Reporting | Alaska Features Fall 2016 | Part II

Posted on by A.E. Weisgerber

It was a great privilege and pleasure to flex the old features-writing muscles over the last couple of months. I’m one of those weirdos who takes great satisfaction in mucking around tables in the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.  So many interesting numerical lenses with which to view life and how it is lived.  My strategy for writing a weekly feature was along these lines: Mon-Tues = research; Weds-Thurs = reach out to sources and set up interviews; Thurs-Fri = Conduct interviews and draft; Fri-Sat = File story.

Topics covered included (links below):

  • How Millennials are shaping real-life downtown shopping experiences
  • Chick flicks are a legitimate method of staying warm in Winter
  • STEM education in public schools leading to great economic opportunities
  • How the Arts are faring in education
  • Veteran suicide phenomenon and support available in Anchorage and nationally
  • Facebook unfriending and fake news echo chambers
  • Food Bank of Alaska and the holiday outreach
  • Animal adoption and mobile outreach to remote Alaskan towns
  • The staying power of print and knowledgeable booksellers

Thanks to all the fascinating people I spoke to or corresponded with along the way. Thanks again to Stephanie Blanchard as well as Managing Editor Andrew Jensen for the support and, praise the Lord (freelancers understand this next comment) prompt payment of invoices! It’s so nice to be able to close the books on a project before the year ends.

For my first post on this series, hop over via this link.

So, Happy New Year from New York City to Alaska and everywhere in between and beyond. Good writing and reading to all in 2017!

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  I’m glad for your company.

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A. E. Weisgerber is a teacher, editor, and hybrid writer from Orange, New Jersey. Awarded first place for features from the Society of Professional Journalists, she is a Reynolds Journalism Fellow, a 2018 Chesapeake Writer, and 2017’s Frost Place Scholar. Recent items in 3:AM, DIAGRAM, The Alaska Star, Yemassee, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Gravel Mag. Her flash fiction appears in many international anthologies. She is an Associate Series Editor for Wigleaf’s Top 50, and is currently writing her first novel about a terrible family that finally gets something right. @aeweisgerber anneweisgerber.com