Thank you, Rebekah!

I'm usually idealistic. I'm capable of recognizing, though, when I'm being too idealistic. And with this shells project...well, I let the idealism get a little out of control. It just took a little while to realize that what I thought were healthy nerves surrounding a big project are actually a giant, red flag waving in front of my face. We've bitten off more than we can chew.

Even having paired down the Safety Shell, I feel like I'm demanding way too much work of reporters who are already extremely busy. Forgive the cynicism, here, but I've about had my fill. I signed up for advanced reporting to report in-depth stories for a beat. I don't know if this has to with group dynamics or the fact that my shell has nothing to do with my beat, but I'm spending a pretty inordinate amount of time planning meetings no one has time to show up to, writing outlines no one has time to read, and coming up with ideas no one has time to discuss or flesh out. I'm really worried that I'm pouring several hours of work each week into organizing something that's going to fall apart when it comes to execution.

I'm not trying to say I'm doing everything. I'm not. I've just fallen into the role of the de-facto group coordinator. And I'll be honest. It's too much for me to handle. I trust my group, and I know we're capable, but even with the degree to which we've steamlined our plan, I still can't help but think we're taking on too much.

I'm with Rebekah. I don't know about the other groups, but I'm gripping on the last thread of my sanity this semester. If we can bring some of our ideas together and maybe shift focus to one shell project, I think I'd be much less likely to jump off the deep end. Because I'm feeling pretty crazy right now.

I really, really, really like this shells project. I just think that the way it's set up right now, it's going to push my sanity a little too far. Coming together to work on a single, really well-developed shell, would ease the individual burdens and would give our readers a much better project to look at.

This week's progress:
Matt and I organized a formal outline for our shells project. I didn't get much feedback about what stories people wanted to tackle, so I delegated the assignments out in hopes that no one would feel like they'd been given too much to do. Besides that, I did about 10 million interviews this week: several on an article that I'll write on Monday, hopefully, about Tim Page coming to town, and several more on an article I'll be writing dissecting some crazy shorts that ran before films at the True/False festival last weekend.