Avoiding the swamp

I sit in Swamp Central, USA, at my newspaper.

To my right: "I have nothing, no family, no wife, no kids. What will I do if I get laid off. My dogs are getting too old to hike."

To my left-rear: "Oh kiddo, let me tell you something about how newspapers used to be."

Behind me: "Honey, you're still young. You can go back to school for another degree. You have to be looking into that."

It's hard to keep my chin up at work and stay focused. I find myself checking requirements for nursing school while waiting for my stories to get edited.

After spending a week at the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute my attitude has changed. I'm recharged and ready to go back.

This time, I'm going to get out of the office as much as possible -- with a video camera.

After five days of working with Val Hoeppner and Anne Medley of the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute’s multimedia team, and Danese Kenon of the Indianapolis Star, in "Multimedia Boot Camp: Bet-you-wish-you-didn't-go-out-last-night," I have learned more than a semester of video class in college and a semester of small videos for the local paper.

I say that I'm excited to hit the ground running with video when I get back, but without a plan and attainable goals, I won't be producing any videos at all.

My plan is to spend my Fridays shooting and editing, get in with the photo crew, offer my audio skills for any big event that multiple photographers are sent out on.

I'm going to start Sunday with Cardinals fan reaction.