Sunday, June 25, 2006

Water dog


At left we have Mattie, quite possibly the only spaniel on Earth who loathes getting wet, who could hardly wait to cool off in a watering hole at our condo complex. This was after an hour's hike along nearby trails in atypical steamy San Diego weather. At right, she sits high and mighty, pausing for a break halfway through our romp.

For an upcoming story i am working on, i attended a "24-hour Relay for Life" yesterday and today. The race consisted of teams of people walking around a college track to raise money for cancer research. (And i hope not testing on animals, but that's another whole story.)

It was a little difficult to interview the team i covered, a group of teen-agers and their parents. They were walking for the sister of a girl on a local high school field hockey team who passed away after a 5-year-battle with cancer this past February. The girl who died was only 12.

Sometimes i wonder if i'm strong enough to write stories like this because they are so emotionally draining... but awareness of things like this is important, and that's one reason why i chose journalism...

11 comments:

Marathon Someday said...

Love the doggy photo.:-)

As for writing about the cancer research relay - that's gotta be tough. In some ways, your experience was so insular, and can only be shared with some of the people who were there. In other ways, you're such an amazing writer - and it's important to bring awareness to such causes.

I look forward to reading about it when you're ready!

funwithyourfood said...

I'm home.. Just got in about 1 hour ago.. Going thru the pics now and I'll be posting later today or tonight!

Teddy

Kuntal Joisher said...

those are some really sweet pics.. hey mattie!!

Carrie™ said...

KleoPatra, that would be tough. She was only 12?!! Geez! Cancer is a terrible thing. I'm lucky to still have my mom with me. She's been 6 years cancer-free (yea mom!) and she participates in the Relay for Life every year. It's good to see so many that survive, but we also remember those that didn't. I don't know how you do it. I don't know if I could write objectively. Kudos to you.
As for Maggie, what can I say? Dogs rock! She is such a sweetie. Don't you just want to hug her all day?

Peter Matthes said...

Mattie looks cute.

You are certainly strong enough to write a story like the one you described, because you realize the importance of it.

When it comes down to it, that is the only requirement.

Jody from VegChic said...

Maggie looks so cute veggin out in the water. The weather here has been steamy too, though it rained all weekend.

As far the article, you can do it! Really, the fact that you are concerned and see so many facets of the story...makes you the perfect person to write it. Someone with compassion is the person that can write about it the best.

jenny said...

Love the cute pooch!! I think I have the only Lab in the world who hates water!

As for the story, I did a Relay for Life in my area, it's definitely emotional, but inspiring at the same time. Best of luck in your writing!

Anonymous said...

Very adorable photos of the dog. I love animal photos. :)

I think you must be a pretty strong person to do journalism. I know it would be too much for me. :( I have a young cousin who is now a cancer survivor. That's...really hard to go through.

MeloMeals said...

Your dog is soooo adorable...

It's great that you write about these heartbreaking stories.. god.. I have such a hard time understanding why people have to suffer so much.. losing a child.. I can't imagine.. to find the strength to go on and work to help others.. that needs to be reported. Thank you for doing it!

Anonymous said...

you have a really tough job to right objectively. I surely couldn't do it. It must be hard to jump from story to story. Do you ever want to stick with one and track it over the longterm?

Mattie's so cool!

pinknest said...

aw, he looks so happy!