Wake-Up Call: The joys of journalism

I'm at Northwestern for a writing conference that the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies hosts at the Medill J-school, which is also home to the Academy for Alternative Journalism, a summer program for budding journalists that AAN sponsors. Jared Jacang Maher, a Westword staff writer, is a veteran of this program,...

By Patricia Calhoun

August 14, 2009

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I'm at Northwestern for a writing conference that the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies hosts at the Medill J-school, which is also home to the Academy for Alternative Journalism, a summer program for budding journalists that AAN sponsors.

Jared Jacang Maher, a Westword staff writer, is a veteran of this program, and on Wednesday, as I was heading off to Chicago, we talked about how the Academy had really given the new University of Colorado grad the impetus to go into journalism.

Yesterday, as we prepared to talk to this year's class, I heard about Jared's encounter with Tom Martino. The joys of journalism....

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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