Sunday, June 25, 2023
By:
I have started to write!
Between conducting three interviews and submitting my first article draft to my mentor, it has been a busy week. As mentioned from last week's blog post, I wrote my very first draft of my very first article ever. As someone who considers themselves a perfectionist, it was very hard to decide when to stop editing it and just send it. Anyway, more below!
Work Stuff: As I stated above, I did three interviews this week, which is definitely a skill I am working on getting better at. One of my mentors gave a talk this week about how to ask the right questions, what you can do when you aren't getting the information you need, and more. There are so many journalism terms I am learning about that I never knew before. Listening back to my interview recordings is eye-opening for me (and a little cringy) as I can see the places where I need to improve, such as my question delivery. However, it is always heartwarming to listen to people talk passionately about their work. Also, I put together my first draft of my first article this week! I was definitely nervous, as I knew there would be a lot of edits I would have to make. I honestly got to a point where I knew the piece needed fixing in certain spots, but I was not sure how to do it. That was the point when I sent it off to one of my mentors. He gave me some really good advice and I will make some revisions before sending it off to the editors early next week. I really appreciate my mentors and their advice for all my projects. Finally, John Mather came to speak with us about his research in astrophysics, both past and present. He is an amazing presenter and it was inspiring to hear him talk about astronomy. I loved seeing how his work helped shape astronomy as a whole. I get a little giddy when I hear people talk about the universe we live in; I love it so much. I made sure to take a moment to speak with him one on one, and I even asked him for his input on the article draft I put together. :)
Fun Stuff: This week, we went to Bowlero, which had a lot of arcade games and bowling. As a video game fan (and a game fan in general), this was a very great way to spend my Wednesday evening. I was very excited when I got a strike in the second frame of bowling. The interns and I also represented SPS at the Astronomy on the Mall event, which was pretty amazing. NASA had some really fun interactive demos, and it is always nice to talk to people about astronomy. Every person has a level of curiosity about our universe to some degree, and you can really see the way people light up when they learn something new. Communicating science is a large part, if not the entirety, of my job, and it was a great way to better that skill in an informal way.
Poll Results: Between a spherical cow and Schrödinger's cat, people said that a spherical cow would win in a fight. It was a pretty narrow 3-2 win, and I can truly see arguments for both (but the cow would win).
I can’t wait for all the fun projects I am working on to come out into to the world. Stay tuned for all the fabulous things I am working on.
Hannah Means