Interesting Assignments

“OK, be back at ten ‘till,” Dr. Longinow said, looking at his wrist watch. He looked back up at us and smiled enthusiastically. “If you get back early enough, you can start writing your articles.”

I paused for one panic-stricken moment. Then I collected my senses—along with my notebook, pen, and cell phone (for the clock)—and headed out the door of our classroom. I made my way down the stairs with the rest of my classmates, moving together like a herd of cattle moving towards a new patch of grass to graze.

As soon as we exited the business building, we scattered to various corners of the campus, some students latching onto unsuspecting victims just trying to get from Point A to Point B, never intending to become interview subjects for desperate journalism students.

I didn’t start thinking about who I would interview until I made it past the library. It suddenly dawned on me that it would be wise to have a plan of attack. We were supposed to ask this question: “There are three front-runners in the election who could be president. All three claim that evangelicals should be comfortable with them. Do you buy that?”

I knew I could approach someone on their way to class, but they’d be in too much of a hurry to stop for an interview—even a five or ten minute interview. The fountain would be a good place to find sedentary students lounging by the fountain, reading a book, chatting on the phone, or hanging out with friends. But those students probably don’t want to be interrupted by students doing a class exercise.

Taking all of these things into consideration, I figured my best bet was to head for Sutherland, where the social science, history, and philosophy departments have offices. I started by visiting Dr. Christensen, who I had for World Civilizations I. Unfortunately, he was heading to chapel, and I felt bad about detaining him, so I told him that I’d continue searching for a suitable interview subject.

At this point, I began to feel nervous about finding someone. I continued meandering my way around Sutherland Hall. Not finding any professors downstairs, I headed up the stairs towards the Writing Center, then the Torrey offices.

I noticed that one of the doors was wide open, almost beckoning me over. I knocked on the outside wall and introduced myself to the guy sitting at a desk in front of his computer. To my great relief, he was very friendly and very willing to talk to me. He also had quite a lot to say about my topic.

Turns out he’s actually an assistant producer for the "Hugh Hewitt Show"--a nationally syndicated radio talk show that focuses on politics and social issues from a conservative, Christian Evangelical perspective. He is also one of the coordinators for GodBlogCon, which is a conference that seeks to train Christians “to engage with culture through the new media.”

Needless to say, it was quite a fun interview exercise for me, and I got a really satisfying, fascinating interview with him (he's very eloquent and thoughtful). It was also fun just to meet someone new. It made me laugh; at the end of the interview, he explained his work with GodBlogCon and tried to recruit me.