"IN BOCCA AL LUPO"

In Italian, "in bocca al lupo" means "good luck."  I've realized that a lot of being a reporter depends on luck: luck in finding a good story idea, luck in finding a good parking spot, and luck in getting succinct sound bites from sources, just to name a few areas where good luck would really help me out while reporting!  I received an e-mail from my wonderful cooking teacher, Marcella, from Florence wishing me good luck in Italian.  It reminded me about fate and that things generally work out.  Those who know me, know that sometimes I over-stress about school.  Last semester in Europe, I was much more relaxed so Marcella's e-mail meant so much to me and reminded me to breathe!  On a side note, Marcella recently started her own cooking school so if you're headed to Florence, definitely take a class from her at Giglio Cooking.

Marcella is the one on the far left.

I did have some luck on Friday when I reported at KOMU-8 News.  But before I had good luck, I had a little bit of bad luck.  My story was about an MU graduate student named Yirui Wei, who is from China.  In June, Wei nearly drowned and lost the ability to walk and talk.  Through physical therapy and rehabilitation, she has now regained both of those skills, but at a high financial expense.  Members of the Columbia community and the International student community at MU stepped up to help on Friday (November 6) to hold a benefit called the "Melting Pot Concert."  Watch my story below:

Friends Raise Money for MU Grad Student After Accident from Paige Hansen on Vimeo.

I learned a huge lesson, twice on Friday: check with the marketing department about interviewing their employees or customers on-site.  I called Wei directly to setup an interview and she gave me permission to come meet her at her physical therapy class.  When I arrived, the center's marketing department met me and said that because of Wei's broken English, without a third-party translator, I could not interview Wei anywhere on their grounds.  Luckily, I knew Wei would be at the benefit later that night so I would be able to interview her there.  My second issue arose when I went to the Boone County National Bank to interview Wei's banker who has taken a big hand in raising awareness and money for Wei.  Again, he said he'd be happy to answer questions for me, but I had to wait for the "OK" from the bank's marketing department.  After waiting for far too long, the marketing department decided it wouldn't be a good idea for this particular banker to discuss Wei's situation.

When I left the bank, I was frustrated and worried about getting my story done on time.  This is where the good luck or "in bocca al lupo" came in.  I arrived at the church where the concert was being held only to find it empty.  The event began at 7PM but the organizer said she would meet me at 5:30 so I could interview her.  Unfortunately, she was running late.  I wanted to be back at the station by 7:30 to start editing my video, so I was beginning to get nervous.  The pastor at the church walked into the Cathedral and pointed me to the back of the church where he said he thought some performers were getting ready.  I went back to check it out and found a group of beautiful Indian women preparing to perform a traditional Indian dance.  After interviewing them, a few of the other performers began to arrive and so did the event organizer.  Everything finally began to come together.  My last struggle came when I got back to the station and had to rush to get my video uploaded, my script written and my package completed.  I got everything done on time, but I wish I could have had more time to make my story a little smoother and flow a little bit better.   Next time, I'm going to follow the advice of my Broadcast professor and utilize a mini tape recorder so I can find my sound bites a bit easier when I'm editing.

Last week I anchored the "Around-the-State" report for KOMU-8 News Today, the morning show.  Be sure to listen for a funny story about a surge in births in Southern Missouri ...

Anchor, Around the State Report, 10/28/09 from Paige Hansen on Vimeo.

My next reporting shift is tomorrow (Friday) so if you have any story ideas, be sure and let me know!