Update

hello, summer, originally uploaded by Mr. Wright.

We interrupt this interruption in blogging to bring you the latest in self-serving aggrandizement. I'm so rusty, I can't even come up with a clever way to say this: my story on the funeral of the Marine from Temple won an honorable mention award (in effect, a third place) from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors in the AA newspaper division (circulation 10,000 - 30,000, I think) in the Deadline Writing category. And, like that, my resume feels complete.

In my wisdom, when I first posted the story, I described it as an "example of how emotionally moving events can sometimes fail to coalesce nicely into a worthy story."

I followed that up with, "The end is the biggest disappointment for me." Of course the end, along with the beginning, when I kind of let my descriptive urge out of its cage, were the best parts.

Well, since we've already sated this post with narcissism, and because Lilly was bitching at me in comments to the previous post, I'll go ahead and go, like Stallone, over the top and give you a full-bore update.

With the impending summer marking the end of my time in Temple, I'm looking everywhere for my next job. Right now, I think I'd like to start a new job around September 1. Candidate locations are: Northern Cali, Seattle, D.C., Chicago, Edinburgh (Scotland), Austin, S.A, and maybe Florida.

With the award, it looks like the next job search won't be so terrible (and the karma gods just smiled as they begin to plot my demise). Right before I went to Florida, I completed a long semi-investigative two-parter on a child development program here in town, which rounds out my "clips" well. Later this week, Im supposed to talk with the editor from the Globe about my photography portfolio, which is coming together nicely. I'm going to ask her for the name of a photog she knows at the Dallas Morning-News and get in touch with him to try to tag along one day to see how the pros get down. Then, it's just a matter of getting my clips packaged and my portfolio on CD and writing letters of inquiry to all kinds of publications.

I'm going to shoot for magazines at first, with an emphasis on freelance-type work. I'll resort to smallish papers once September approaches &mdash maybe after a trip I'm hoping to be able to make in August to visit my friend in Edinburg. (You hear that, Lynnette? Start stockpiling the beer.) I might even scope out the possibilities of getting a job there, or Spain, or France, or someplace equally unrealistic like that.

If nothing else comes through, I'll return stateside with a year of beat experience, an nifty certificate, a good batch of clips, a solid portfolio, and (I'm figuring) a good recommendation from my bosses. There should be plenty of small papers out there that would take me, or — who knows — maybe even some medium-sized ones.

I tell you, though, the feeling of having accomplished what I came here to accomplish is dangerous to my production. The daily grind now seems all the more coarse. Har har.

But I am feeling more confident in journalism as a career — albeit not the ultra-competitive, workaholic side of the biz — after I had a really good conversation with my friend Amanda's boss at People magazine's Austin bureau. His name is Bill Minatuglio. He worked for the Dallas M-N for years and wrote that book on Bush "First Son." He seems to embody opposite of the the stereotypical bust-your-balls-for-life journalist. Very heartening. Good guy, too.

And as a nice segue into the days of Matty's life, I should mention that Amanda and I have been, uh, something more than friendly. We're not sure what. It resembles dating. It began as both of us complaining for months on end about dating and how even the most promising of match ups eventually left us feeling frustration and slightly embarrassed. And that's all I want to say about that on the Internets.

So what else is going on, hmmm ... Justin and I are working a little photography collaborative based in Austin. We call it Ausnap!, and we do Phoots, which is how I always mis-type photoshoots. Hopefully it will bring together experience photogs, beginners, and people in between to share skills, get help on complex shoots, publicize gallery shows, and share equipment. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it in the future. If might be interested in joining, visit my or Justin's friends section on Myspace.

Okay, that's a load of information. We'll get back to the photography tutorials just as soon as I finalize my photography portfolio.