My Beat: Greenpoint Brooklyn

As I said, I’m still playing catch up and a part of that is getting acquainted with school

First off, the other 15 students who got into Columbia’s part-time journalism program… well what can I say, I am impressed by each and every one of them. Some have been working journalists in other countries, others have started their own magazines already. Long story short, I am in good company.

While I’m still freelancing (working on pitches and stories), I also have school work which has forced me to create a new category for this blog “Greenpoint.”

I live in Greenpoint Brooklyn, a very nice polish area just outside Williamsburg (hipster hell).

At Columbia I am taking “Reporting and Writing 1,” it’s the first and required class for all incoming students. A large portion of the class is beat reporting — picking a neighborhood, finding out what the local issues are and reporting about it. I’m happy to say that I will learn a lot about Greenpoint in the coming months.

One thing that has come up already, the approach. Often a beat reporter
has to approach people on the street and ask questions. It helps having
a press pass, to prove you aren’t a weirdo, but it also requires some
finesse and guile. Reporters are, after all, the classic schmoozer.
Still, it can be hard to approach people, especially in a neighborhood
where many of the residents don’t speak English (I’ve got my share of
shrugged shoulders today).

I’ve worked on my “approach” voice — slightly higher and less
intimidating than my bar voice, but more important than that is your
ability to pick out someone who will be willing to talk.

It’s not like cold-calling. I’ve got that down — I know how to get
people to talk (I had a nice conversation with David Sifry, founder of
Technocrati yesterday for an upcoming story), but people on the street are busy, on the go,
and have better shit to do than talk to you.

My advice, be patient. Scope a block and find the person that is doing
nothing. A bus stop might work, but be prepared to lose that person at
the first sign of an approaching bus.

Laborers are good too. They often can talk while working (sweeping
doesn’t require undivided attention) and they are often eager to speak
their mind.

And one shouldn’t be nervous doing this. Think of it this way: You are part of the community and you need to know what’s going on. You should be able to approach anybody to find out what they think and feel about community issues.

But that’s my adventure in freelancing today, mastering “the approach.” It can be nervracking, but its incredibly important to learn.