Jennifer Moody

What I’ve been up to lately, in just seven easy installments.

A couple of people have commented that no one should be able to be photographed at a school without permission, and that it’s the newspaper’s job to get such permission before shooting. With all due respect, that’s not true.

A teacher asked me the other day if we might come to cover something in her classroom. What elements, she asked, do we consider when making our decision? What, if anything, could she do to tip the balance in her favor?

A nice lady at one of the schools in our circulation area called me the other day, wondering if I might talk to her students about my “writing process.”
I said I never minded talking to kids about my job and how it works, but if they’re looking for someone who uses a “process,” at least [...]

It’s August, which means I started my first job as a professional reporter 18 years ago this month.

Eighteen years. I’m still trying to get my mind around that.

Nothing I’ve done (with the exception of being alive) has lasted as long as that. I haven’t been a parent that long, I haven’t been married that long (although it will be 13 years come Monday), I didn’t even go to school quite that long.

I participated in a two-hour webinar at work the other day. That’s when you get on the phone with someone far away who works your computer for you by remote until you either fall asleep or start categorizing your e-mails according to the seasons.

No, wait, that was just me. But I woke up right away when the webinar instructors clicked to a page about this attraction in San Diego.

Newswriting does involve skills. The skills can be learned, and they get better with practice, but most people can’t just grab them out of the air.

My mom was in town not long ago, and rented a movie for us to watch together: “Flywheel.”

Are there any comedies of the current century – say, from 2000 to now – that might stand the test of time? Good comedy is really hard to write. Who, at the moment, is the king the way Mork was in 1978?

Several members of our newsroom are doing pushups and situps today. On purpose and voluntarily. They didn’t even do anything wrong.

I can’t quite seem to get my mind around this.