Alas, it seems that I can procrastinate on the TAP blog no longer. As I write this, I’m held up in a Quality Inn, in SoCal with hours to kill before my buddy, Zak gets married. Dammit all. Why has life offered me this time to bring my ambitions to fruition? Oh well. Here it goes. The first Trial & Aaron Blog (the TAB? Hmmm, not bad. Perhaps it’s marketable).
Truth be told, I was struggling to figure out what the hell I’d blog about. My primary focus of content creation is producing the podcast, but after spending over a year writing for he Winters Express and Davis Enterprise, I was inspired to maintain this skill of article writing. Albeit, this blog will be far more freeing as it’ll be more opinion-based, informal, and totally not AP-style.
There was one topic I had in mind of what the first blog would be about: Why I left the Winters Express. I began writing it; didn’t like the anger. I began podcasting about it, tasted too much salt spewing from my mouth. And no, it does not bode well for future opportunities speaking ill of past employers. So, rather than talk trash or muckrake, I wanted to break down how writing about my home town impacted me.
Just to get this out of the way, let’s say the reason for my departure from the WE was creative differences. Although I do harbor some hard feelings, the last thing I’ll do is dissuade anybody from reading or supporting the WE. In fact, I encourage everybody I come across to support the local paper. Go on now n’ git it!
I started with the paper as a part time gig writing for the sports section. Out of the gate, I wasn’t particularly good at it because I’d never done it before nor did I take any journalism classes in college. However, I did nurture a love for writing years prior in ad school.
Slowly but surely - and with the help of my editor - I chipped away at the rough edges surrounding my journalistic writing. Let it be known, this isn’t any kind of writing. This is AP style, baby. And I hated it. The way one must write down dates, the fact that there’s no Oxford comma…well, now that I think about it, I was just being a big baby about that style, but I much prefer the informal way of writing. There were just so many little nuisances disguised as nuances. To them, I say booooo!
ANYWAYS, covering sports was fun, and then I transitioned into more feature articles. That’s when I really developed and deepened my love for my hometown. I got to interview business owners, distinguished individuals, teachers, WHS alumni, non-profit leaders, and so much more. It’s one thing to be proud of one’s hometown, and for me, I realized it was surface level love. When I dug deep and interviewed the movers and shakers of the town and got to know the selfless, hard-working people who are part of the community, I thought to myself, “Holy shit, this is a unique place. I really am proud to be from Winters, California.”
The best part of the job was - hands down - having people randomly approach me in the community and comment on how much they liked my writing and my articles. It meant the world to me because my overall ambition is to become an author and inspire people with my writing and stories. Although this was on a smaller scale, the affirmation was incredible and made me believe I was making a difference. That I was making people happy. I suppose that’s my overall ambition…to make people happy in this sad world (please excuse me, I have a sniff tear in my eye).
When it comes to my creativity and writing, unfortunately, I associate myself with it. More specifically, my ego. I know full well I’m not the best writer in the world (maybe the best in Yolo County…HIYOOOO. Just kidding), and I’m absolutely open to constructive criticism. But, I’d construct some, dare I say, witty articles with alliterations and wordplay. Because why not? It’s a damn newspaper. One must give the facts, I get it, but let’s give people a little extra pizaaaa. Something that’ll differentiate the Winters Express from other newspapers. Perhaps give it some more personality. Yes, I realize how narcissistic that sounds. My writing is flawlessly silly, you can’t edit it! But seeing chunks of - what I thought - were fun aspects of my articles edited out, it stung a little.
At the end of the day, I wasn’t the editor. Sizing and ads must be adhered to (ads adhered to…Lordy I’m good), and my ego must always be put in check. However, there were times my editor left in my silliness when I thought she’d cut them out! I’d reread the article - which I rarely did - and think, “Oh damn, she let it slide!”
Nevermore was my wordplay and silliness left unedited than with my food reviews. FLAVOR FAVES I called them. That felt so good being able to express myself through writing. Many o’ time I’d have friends - shout out to Ray Mac and E-Mac - who’d tell me they’d hear my voice when they’d read my articles. I love that.
Even as I write this blog, I can feel the joy in my heart being able to express my creativity and myself through words. I don’t want everything I write to be poopoo peepee humor, but to put my personality in writing and have people embrace it feels so good. As I think about it, it probably stems from my yearning to be liked…by EVERYBODY. While that’s an impossible task, I strive for it. Why? If people like me, I can be my true self. If I can be my true self, I can be silly and make people laugh. If I can make them laugh, then they’re smiling in this aforementioned, sad world. I digress, but you get the point.
One of the coolest articles I was able to write was for the Davis Enterprise. It was all about the life of this guy named Steven Tingus. He was severely disabled, but lived an amazing life and passed away in his 50’s. Essentially, he was a Davis hero. I interviewed his sister, his brother, and this other producer guy who made movies with him. It was incredible, multiple pages long, and I feel like I was able to capture the best aspects of his life in a more prolific type of obituary - even though the article wasn’t that.
Steven was all about acting in high school, had a great personality, got into politics, worked in the WHITE HOUSE with president Bush to help advocate for Americans with disabilities to acquire jobs, moved to Hollywood to act, and was an always-in-touch uncle to his nieces and nephews. The conversations I had with his brother and sister were so in-depth, it felt like I was talking to friends. I was even invited to his funeral which, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend. However, it was a journalistic experience I’ll never forget.
That was one of many heartfelt articles I was able to write, and I sincerely hope they made a difference in people’s lives.
Speaking of conversations, many interviews turned into them. Traditionally, I’d call up someone for a phone interview and expect it to be 15-20 minutes tops. Sometimes, the interview would fly off the rails and I’d end up shooting the breeze with the interviewee for up to an hour. Of course I couldn’t put that on my timecard, but it was such a cool part of the gig. That’s why I advocated so hard to do more digital content creation for the paper. Every one of those conversations could easily have been a podcast or something akin to a podcast. But…….to no avail.
Now as I bring in this first blog to land, I can’t believe how long it took me to finally do it. I’d parted ways with the paper over a year ago, promised people I’d do it, and now I have. Just need to work on my bloody consistency with this blogging. It’s just difficult because all the time I want to dedicate to writing belongs to my novel. Regardless, I’ll find the time, post often about topics I have opinions on, and - hopefully - make it entertaining, fun, lighthearted, and informative. Perhaps even inducing some smiles and happiness.
Until next time, everybody.
Love,
Aaron
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