Change is the only constant

Last night my wife, Leann, took me by surprise.

“I went to your blog and I was going to read some things, but your last few posts are just talking about how the post was removed,” she said. That’s not her exact wording, but the context is correct.

I explained that the theme of this blog is slowly changing, which comes with my job. As more responsibility weighs down my plate, other requirements reach into my personal life and freedoms. For example, I probably should not post about coworkers, or sources. This blog might soon be read by a larger audience if I get to move over to Louisburg and try my hand at filling an entire newspaper. :O

Whether or not I get to move over there, I will shift the focus of this blog from updating friends and family about the ongoings of my professional life, to providing a first-hand perspective of covering a community from the busy life of a journalist.

I will give details about commission meetings that couldn’t fit in the paper. I’ll post photos that were not chosen for the paper. There will be several advantages for involved residents to follow this blog.

But, before I go 100% professional — I love you Leann!

Also, you all may be interested to read one of my recent stories, which was published yesterday. I covered “Louisburg Night” at the Powell Observatory, which made for some interesting photos and conversations.

New banner coming soon.

That is all, thanks for visiting! Check back soon for new posts!

You have to love it…

This entry has been removed.

Check back often! [Dad, mom and the two or three other random hits I get every week. ]

Changing lanes…

This one too…oops.

Working hard at the impossible

I did not enter this field with a lot of confidence from my peers, but with incredible hope from my mentors and professors. I’m very fortunate to have the job I have now. It’s almost unheard of for somebody to get a job in journalism right out of college.
I do have my complaints, but they will be righted in the future:
I want video equipment and editing software.
I want faster computers – these ancient mini-macs aren’t cutting it.
I want more freedom to manipulate the technology we do have – I’m not even allowed to receive my e-mails via my Blackberry.

Other than that this job is great. It’s reporting and it’s in a small community, which is what I wanted.
Now the plan is to do my best and work my way up the ladder. So far so good. There is said to be a leadership position opening up at the Louisburg Herald. When, I cannot say. But, I know I won’t be able to resist trying my hand at it.

Anybody wanting to check out my stuff can search “Brandon Steinert” on any of the following Web sites.

www.republic-online.com
www.graphic-online.com
www.herald-online.com
www.micoweekend.com

Feel free to comment on any of the stories.

New job! (and I promised you all the “Crazy Monday” Collegian rap video, ugh)

Well it’s been a good long time since my last post, but the time has come to begin blogging once more. Below you’ll find the “Crazy Monday” Collegian rap video I promised to post.

My new job is with the Miami County Republic, which is the small paper located in Paola, KS. It’s part of the Miami County News Group, which includes two other area’s papers, the Louisburg Herald and the Osawatomie Graphic.

Right now I’m working on four stories for the Graphic.

All three papers publish weekly on Wednesdays and the Miami County Weekend covers all three areas published on Friday as the weekend paper.

Today I finished a story about fireworks displays in Osawatomie. All my stories are scheduled to run on Wednesday of next week.

Tomorrow I’ll put more work into my other three stories and blog a little about the online publications and what I would like to see the papers do to increase traffic. Hopefully they’ll listen to the n00b. So far everybody I’ve met here has been open-minded and welcoming.

My adventure has begun!

Last Collegian lead package of my life… :(

My story about the Girl Scouts program ran on the front page with some awesome photos. In fact there were so many good ones that they ran five! Three on the front, two on the back to where the story jumped.

Chelsy Lueth did a great job with the photography, and I’ve gotten a handful of compliments from the older staffers at Student Publications Inc. for the print story and the video I pieced together. Either view it in the link I provided, which includes the print story, or watch the video below:

I think I squeezed this one out just in time for the awards banquet.

Stay tuned for the Collegian rap video, Crazy Monday — a parody of Lazy Sunday. Written and sang by yours truly with editing and voice over help from Brent Keltner and Anthony Drath. It will be shown Friday at the Student Publications awards banquet.

Nothing like a black eye for graduation/wedding photos

For those who don’t know already, I’m enrolled in a class called Modern Combatives, which is like UFC-light.

Today I had my first full-on mixed martial arts match (open-hand punches to the face, full punches to the body [still not love taps...]) and technically I might have won by points, but I tapped out like a wuss because I thought I might be getting a concussion.

To my credit, the guy has spent the past few months learning Thai kwon Doe , which is basically punching and kicking. Instead of taking him to the ground, where I would be proficient and probably able to win, I decided to exchange punches and kicks for about a full minute.

Here’s how it all went down:

We both landed some pretty awesome blows, but my head gear was more open in front, which allowed him to land some directly on my face…hence the black eye in the title above^.

Finally I decided to take him down, but instead we entered a neutral position, hit the padded wall and fell to the ground and by chance he had dominant body position. I pushed off the wall with my feet and put him in my guard. From there I attempted to do a triangle choke and nearly tapped him out. Unfortunately I didn’t have all my mental capacities at my disposal and he managed to slip out just enough for it not to be effective so I switched to an arm bar. This is where I felt like I was going to pass out from a previously well-landed hit to the face and let him go, followed by my tapping out and acquisition of an ice pack. I’m still seeing stars. Zach, if you read this…nice hit…very nice hit…ouch.

Ego-nomics

Hard work + awards and recognition = bigger ego.

Today was the Collegian’s last staff meeting and I had the pleasure of being named “most efficient editor” and “most reliable.” Needless to say I’ve let it go straight to my head and now I’m going to spend the next two weeks ignoring my finals — I’ve got the “grade” I want.

In all seriousness, I plan to study pretty hard during the next week. I have some borderline A’s and B’s that need some rescuing.

My wedding is coming up, June 6. I’m extremely excited to marry my beautiful fiancee. She’s truly my best friend and I know how lucky I am to have her.

Anyway, it was a crazy weekend! Saturday I had the opportunity to get to know one of the Collegian’s photographers on an all-day trip to Topeka, Kan. for a feature on Beyond Bars, a program created by the Girl Scouts. It will be running lead with what I’m sure will be a pretty sweet photo.

Beyond Bars is a collection of volunteers who take girl scouts with incarcerated mothers to see their parents every other Saturday and spend time with them on the off-weekends. I wrote the story, edited together a broadcast video and with the help of a friend made an audio slideshow and two podcasts. Almost all of it happened on Sunday in Dole Hall, where I spent 20 hours in front of a Mac, wishing it were a PC. Links coming soon.

Back to the photographer – Chelsy Lueth. Always quiet and sort of to herself, but always has the best photographs and is consistent and reliable. Turns out she’s a pretty cool person and is now a good friend of mine. She taught me a little more about photography and why it’s so addictive to people. I think I learned a little bit about how a photographer’s eye works. It’s spawned a hunger for a new camera. I really want a nice digital SLR. Besides, it would be great for freelance work.

I wish I had the money…but at least I’m reliable and efficient.

Eventful week

In the past week I:
– rescued a drunk girl from some jerks and took her to her brother
– saw General Petraeus in person
– played Frisbee with four of my friends in pitch black at Old Stadium with a light-up Frisbee
– hosted an all-Collegian barbecue
– went bowling and raced go-karts with my dad
– invited 100 people to my wedding
– deciphered city commission jargon for 11,500 K-Staters and Manhattanites
– was mentioned by name in former Manhattan Mayor Mark Hatesohl’s farewell speech

I truly love the blessings I’ve been given in this life. If it were over right now, I’d be satisfied, but there is so much more I want to do. Step one is get on with a small paper and learn its workings in and out so well that I can contribute to its success.
So if you’re the publisher of a small paper or group of small papers in Kansas City and you want an ambitious, well-rounded multimedia journalist, here I am. I’m looking for a thriving small paper dedicated to community news which is looking to grow and prosper. Perhaps we can help each other out.