Heather Hope

Today, I got the honor of attending the 41^st NAACP Image Awards Nominee Luncheon at the The Beverly Hills Hotel. As the media, I interviewed different celebrities, took pictures & basked in the total red carpet Paparazzi frenzy! The purpose of the luncheon was to honor the nominees and get people acquainted with who they were and what awards they were up for. I interviewed R&B, Pop singer Kristinia DeBarge (her dad is James DeBarge), cast members of TV series Lincoln Heights and Grey's Anatomy and a popular doctor/author.

I was cool for the most part at the event because as a journalist, I can't be fawning over these stars taking pictures with them. I didn't even prepare proper questions to ask these guys. I looked over some of the nominees profiles, but was I really to research every single one of them? So I just asked the basic: How do you feel about being nominated for an award? What would you say to that student hoping to be where you are? What other projects are you working on?

Those Q's worked for all but one guy, Jesse Williams, who plays Dr. Jackson Avery on Grey's Anatomy. I didn't know he was hosting the luncheon so I simply asked him about his "award" when he wasn't even getting one! But he corrected me nicely and really was so cool & cute to boot!

Overall, I had a nice taste of fame at my first celeb press event. HOPEfully I will be able to slide back in with the media for the actual Image Awards Show at the end of the month!

The life of a journalist is pretty much like the life of a professional juggler. If you thought it was already tough trying to delve into one story and get all the facts straight, the heat really turns on when you're balancing 3, 4 or more at the same time!
This week I got assigned a homicide victim to report, did a recap piece about women dominating the Grammy Awards for Annenberg TV News,  hosted the Annenberg Radio News show yesterday and interviewed some local LA youth for a broadcast story I'm working on..all while writing stories for my job as a feature writer for the Annenberg school's online publication, CommLine. Whoa! Can I get a break yet?! Everything's been cool because reporting can be pretty exciting after being draining. I go from interviewing people at the Grammy museum to talking with LA Homicide detectives all in a couple hours! I do so many interviews in a day that sometimes I don't even know which story is what! While I was reading through my script for the radio show, I was writing the weather report, getting a good Black History fact together (it was Rosa Park's birthday yesterday :-) and I had to set up and edit the interview I had with a Toyota dealer about the recent car recalls possible damage to their image.

I'm just glad when stories actually work out and sources come through because there is nothing like getting a good story together with no one to interview! I had to call so many people to interview for the Grammy piece in order to just get one person to speak on camera. My top highlight of the week was my breakthrough with the homicide story. Detectives were a tad reluctant to share info with me, and I was unsure about what questions to even ask. But my professor, who works at The LA Times gave me some great pointers about how persistent I needed to be with the police and resourceful in making sure I've searched everything I could on my victim (Marcell Bulliner). Although I had to meet with the detective at the same time I had class, he did talk to me and told me how 23-year-old Bulliner got stabbed to death last Thursday night, Jan. 28, 2010. The detective gave my number to Bulliner's aunt, and she actually called me back. We talked for a good bit, her daughter emailed me pictures and looks like I'm off to a good start..for this week!

Happy New Year/Decade to ya! Know we're well into the year already with Day 26 (that's a music group you know?) but I think you can say that phrase for the entire month of January! Over the holidays, I thought I was going to make a super Christmas slideshow and took a bunch of pictures and even recorded family members speaking, giving their Christmas wishes...
Well, that didn't come along to well and was a job incomplete. I just really couldn't pull myself to do any work during my break. I had the all equipment, tools and knowledge, but no motivation.So instead of putting myself on a guilt trip for being way too ambitious in thinking I was actually going to a lift a finger this break, I've moved on and decided to save the pics and sound for a dynamic, Christmas Pageant-looking slideshow for this year. Way to be resourceful and optimistic! I still have until Dec. 25 to get work underway on Phase 2  of the holiday project TBA!

I wasn't the most excited to begin a brand new semester of classes since all I've been told is that the second semester is "like the kiss of death." So I approached this new term a tad reluctant, but expectant none of the less because I know it's still going to be an amazing year and one step closer to graduation! Last semester truly taught me about the rigors of grad school with doing 20-page papers, deep PowerPoint presentations and millions of news stories all in between!! Professors say the heat is really going to turn up for us over these next 17 weeks, so I just got to suck it up and get things done.

So far, classes have been going nice and easy. No one's died yet or gone off on an instructor mid-class, which is pretty good shape for what we've been told. Know it's still relatively early, but I still have high HOPEs for an awesome semester and am actually ready to take on the challenges because I don't really have a choice!

CLASS SCHEDULE
-Mon: Print Journalism
-Tues: London Study-Abroad Trip
-Wed: Broadcast Journalism
-Thurs: Online Journalism
-Fri: Copy Editing (Yes, I know I have a class on Friday :-o)

Who would've thought the police could really be your pal? Kids in South Los Angeles found this out the easy way.

You may have had candy for your sweet tooth, but what about candy for your hair? That's what Los Angeles-based celebrity hairstylist Candida Farmer is referred to: Candy for Your Hair, the title coming from the name of the hair salon she once owned.

She managed and worked out of the Candy for Hair Salon for 11 years, and built up quite a reputation as a master stylist.

A large group of people met in South Los Angeles on October 22 for the 14th Annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. The protest consisted of a march, rally and candlelight vigil sponsored by the October 22nd Coalition. Friends and family members of victims of police brutality participated in the day's events as well as activitists and various community members.

Los Angeles communities got a taste of "Soul" and so much more at the "4th Annual Taste of Soul" event held Saturday, October 17 on Crenshaw Boulevard. It brought together a diverse crowd for the one-day urban festival for free, filled with more than 200 vendors that sold items from original clothing designs and artwork to incense and handmade jewerly and accessories. The fest strethched from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Rodeo Boulevard, where there were performances on each end sponsored by radio stations, 102.3 KJLH and 94.7 The Wave. It is known to be the biggest gathering in South Los Angeles.

The goal of "Taste of Soul" according to its founder and Publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel, Danny Backwell, Sr. was to give residents of L.A. and people from all over a "taste of soul food , soul music and the soul of the community." The event amassed more than 100,000 people, making it the largest "Taste of Soul" yet. It started off with just 35,000 attendees in its first year in October 2006. Entertainers such as soul singer Eddie Levert, nineties rapper Yo-Yo and Chaka Khan's daughter, Inidra Khan performed, and "Thelma" from TV's Good Times also made an appearance. Vendors gave away free items and people lined up to get a taste of the barbecue ribs, fried fish, jerk chicken and more served at the event.