The Southfork Report
Still trying to get my bearings back after a fun week in Dallas for the AAJA National Convention (although I think whatever is slowing me down happened while at dinner back in Atlanta last night, but I digress). It was my first time going to one of these things, despite being part of the organization in one way or another off and on for five years and pretty much a regular member for the last four. But time, money and other factors prevented from going until now. It helped that my department was going to pay my way as well as the fact that I knew at least a few people going as well from our local chapter.

Anyways, here are some of the highlights from the trip: (I would've posted a little more often, but it took me a while to figure out why I couldn't log in on the road despite the right local numbers.)

Wednesday: After starting to get used to the blistering heat in Dallas, I did get myself acclimated to The Fairmont, your standard issue fancy hotel/convention center. Very nice place, although it seemed like the rooms were a bit more spread out than I would've liked, but then again with the hotel and convention center in the same place, you at least get to avoid the heat for the most part.

One of the things I knew would end up being an interesting issue when I registered was that I put my full title -- Fantasy Sports Producer -- on my badge, as opposed to something more generic like producer. On the one hand, those in the know will find it an automatic conversation starter. On the other hand, I could explain myself -- although it's often a fruitless exercise if you're not a sports fan. And yet for most of the time, I could see some people wondering what the heck I'm doing at a journalists' conference to begin with, considering my position. If I'm still in the same position next year, I'll have to think long and hard about what to put down on my badge.

The first "official" function was a reception for Joie Chen -- somewhat of a belated goodbye from the Atlanta chapter, which she helped found. She's now at CBS in Washington after getting unceremoniously dropped by CNN. It was good to see her again, especially after her tumultuous year. We won't get into the rock that we gave as a little gift, other than the look on her face when she got it was priceless.

After that was the opening reception at the Dallas Museum of Art, a wholly unimpressive building, although we didn't see much of the museum. Got the requisite free food and drinks, and it was a good way to meet some new people, primarily through my colleagues down here. The cool thing, though, was running into a couple of old classmates from Northwestern -- one a reporter at The Oregonian, the other a reporter and the San Diego Union-Tribune. The funny thing was the reaction from both of them, "What are you doing here?" Despite the fact that I was a journalism student and worked at the school paper, and now work in a very high-profile media outlet, sometimes it just doesn't resonate that I belong here. In any event, I was, and it was great to see some old familiar faces.

A nice highlight of the evening was helping out at the student function over at the Sixth Floor Museum (i.e. the Texas School Book Depository). Met a bunch more folks doing that and there was a nice presentation going on. However, thanks to the access, I was able to go through the museum for free -- and it was an outstanding experience. They did an amazing job chronicling not only the Kennedy administration and that fateful day, but they also gave good time to discuss the conspiracy theories and the huge story that followed. What was very striking was how little that area right by the museum and the grassy knoll has changed since 1963. The Pulitzer photo gallery was also stunning. I would've paid to go see it, but I got in for free, so double bonus there.

Thursday: The one panel I knew I should've gone to was the sports writing one, and it was a nice mix of panelists, including ESPN's Michael Kim, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury-News and Ohm Youngmisuk of the New York Daily News (who is about my age). It was more of a panel on sports reporting, but it was good to find a nice concentration of sports journalists here. There is a decent number, but still a very limiting amount, I guess. Michael was one of the few people to make the connection about what I do, so that was cool. My only disappointment with the panel was that it was at the same time as one about race and entertainment, featuring the Asian friend from "Gilmore Girls" as well as comedian Henry Cho. Although in terms of finding other "celebrities," Ann Curry had a nice speech about the business.

The other highlight of the day was getting an advanced screening of "Better Luck Tomorrow," a film that got rave reviews at Sundance. It was a great movie all the way around, and it was a great twist on Asian American stereotypes. My only concern is that MTV Films picked it up and will likely market it to younger audiences (since it does concern high school students), but with the R rating and the some of the subject matter, it can be a dicey proposition. I may do a longer review later as I wonder how I've dived into Asian American cinema.

Friday: Did some wandering around the job fair, although my path may be best described as one of those aimless "Family Circus" Sunday comics with the dotted lines. Many of the recruiters had some interesting trinkets. I was doing a little shopping around for positions, getting the resume out there, etc., but I was not in any dire straits jobwise, which was a good thing because of the places I stopped by (and I was a bit picky as it was), a number of them had little clue about their online departments/hiring/etc. In one case, I was trying to follow up on a position I put in for last week. Not a good sign for an online person, although I suppose if I wanted to re-make myself back into a print person, I might've had a bit better luck. However, I did make some strong contacts with one company thanks in part to someone I met at one of the panels.

I won a framed poster of the front pages of the Palm Beach Post during the election fiasco at the silent auction. While it would've been hell to bring it home on the plane, I have to thank Brian in advance for shipping it back to me from Dallas.

Saturday: A torrential rainstorm in the morning (while at breakfast at Bread Winners -- the place where John Rocker had his most recent incident) eventually canceled the swimming portion of a chapter challenge event, which pleased us Atlanta folks, since we tried to back out of the pool part and avoid looking like Joe Frazier in the Superstars competition years ago. We didn't tank anything, I showed off my trivia skills at one point, but we were glad not to make it to the finals, which would've involved a karaoke presentation that a couple of chapters practiced for a few weeks. Then again, the New York folks did some great improv with a local TV reporter playing the role of Danny Aiello in a repriese of "Papa Don't Preach."

The closing celebrations brought us to Fort Worth and Billy Bob's Texas, the world's largest honky-tonk. The barbecue was good and the line dancing lessons were cute (although I bailed after one). I could almost see the looks on the faces of everyone else in the joint watching a few hundred Asians learning to line dance. However, the place seemed pretty overrated -- the bull riding exhibition was a bit on the short side, and it seemed to cater more to tourists than anything else.

Eventually got back and had a bizarro series of events hitting some of the bars and clubs in the Deep Ellum area of Dallas. We got free cover at one place that everyone eventually bailed after just a few minutes. That led us to another place that took us 30 minutes or so to cut the line after some strange haggling with the bouncer. Just picture about 25-30 reasonably young Asians trying to get into a club right in front of the door. One of the guys in our party had a great way to describe the music -- "schizophrenic." Had some of the usual current dance favorites, some disco and old skool rap, the occasional house, then Gary Glitter and then the generic Linkin Park/Limp Bizkit-esque music to drive people off the floor (or in my case, the club after getting separated from some of my group). More amusing was walking back just figuring I'd wing it on my own -- I ran into a handful of New York-based people from the convention I knew, who just happened to be all in sports. Made for a cool walk back -- as I somehow stumbled across people I met on my own, as opposed through other people.

I met a lot of great people over the weekend. In some cases, it was reconnecting with local people in a more concentrated situation as opposed to just the hour or so every few months at chapter meetings or events. In other cases, it was just finding nice people from around the country who share common career goals, not to mention ethnic/cultural backgrounds. And not to take away from a lot of the people I know locally, it was good to meet women journalists not in broadcast. We're always striving for diversity even among ourselves, and yet it sometimes seems like it's primarily men in print with a handful in broadcast, and plenty of women in broadcast (at least in proportion to their print counterparts). Another thing I noticed was the obvious emphasis on reporting (given we're trying to broaden the horizons of the community and the media outlets that employ us), whereas I definitely think of myself more of a copy editor-type. Of course, awareness of all of these issues is important no matter what your position.

To think, I've got a long way to go before really finding my niche at a convention like this. It seems like a no-brainer that I'll go to next year's festivities in San Diego.