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| Community residents gathered with CWRU students to hear Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Sheeler talk about immersion journalism and the new media |
Immersion Journalism at Eliza Bryant Village
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| Prof. Sheeler talks about journalists first earning the right to hear a person's story |
“She
was a florist and a butcher,” was the one-line dispatch of a concluded life that
came across the wire to then cub reporter Jim Sheeler.
The
terse admixture set Sheeler on a path to discover and reveal the uncommon lives
of ordinary people. Sheeler’s journey has taken him from his rookie
reporter days writing obituaries in Colorado to a 2006 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, with adventures along the way like an
unforgettable meal with the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.
Since 2010, when he became the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing in the Case Western Reserve University, he has been teaching students of all disciplines eager to learn how to catch and tell the amazing stories that all around us.
Since 2010, when he became the Shirley Wormser Professor of Journalism and Media Writing in the Case Western Reserve University, he has been teaching students of all disciplines eager to learn how to catch and tell the amazing stories that all around us.
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| CWRU journalism student listens to Eliza Bryant Village resident |
Sheeler
used the story of Eliza Bryant resident Andrew Bailey’s devotion to his wife
Ethel, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, to illustrate how a reporter has to
earn the right to tell a person’s story by a willingness to listen deeply and
patiently. There was beauty in the details of the Bailey marriage, including
the 220 steps Andrew took each way in his 10-12 daily visits to see and care
for his wife [a mile a day!].
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| Screenshot from Sheeler's talk showing the Dalai Lama at a meal with Desmond Tutu [not seen but sitting opposite]. Reporter Sheeler is shown kneeling. |
There
was lightness in Sheeler’s talk as well, as when he shared being present at an
intimate dinner where the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu sat across from one
another wisecracking about their health issues, including a prostate surgery one
of them had recently undergone.
“They
were joking as if they were in a coffee shop,” said Sheeler.
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| Tri-C student Rashe'd Watley asks a question about senior citizen interaction |
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| University Heights resident Amy Rosenfield puts a question to Professor Sheeler |
Many
community residents were in attendance for this first Spring 2013 Baker-Nord
series on the humanities. Next up in the series will be “A Conversation with
Daniel Stashower”, author of The Hour of
Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Lincoln Before the Civil War on Monday,
February 4 at 4:30. The event is free;
the public is invited. Details here.
For
more information on the interaction between Professor Sheeler’s immersion
journalism class and Eliza Bryant Village residents, click here.
