A field trip to remember

I can’t remember exactly when the idea came to me, but I’m pretty sure it was part of my lamenting that there are no cool places to take students on field trips, when I thought it would be great to take my journalism class to tour Listin Diario, the newspaper of record here in the DR. Today we made this dream a reality. Sniff, sniff, wipe tear.

I couldn’t sleep last night worrying about all the things that could go wrong, in this country of broken appointments and agreements. But I also knew that sometimes things magically work out, through the miracle of everyone knowing everyone and not sweating the details. Fortunately, today’s field trip was a case of the latter.

We left El Limon at 6:30 am, leaving one of the participants behind because she didn’t make it in time. The first bump in the road happened when Vanessa got bus sick and threw up on her white pants. Then, the left-behind student called to inform me she had gotten on the following bus and was now traveling by herself to the capital, with no money, expecting me to leave the money for her trip at the bus stop.

Other than those and a few other minor misunderstandings, the trip went smoothly. Fortunately everyone, more than 20 students and four volunteers, was able to arrive in time and get home safely. Listin Diario was a beautiful facility with a very professional staff and an interesting, informative tour to boot. We saw their spacious newsroom and the various steps of the printing process. We met a group of young interns who were studying journalism in college and had spent the last year at Listin. They were a great insight into what it’s like to be a professional reporter and a young person aspiring to a professional career. It was quite an experience for the youth, many of whom have rarely been to the capital and much less seen an institution so important to their country’s history and culture. The socioeconomic difference is represented physically, as most of the youth in my community have dark skin and “bad hair” and everyone at Listin was light skinned with “good hair.” One editor we spoke to even seemed to have a hint of the Spanish lisp.

We lunched at the Despacho de la Primera Dama’s cafeteria and then went to “La Casa Blanca”, or, surely by coincidence, “The White House,” where the first lady herself works. They showed us their audiovisual department, used to record the first lady’s every flattering gesture, and had a photographer and videographer talk to the youth about how to produce visual storytelling.

Then we went to our bus stops. Fortunately, all 11 of us from El Limon fit on the bus that was first to leave after we arrived. We got off at night at the intersection to El Limon in Samana, after the little busses stopped running, and hoped for the best. Sure enough, we managed to get transport from two separate vehicles, one a free ride, one a discounted ride.

All in all, the four volunteers felt it was a very worthwhile field trip.

Here are some pictures.

Robertico, star jovenExplaining the printing press. They still use metal plates.Showing how the newspaper sections are put together and stacked for delivery
At the “White House,” getting a quick introduction to photography

Ditto, with video.