Archaeology, Stinky Pipes, and Tony Bennett

When Tom asked me to “make sewers sexy” for our shells project, I was sure it wouldn’t be too much work. I figured I could simply collect a few quotes, use a few vivid words here and there, and I’d wind up with a spicier-than-average city government story…so that’s what I did.

But oh! I was so, so wrong. I failed to see the sexy sewer story for what it was: an opportunity to depart from writing run-of-the-mill articles filled with jargon-ridden quotes and dry analysis of information. Sure, the information’s important, but if you can’t step outside the box to present it, you’ll ever engage a typical reader who, with a million things to do every day, doesn’t give a hoot about a bunch of pipes buried in the dirt. This piece is web-only, and it’ll be presented in a format unlike anything the Missouri’s ever tried before. In short, I had a big, fat, juicy opportunity in front of me to break all the rules.

I’ll admit. I was frustrated, initially, when Tom suggested a re-write. Nevertheless, I re-tooled my approach, deciding to write this like a smartass timeline about sewers. The idea was to covertly give readers information by packaging it in an entertaining way.

As I got going, I realized I was having FUN. I was Googling all sorts of outrageous sewer trivia, shouting out bits and pieces to the back half of the newsroom every five minutes. Yeah. Sewer trivia — I’m pretty sure the reporters around me thought I was going insane. The point I’m trying to get at is this: the “hard news” in any story is definitely crucial, and sometimes, you just need to deliver that hard news. But when you’ve got a boring topic (not that sewers are boring, but I’m sure many would beg to differ), write about the stuff that you find interesting. Write about the fact that Elvis died on a toilet. Then, sneak the hard news in.

I sincerely hope I get to write more articles like this one in my journalism career. Heck…I got to write the line “Woohoo! Pooping in a hole.” Yeah.

PROGRESS REPORT:
The Fairfield Gorget story came out on Saturday. Never in my life have I received so much kudos for one story, and I almost feel guilty. The story was, though it took effort to pair down, just waiting to be told. I was just the one who lucked into finding it. As of yesterday, it was the Missourian’s most read article on the Web. I am, hands down, prouder of this story than any I’ve written before.

I wrote a story about Tony Bennett coming to town this week…and learned that even Advanced Reporters need a little wrist slapping now and then. Liz caught some of my errors, which came about because I was frenzied trying to write the article before sprinting to class. But haphazardness is never acceptable, and I needed a reminder of that fact.

And, of course, I (re)wrote about sewers. And throwing pots of sewage into the streets in the middle ages. And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Cowabunga, dude.