Haunted barn story & video
In honor of Halloween, a fellow reporter and I visited a couple of Douglas County haunted houses and wrote a story about them.
We visited the Metz Hill Haunted Barn, which is about 20 miles north of Roseburg. This was easily the scariest haunted house I’ve ever visited. So many creepy little things waiting in every direction you turn. I wrote the portion of the story about Metz Hill.
I also filmed and edited a video about Metz Hill, so you can see for yourself how spooky it is. In retrospect, I wish I would have had an actor or the organizer talk about costumes because my transition is a little rough — just another bit of knowledge to take with me next time I do a video.
We also visited a smaller haunted house put on by the Roseburg Elks Lodge. It was more of a family-friendly event than the Metz Hill barn, but was still fun. Cara Pallone, my co-worker, wrote this portion of the story.
Here’s the link to the story and my video.
Our photographer, Jon Austria, also had some great photos from both the house and the barn. Here’s the link to the photo gallery, if you’re interested.
Enjoy!
Wiener dog races
I covered the annual Roseburg Family Harvest Festival last weekend. I wrote a sights-and-sounds story about the festival and put together a video about the Wiener Dog Nationals.
Here’s the link to the video.
Pig births
Well, here’s the link to my video of a 600-pound pig giving birth. See the previous post for more details about the story.
Tonight the Douglas County Fair continues with a concert by Kellie Pickler. I’m covering the concert and will be putting together yet another video for the Web. I should have it posted Saturday afternoon!
Farrowing at the Fair
It’s still fair week here in Douglas County. This afternoon I interviewed a magician for a story I have running Monday. Photographer Jon Austria and I were headed back to the newsroom when Jon received a phone call. Another reporter, Cara Pallone, was on the line, telling Jon that a 600-pound pig was farrowing (or giving birth) to a litter of piglets at the fair.
Cara left the newsroom and headed to the fair, and since Jon needed to get to the fair in a hurry, I said I would go along and take some video footage (yay for TWO video projects in three days).
Point-and-shoot camera in hand, I hopped on top of a bucket and hovered over the 15-year-old girl who was helping her pig farrow. I waited, perched on my bucket, for a good 45 minutes before the girl’s dad told her that she would need to help the pig deliver the piglet by sticking her hand in the birth canal and removing it.
I filmed — mouth agape — as the girl reached further and further before feeling a tail and carefully removing the piglet. It was the first live birth I had ever seen — animal or human.
After the stuck piggie was removed, Aqua (the 600-pound pig) farrowed a new piglet every 15 minutes.
After about two hours of barnyard fun, the three of us left the fair and headed to the newsroom. This time before leaving the fair, I made sure to capture some B-roll footage of squealing pigs and a poster that read “Sow and piglets.” I spent a couple hours editing clips and pulled together a video of a pig giving birth (wow, never thought I would say that).
The story (written by Cara) and the video will be live on the site tomorrow, and as soon as it’s ready, I’ll be posting the link here so make sure to check it out.
Fair week continues through Saturday, so who knows what will pop up next.
Inaugural video project
This week is fair week in Douglas County.
It’s easily the biggest thing to hit Roseburg and the surrounding areas in the 10 months I’ve been working for The News-Review. Douglas County folks are serious about their fair.
I scanned the fair schedule, and one performer caught my eye instantly — Tammy Harris Barton, hypnotist.
I’ll be the first to admit, though, I was skeptical. I wasn’t quite sure if I believed that Mrs. Harris Barton could hypnotize people without them exaggerating their actions and playing along. I figured the show would provide an interesting sights-and-sounds story, though, so I signed up to cover it.
I also thought the show would make for an interesting video for our Web site. Now, I learned how to edit video using Final Cut Pro while at Poynter and have played with a video camera from time to time, but I had never stepped up to the plate and decided I was going to smoosh it all together for a video project — until Tuesday.
I went to the show Tuesday night, equipped with my notebook and pen and a point-and-shoot camera for video recording.
Trying to operate a camera and still write some of my own notes proved to be tricky, but I managed. I ran into another speed bump when my first memory card filled up, then my back-up card as well. Luckily for me, I asked our photographer to bring a few extra cards — just in case. I went through four memory cards and still could have used more. (Lesson learned: change the camera’s settings to extend the available time on the card).
I managed to talk to most of the hypnotized folks for my written story, and grabbed Tammy Harris Barton afterward to answer a few questions on camera.
In the end — after several hours of writing and video editing — I came out with two pieces of work that I can be proud to show. Of course, I’m my own biggest critic and found several things I would do differently for the video given the chance (i.e. improve transitions, more B-roll sound, etc.) but still learned a ton.
I’m glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and (finally) applied some of the video knowledge I gained at Poynter, and I plan to incorporate video into my assignments more often now that the intimidating “first time” is past.
In the meantime, if you want to check out my inaugural video project, here’s the link.
Heartbreaker
A high school senior who lives in one of the small cities in the northern part of the county was diagnosed with kidney failure last January. It had been a year since we ran anything on him, and the only story we did have didn’t have any comments from the boy himself. So my editor asked me to do a follow-up story.
Adam has been on dialysis for a year and is strong enough to go back to playing basketball for his high school. He still has dialysis three times a week and is still sick, but he managed to play, and play well.
I met with him and his mother and his 20-year-old sister who was going to give one of her kidneys to Adam. It was sad, but also encouraging to hear that things were looking up for Adam.
The day after the interview, as I was writing the story, Adam’s mother called me sobbing and let me know that the doctors decided not to let his sister donate a kidney after all.
It broke my heart.
The family has been through so much already. They fought to get Adam insurance coverage, and finally did after battling astronomical bills. But through it all, Adam and his sister have maintained such a close bond, and it was horrible to know that she wanted to save him but couldn’t.
I sat at my desk and struggled with this story for hours. I’m 22 and have a 17-year-old brother who is a lot like Adam — athletic, a good kid and a dedicated person. I could see how easily Adam’s family could be my own and how devastated I would be to be in his sister’s shoes.
I don’t know that the story I wrote did justice — Adam and this family are amazing — but I tried. My hope is that this community will continue to rally behind Adam and that he’ll eventually get the transplant he deserves.
Here’s the story: http://www.newsreview.info/article/20080229/NEWS/620853845
First big project
It’s been months since I’ve updated my Web site, but it’s for a valid reason. A couple weeks after I started as health reporter at The News-Review, the local hospital closed its Behavioral Health Unit. This unit treated people from around the state with mental illnesses.
The closure of the unit sparked a lot of discussion around town. Our editors decided to take a deeper look into the issues surrounding mental illness in our county, and statewide, as our year-end project. Being the health reporter, I was involved in the planning process from the beginning.
This project has been time consuming from the beginning, but I feel so lucky to have been involved in such a big enterprise project only three months into my career. I have learned so much about the mental health system, the community and about individuals who struggle with mental illness daily.
After dozens of brainstorming sessions, myself and three other reporters pulled together several stories about the state of mental health in our community and state. The four-day series had seven stories, several info boxes full of statistics and a couple of editorials. We have received several comments and e-mails about the series from people around the county and the state.
Here are the links to all of the stories. The series, System in Stress, began Dec. 26 and can also be found on our Web site: www.newsreview.info.
Day 1:
-”Gaps in local care a concern,” By Marissa Harshman
-”State struggles to meet needs of mentally ill,” By Marissa Harshman
Day 2:
-”Hard Time,” By Chelsea Duncan, cops and courts reporter
-”Helping kids cope,” By Marissa Harshman
-Editorial: “Gaps in mental health“
Day 3:
-”Mental trauma, illness alter life in profound ways for local vets,” By Teresa Williams, education reporter
Day 4:
-”Fomer BHU therapists offer free counseling for uninsured,” By Chris Gray, social services reporter
-”Fowler House gives chronically ill a place to go and keep going,” By Chris Gray, social services reporter
I’m planning on doing some more blogging about the series and the obstacles we faced while working on it. Stay tuned!
I’m employed!
So I’ve finally done it. I’ve landed a job!
In the next two weeks I will be packing up my things and heading to Roseburg, OR where I will write for The News-Review. Roseburg is about an hour from Eugene, OR, less than three hours from my hometown of Vancouver, WA, an hour from the California border, an hour from the coast and two hours from Crater Lake. The 20,000 circulation paper comes out in the afternoons Monday-Friday and Sunday mornings. I will be covering northern Douglas County and will be writing about health and fitness.
In the two months since I’ve left St. Petersburg and the Poynter Institute I’ve felt a whirlwind of emotions. I’ve been excited, nervous, anxious, worried, stressed, confused and unsure. Usually all within a matter of days.
I’m so greatful for the people around me who have listened as I unloaded my concerns and fears, who have offered up advice when I was confused and have put me at ease while I was worried.
My patience has paid off and I will be moving to a new place where I will start a new job with new people. The whole thing is somewhat nerveracking, but in the end I think I will be truly happy and will be doing what I love.
Check it out
Dave Rothacker, who lives in Tampa, Fla., writes a couple blogs and mentioned my personal narrative from Poynter in some recent posts.
On one blog site he travels on The Starship Cruiser where “Her mission is to explore and discover the universe of different and RadioBack the coordinates of those who are involved in the evolution of our environment and the human race.” You can check out what he thought about some of the Poynter Fellows’ personal narratives at RadioBack.
On Dave’s other blog he writes about “businesses, folks, books and other things that impress me.” While reviewing books that involve ”sheer effort” my personal narrative was mentioned again. Find this post on Rothacker Reviews.
In case you haven’t read it yet, you can find my personal narrative on the PointsSouth Web site.
Leaving St. Pete
I never thought I would have such a difficult time leaving St. Petersburg. My six-week stay went too quickly. I had so much more I wanted to do, wanted to learn and wanted to experience. I wasn’t ready to leave the area, the faculty or my new friends.
As I was sitting on the plane flying from Florida to Washington, I realized that I had developed true friendships with the other fellows. These are not people I will keep in touch with for potential job connections. These are people I will keep in touch with because they have become a part of my life and I care about how they are doing, where they are and how they got there.
I owe so much to my the faculty and the other fellows at Poynter. My eyes were opened to the new possibilities in journalism. In those six-weeks I realized the importance of embracing new technology. I want to learn more about recording video and audio and making my own multimedia pieces. I want to practice my photography skills. I want to learn more about writing continuous news for the Web.
I learned so much during my time at Poynter. I became rejuvinated. And now I’m eager to learn about what’s next for the field.
Who is Marissa?
Marissa is a journalist. A hard-news girl with an eye for color.
Welcome to MarissaHarshman.com! I’m a 23-year-old recent college grad. I was born in Fort Bragg, N.C. My family moved back to Vancouver, Wash. when I was a toddler, and I lived there for 16 years until I went away to college. In June 2007, I graduated from Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Wash. I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree with a journalism major and political science minor. In July 2007 I completed a six-week journalism program at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. The fellowship taught me so much. I was introduced to new media techniques to deliver a story, such as audio, video and soundslides. I’ve learned to embrace the new technology that surrounds each of us, and I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned.
Since September 2007, I’ve worked at The News-Review in Roseburg, Ore. I cover health and fitness and the northern part of Douglas County, which includes six cities ranging in size from 200 to 7,500 people. I’ve also spent some of my time covering the Oregon National Guard’s Charlie Company based in Roseburg, which has been a great experience. I’m having a great time here and learning quite a bit myself and my profession.
I plan to use this site to display my writing and videos, and also to start a dialogue about the issues I face daily while trying to write and report. Keep checking in for updates!
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