By Lisseth Hernandez
Today was the big bulk of the week where the Greene Team was locked into the newsroom on a mission to get our work done. I was on the mark to finish, but I kept finding myself being so frustrated to start and keep going. Writing articles usually leaves me a bit overwhelmed compared to when I usually just help others get a story out. The lede of my article on the nurse simulation center had me in a bunch. This story had so much to it, and overall, the interview gave me everything to work with, but I just didn’t have the last bits of my puzzle. No way to tie it together. Or at least that was the case until someone important walked over to my desk.
I had the pleasure of talking to and getting help with my article from Jeffrey Bessen who owns several papers throughout Long Island and was honestly so fun to talk to. He gave me pointers on how to emphasize the great material I got, and it got me to write more than I expected, even if we got a little sidetracked because he had a lot of wisdom to share, nevertheless he was super cool and definitely someone to turn to if I need that sort of help again (kind of inevitable).
Later throughout the day we were spoken to by THE Bill Blyer. Now, personally, I know people were a bit frustrated with the editing and I’m not going to say I wasn’t but I also won’t say I’m unfamiliar with getting your ego bruised especially in writing, Bill’s edits honestly still brought me to a positive place because I always feel like no matter what an editor doesn’t take the time to truly see and be able to explain what I messed up on. Every edit to a piece is just a new thing to apply to my future work, and even if it bruises your ego (which honestly everyone needs to have bruised anyway) editing is what will make you good, better, and the best you can.
Being the last full day at the Greene Institute was sort of bittersweet. Emily Soriano was the girl I interviewed, and it was pretty sad to see her go so early, especially when she’d been so nice and fun to talk to. All my roommates have a place in my heart for the conversations we had and honestly everyone else as well. I know I mainly gravitated toward Zeydi, and she’s honestly one of the sweetest people ever. She’s given me band stickers and honestly gives me confidence to talk to people just based on vibes, and this created a nice close to the day of work. We got a pleasant talk of wisdom from Jeff and Bill telling us about college, the Press Club of Long Island, and internships to apply to if we’re still interested in journalism, and honestly I think that’s definitely going to be the plan. We talked to Bill about his journey as an author and his history books, which I kinda want to check out now.
After dinner, we also went to the Stony Brook Film Festival to watch “Hearts of Stone,” which was honestly such a beautiful short film about a statue impersonator and her infatuation with her muse, the unappreciated statue Agatha. The park this statue resided in was getting new statues and, in turn, the two share a goodbye kiss before Agatha comes to life. It was very cliche overall, but I think that was the beauty of it. The cliches reflected the strange relationships artists have to their muses, which are controversial but still so intimate, even if it’s based purely on infatuation with the idea of a muse stirs. The woman is a statue impersonator, but that’s the only way she feels seen in the world and truly lovable. This contrasts the way Agatha sees the world. Agatha only sees the world in fragments, but she holds the guilt that she can never embody the love she was supposed to be modeled after since she’s based on an unrequited love between her creator and his courtesan.
The film was a beautiful end to the night and to the work-filled day. The nap after the fact was even better.