Daily Deacon

Reflection — Chris Caswell

Writing this news story was challenging, but it was also the most rewording one I’ve written. I was somewhat nervous at first whether I could get the sources I needed to write an accurate profile of the since the people that Alexander Literary Organization influence the most are in a maximum security prison. But, it ended up being easier than I thought. I asked the president of the organization for a contact person at the prison and emailed him for a good time to call and mentioned that I would like to get a quote from an inmate if I could. Once he understood what I was working on, the coordinator at the prison was very helpful and even brought an inmate to the phone for me to speak to. Hearing him talk about the program’s influence on him made that interview the most powerful and moving one I’ve done. Once I talked to my two sources in the prison, it felt like the story wrote itself.

Brandon Liu edited on my story, and he was very helpful. He pointed out some sentences that did not flow well and just had awkward wording.