonymousDecember 4, 2007 at 12:19 PM

    All is fine here too, Kaye. Thanks for asking. Rain, winds, trees down, etc. I have an advantage, when weather gets grumbly, I stay in.

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  7. Kate CohenDecember 4, 2007 at 12:37 PM

    I somehow knew that the matassas would not be phased -- and I'm glad no pumping out was required.

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  8. fredaDecember 4, 2007 at 6:52 PM

    glad you all survived the weather, it looks really bad on TV

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  9. MarkDecember 4, 2007 at 8:02 PM

    Ronelle: Thanks, I really like this idea. How do you think would be the best way to proceed?

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