Friday, May 4, 2012

Day 12: This is NOT my first rodeo

First of all, TGIF!!!


Second of all, you see the craziest things while waiting for buses!  Today I saw a lady with lime green hair, a guy walking like 7 dogs, and can I just say, some times I want to look at people and say "did you even look in the mirror today?!"  Mean, I know, and I apologize...but seriously!!!


Today was a fairly busy day at work.  This morning I did more research on political bias in the media.  I found a few more things, but it still took a lot of digging to find reliable sources.  After that I was informed that I would be shadowing a correspondent and a photog in the afternoon while they shot a story.  I was really excited to hear this because this is what I have been waiting for!!  The correspondent asked me to do research about the guy we would be interviewing, Harry Wu, a very famous Chinese man.


Harry Wu is a Chinese man who was born in 1937.  In 1956 he was arrested for criticizing the Communist party and in 1960 he was sent to a "laogai," a Chinese labor camp.  He spent 19 years in 12 different camps where he was tortured.  In 1979 he was released and he came to the United States.  In 1992 he founded the Laogai Research Foundation to make people aware of the Laogai situation in China.  Today there are thousands of Laogai camps with millions of people being tortured.  The Laogais also allow the Chinese government to profit from the imprisonment of people because it is a forced labor camp.  Basically, it is a very, very sad situation.


So in the afternoon we went to the Laogai Museum, about a 10 minute walk from DW.  When we arrived the photog went around and got different shots of the museum.  Then the correspondent was asking ME questions about the research I did and what he should ask during the interview!!  I was like really?!  So then the photog was setting up for the interview and the correspondent asked me if I had ever worked with a camera before or if my school teaches that...I almost laughed out loud...I was thinking um...yeah....this isn't my first rodeo!!  I told him that yes, this is actually what I do on a weekly basis...he was surprised!


So anyway, they did the interview, in English luckily, and it was extremely interesting!!!  I guess I never really understood how bad the situation in China really is.  He was talking about the One Child policy.  It is illegal for a woman to be pregnant outside of marriage!  (Dang, a lot of people would be in trouble in the U.S.!!)  Then when they are married they have to get a permit to have a kid.  And of course, they can only have one.  If the woman gets pregnant with a second child she is taken to the hospital to have an abortion.  It's so sad.  Mr. Wu told the story of one family who had a baby and then the woman got pregnant again so they tried to hide.  They then fled to Thailand and had a third child but the Chinese government found out, kidnapped the woman, sterilized her and her husband, then destroyed their home and took all of the possessions!  And this was somewhat recently!  It's just very sad and we should all be very fortunate for the freedoms we have here in the U.S.


After the interview we went back and I got to watch them go to work to put the story together.  It was very similar to the process I go through except they had to translate everything to German and English, so I was able to help them with that....well, the English at least...

Towards the end of the day I did a little bit more research on the Indian tribes for Max.  Like I said, it was a very busy day!



Now, about my ride home.  Everything was going fine and I was on the second bus, about 4 blocks from the street my apartment is on.  We were stopped, letting some people off the bus, when a bunch of emergency vehicles drove by and stopped up ahead.  I looked and saw a lot of flashing lights so I figured there was an accident.  I decided to get off the bus and walk the rest of the way since we'd probably be stuck in traffic for awhile.  There were several cops directing traffic and a few firetrucks, but when I walked by there was no accident.  I got to the intersection where the cops were and I looked down the street to the right and at the next intersection it was the same way...a bunch of cops and some firetrucks.  I kept walking straight up to where I turn to go to the apartment and at the next two intersections there were cops all over the place with bullet proof vests on!!  I was slightly freaking out.  I was able to get into the apartment alright but I heard sirens for the next 30 minutes!  It was really bizarre and I tried to find out what was going on but nothing was on the news about it!  Weird right?!


I'm not quite sure what I am doing this weekend.  I guess there is a big event at the National Mall tomorrow, so I'm thinking either I 1) avoid the area because it will be super busy or 2) go there and see if I can find famous people!  I'm thinking I'll just avoid the area and just go to some random places tomorrow.  Then on Sunday I might go back to the National Mall area and do the National Art Museum, the Holocaust Museum and a few other things.  All I know is, I'm VERY glad it's the weekend!!!  Tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo so I'm sure the capitol is the place to be!!! hahahah more tomorrow :)


Shelby*

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