The past four days of the Institute have been raw. Arriving in the newsroom by eight in order to begin an average of 14 or 15 hours of work is the norm. The reality of it has a way of sneaking up on you. You arrive after breakfast and plan to make a couple calls. By 12:30 your belly is quaking and you’re trying to get that last contact before you step out for lunch. Three additional hours come and go while you’re sequestered in a studio editing biographies. A shoot takes you miles away from dinner, which you barely make. After that, a solid six hours of re-exporting videos, changing codecs and placing transitions leave you wide-eyed with blurred vision. It’s 2 a.m. some nights by the time your eyes see your eyelids again. In less than four full days I feel more tired than I have in a while.
“But it’s a good tired,” someone should say. That would be right. This is the kind of thing you have to love. At least a good story comes of it. I believe that’s called synergy. A late night conversation above the hum of processors and DV decks yielded this gem.
Mark Raymond, a Dillard professor among other things, quoted a colleague: “Desire and dedication will outrun talent.”