![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielHoly crap.
Okay, so the school board meeting went fairly well last night. But, as the head of the newspaper said in her e-mail to me today, it was a little bit like getting thrown to the wolves. I was there for over two hours, which actually went more quickly than you would think considering the subject matter being discussed. I never got bored, just developed a headache.
What happened was this: They're looking to expand and renovating the existing school district buildings, so there was a good portion of the meeting covering the proposed plans. That was actually pretty interesting, even if the representative there to present the plans was a little...unable to really stand firm on certain things. I kind of thought he got thrown to the wolves a little, personally. And was vaguely amused by it in a cruel way. That part was fine. But what followed was two men talking about bonds and bond structures and terms and resolutions. People, as soon as you start flashing percentages at me, my brain clicks OFF. I may have taken pre-calc in high school, but there's a reason I was a wuss and only took algebra in college. I have to work at numbers and understanding interest and interest rates and bonds. Oi.
So I did my very best to take notes, though it was hard to determine what exactly might prove to be of interest and what was just filler. Or rather, information there for the board to better decide what steps they should take before putting it out there for public vote. What's difficult, is figuring out now how to put this information that the public is interested in into something that actually reads. And makes sense.
When I e-mailed the head of the newspaper back, I told her that I was currently putting my notes in order and writing them up. Then I'll e-mail it to her and we can go from there. I'm trying to focus on the changes they want to make to the school buildings, especially since I think some of them will leave the community either very happy or very upset. After that I'll do what I can to cover the bond issues. And then the rest of what went on. Because there was more, and I found that more interesting despite just wanting the meeting to end already, but it's less important in comparison.
Right now I'm just nervous about this whole thing.
But she does want to pay me what I think is sort of a ridiculous amount for what I'm doing, so that's a bonus.
Okay, so the school board meeting went fairly well last night. But, as the head of the newspaper said in her e-mail to me today, it was a little bit like getting thrown to the wolves. I was there for over two hours, which actually went more quickly than you would think considering the subject matter being discussed. I never got bored, just developed a headache.
What happened was this: They're looking to expand and renovating the existing school district buildings, so there was a good portion of the meeting covering the proposed plans. That was actually pretty interesting, even if the representative there to present the plans was a little...unable to really stand firm on certain things. I kind of thought he got thrown to the wolves a little, personally. And was vaguely amused by it in a cruel way. That part was fine. But what followed was two men talking about bonds and bond structures and terms and resolutions. People, as soon as you start flashing percentages at me, my brain clicks OFF. I may have taken pre-calc in high school, but there's a reason I was a wuss and only took algebra in college. I have to work at numbers and understanding interest and interest rates and bonds. Oi.
So I did my very best to take notes, though it was hard to determine what exactly might prove to be of interest and what was just filler. Or rather, information there for the board to better decide what steps they should take before putting it out there for public vote. What's difficult, is figuring out now how to put this information that the public is interested in into something that actually reads. And makes sense.
When I e-mailed the head of the newspaper back, I told her that I was currently putting my notes in order and writing them up. Then I'll e-mail it to her and we can go from there. I'm trying to focus on the changes they want to make to the school buildings, especially since I think some of them will leave the community either very happy or very upset. After that I'll do what I can to cover the bond issues. And then the rest of what went on. Because there was more, and I found that more interesting despite just wanting the meeting to end already, but it's less important in comparison.
Right now I'm just nervous about this whole thing.
But she does want to pay me what I think is sort of a ridiculous amount for what I'm doing, so that's a bonus.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-25 11:05 pm (UTC)But woohoo! good luck!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-27 06:10 am (UTC)She didn't tell me specifically to use an inverted pyramid style, but she did tell me to focus on what's most important in these community meetings I'll be going to and start there, working my way down to least important.
Next Wednesday I'll be published in our tiny (like, four pages) newspaper!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-01 03:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-01 04:19 am (UTC)I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. But I'm grateful for the opportunity that they're giving me at the paper. I'm definitely viewing this as a learning experience, and I'm grateful for them for giving me something more to do with my time that gets me further involved with the community.