Small blessings aren't really that small

You know - when you are a believer in a sovereign God like I am - you tend to see connections and opportunities that may seem small - as part of a bigger picture. That's where I'm sitting tonight as I write.

Baking a fresh pizza and some fresh loaves of choco-chip banana bread for a very grateful housemate tonight, I just marveled at a day full of these little signposts, and I know that there will be so many more of them along this journey. I really enjoyed cooking tonight, and eating with both of my housemates. It felt very much like a budding community - one which I will miss very much. I have grown to enjoy even cherish, the inter-dependence that we've established, and I know that will be a key part of my personal development that will serve a purpose.

But back to small blessings....along this wild ride, I have repeatedly been encouraged by key people willing to advise in certain areas, even recommend gear, or emotional coping techniques, offer prayer, travel plan help. Each has been part of a growing confirmation in my heart and mind that I am on the right path...and when you're staring into a brand-new situation - that's of great comfort.

Tonight, that comfort took place in three ways - first, the purchase of a new kodak z 1015 digital still camera that also can shoot HD. I bought this on recommendation, and there's several things I really like about it -- it shoots in mp4 format which I can drag right into final cut express. It has a 15x zoom - very good for the price point - about $280 and it uses sd cards, and has burst and wide angle lense. All of which for a dual-purpose camera - is really really good. It also gets good reviews. That comes on Friday - just in time for me to try it out at my friend Andrea's wedding in Denver....good times!

Second, I went for a one-on-one session at the Apple store in Clarendon tonight, and believe it or not - my teacher already knew me from an Internship I'd had in town - 13 years ago -- unbelievable! That session was of great help to get me comfortable with editing audio in final cut express, with formatting it for mp3 and learning how to export it...this saves me a bunch of hassle, trying to split my apple in 1/2 so I can add a pc hard drive, pc operations system and adobe audition - which is an awesome piece of software, but it's not mac compatible...so it would have probably cost me like $900 to get it on my new laptop - kind of a bummer.

Third - a trained crisis counselor that my counselor had recommended talking to called tonight, and we discussed what I'm likely to encounter, and he offered some real good advice, and most importantly, what he had to say confirmed my purpose in this trip, and he prayed for me - a complete stranger - really blessed me.

So - now with less than 2 weeks to go, I'm much closer on equipment - I've got my radio gear, just waiting on some extra cables to come in, and I'm looking to buy a shotgun mic as well. That'll probably be as much as my recorder....then it's off to the races!

At the same time, I'm making headway on story planning with my journalist colleague over there - his name is Abbas Ali. We're getting there...some of the travel plans/logistics are quite challenging, but we're managing, and there are emerging open doors every day through other contacts -- it's very exciting!

So - keep praying for God's leading; that I would be receptive - and wait on His timing...(I just hope He' s not on what they call 'Asia time' which means super slow...)

Love ya!

Jess

The Great Chicken Transition

With a splash I entered. With a whisper I exited.

On Thursday night, I ate chicken for the first time in 16 years.

My decision to become a vegetarian came in my early teens. It was my version of a teenaged rebellion - a sort of moment of taking control in the midst of a time of many changes in our family life.

I did not gently ease into vegetarianism - I did it with a bit of a splash. Translation - what better day to make my announcement - than Thanksgiving Day, a day in which there is an unmistakeable focus on foods of a less than vegetarian sort.

But this time was different. This decision was a means to an end; eating chicken would prepare me for consuming more protein with the US Army as I prepare to embed with them in Afghanistan as a journalist. I also want to be ready to accept local hospitality in the form of meals and meats that I'm less than familiar with - hoping to make inroads with people, and give them less reason not to talk to me.

Oddly enough, after all this built-up anxiety about 'going-back' like I was afraid of being misconstrued as a sort of back-slidden religious zealot coming to terms with her own humanity, it was really quite simple to eat a bite of a chicken.....then another.....then another.

I can't say I enjoyed the newly-discovered texture, but I did chew it up and swallow it, and there was enough spice at the time to make it worthwhile....what can I say? I guess I'm finding out that where there's a will, there's a way. And on this trip - it's going to be one heckuvawild ride - so I might as well dive in....GI tract and all.

Putting the Money Down

So - last week, I nearly had a heart attack, as I purchase a new mac, and my plane ticket.

I purchased a brand new MacBook Pro - and just in time for this assignment, Mac came out with a 13" laptop which is super small and light....like the headline says -- I'm in love. I mean, she's absolutely gorgeous, great quality sound, uplit keys, and zero gravity feature so if I drop it - it sense that it's in zero gravity and shuts down the hard drive so when it hits the ground the disk won't be spinning....now that's great invention! It better be - it was more than $2k...so I hope I've finally met a machine that I can keep for awhile...as they say - once you go Mac, you never go back....I hope I wont' have to.

I am blessed to have a wonderful travel agent in my life, and she found a flight through Delhi that will save about $800 dollars off flight costs...It means an overnight in a hotel there, but that still keeps the cost lower than going through Dubai or Ankara as some of my freelance friends have done.

So - I leave July 18, and the return flight is currently booked for September 7...we'll see if that bears out or not.

These two investments were definitely heavy duty - so much so that my credit card company put a temporary freeze on my account, fearing that someone had stolen my card...

GOIN RADIO

Then this weekend, I started putting my radio kit together. I'm going with a Marantz pmd 620

for the recorder and a EV 635-B for my interview mic. I still need to buy a shotgun and maybe a few other attachments. A contact at NPR told me this is what they're using...but it's only got a 1/8" input, so I have to get special cables...and cable can go bad, so gotta have extras of those. My house mate is still on the hunt for a good digital camera for me, and I've also gotta price video cameras, but all of this is coming along. I feel like I have good advice from the professionals. The next hurdle is to price satellite Internet - if the military's internet goes down or is too slow - this might be necessary. Trouble is it's VERY expensive, and it's heavy. Two very bad things - so I've gotta hope I can rent it from someone or pick it up heavily discounted on ebay or something. Please keep that in your prayers. I don't want to go completely broke before I even leave - ya know?

AT CENTURION NOW

http://www.centurionsafety.net/Courses/Hostile_Environments_and_Emergency_First_Aid_Training_(HEFAT(r))_(5_days).html

So - this is the safety training course I'm at now - in the Shenandoah valley.

I'll keep you posted how it goes.

Thanks for being on board with me for this adventure.

J

All in

So - now it's gonna get busy. With less than 2 months to go, I'm planning on several fronts from logistics to physical, emotional, spiritual strengthening and conditioning, to drumming up the business. FOX News.com has signed on by the story, and I expect to finalize with FOXNews Radio next week. I still need more clients - local newspapers, maybe a more specific angle for a network like Bloomberg or AP. So - if any of you know editors/news directors at small stations that I could pick up the phone and call, propose a rate and method of transmission - that would be great! Basically, the biggest push now is looking for clients and stories. My current clients have already asked me to begin developing story ideas so I can get them pre-approved. This is a huge hurdle (or so it feels) as I am not completely aware really of what I'll be witnessing within my unit. So, feel free to throw those my way too.

TRAINING
I am borrowing everything I need from a recently retired SF guy who has made me his project. This is saving me gobs of money, and giving me army issue stuff which is great quality. I started training in my flak jacket this week - an additional 18 pounds. I need to add the helmet and the gloves, eyewear and boots soon to get a real feel for it. I hope to do that Sunday afternoon after I return from a trip out of town to see my cousin graduate high school. My SF friend has promised to work up a work-out schedule that will at least help build my endurance since the heat and lack of good eating really can take a toll on concentration. And again -this is my first time solo. I've always been in collaboration with someone, so I need to be in the best shape I can be. I'm now getting up every morning at 6am, and either walking in my gear or running about 3-4 miles. I'm hoping that I can keep this up - so feel free to check in and see how I'm doing. I can always use the accountability. The last week of the month - I'm signed up to attend a Centurion Hostile Environments and Emergency First Aid course in the Shenandoah Valley - about 90 miles from here. It's taught by the Navy Seals, and designed to better prepare me to assess risks and orient me for the battlefield. This course costs about $2500, but there's a scholarship in the UK for freelance war correspondents that I've signed up for - and I think I stand a good chance of getting. I so hope I do, because it would pay for 2/3rds of the course, leaving me with $700 to come up with -- relatives - I'll be hitting you up ;-) Watch out!

The next step will be buying/training on all my equipment. I'm planning on buying a MAC, need to load it up with editing software, and already have my radio kit picked out. I just need to settle on still/video cameras at this point, and it all gets so expensive so fast! But honestly - at every turn of this, God keeps dropping these angels into my lap to help with expertise. It's really great! Then - it's just practicing with the equipment -- need to know it as well as possible because again, the conditions won't be the best. The great news is that they'll be a lot better than they used to be. Most FOB's have working Internet, and the country has cell service, so I can purchase a local cell phone, and it works like a track phone (my one in France 10 years ago did the same. You just buy cards.) A friend has just been made bureau chief in FOX's Kabul bureau, and he's done all this already - so he's walking me through a lot of it.

Well, that's it for now. I'll let you know my finalized dates. And try to continue to update this so you'll know where I"m at. I suspect I won't have a snail mail address, so the best way to keep in touch, unless you catch my work -- is jessicathereporter@gmail.com.
My website - www.jessicaweinstein.com will have my work updated (I hope.) Most of all - please keep me in your prayers. This is the hardest thing I've ever done.
Yours,
Jessica

Gettin Trained for Combat

So - at the behest of my parents and the encouragement of my colleagues, I am now trying to arrange to take military combat training before I go to Afghanistan. About 5 security firms in the US and UK offer this type of training. Only two of them in my time frame; and none of them in my price range. I've been quoted upwards of $4,000 for a one-week boot camp. Enter the Rory Peck Trust Fund out of the UK which offers scholarships to freelance journalists who are doing war reporting. They won't cover the whole cost, but should I be fortunate enough to get a scholarship from them, I will perhaps get about half of the amount paid. I may be looking to do a fundraiser for the rest. We will see how God provides.
Speaking of that - one way that He has already provided is this. I was praying Friday morning about whether to continue what at times seems like a crazy plan, and asking God for guidance and direction. Three hours later, I got a call from a girl who's like a sister to one of my housemates. She told me that her boyfriend, a recently retired Special Forces guy wants to support my trip by donating some of his gear to me. Now, I haven't seen it yet or tried it on, but this could be a significant blessing, if I can fit into his body armor or take away any other clothing & supplies that I might otherwise have had to pay for. I mean, he has a garage full of sets of gear for different missions, and he's retired now, so he's willing to give it to me. Unbelievable! I could have cried!
Now - it's back to finding clients for this business. This whole undertaking is a matrix of getting physically fit and mentally prepared, to researching the region & present coverage, to getting the business to underwrite the trip, to getting the right kinds of gear to be able to send back content, to regular trip logistics like flight, transport to the base from which I'll leave, a translator/fixer for that time period, VISA, plus special insurance for war reporters. Not to mention power of attorney/a will/ someone to be a go-to state-side. Two and a half months is beginning to feel like way to short of a time honestly.
But - as I take one step at a time, it continues to come together, and so I'm left believing that it is the right decision and I continue to walk forward in faith.

I am going to Afghanistan!!!

UPDATES BEGIN
So - here begins my updates on the planning for my trip to cover the Afghan National elections as an embed with the US military. At this point, I am booked from July 27-Aug 24th with Taskforce Spartan in Wardak and Logar provinces just west of Kabul. I am going as a multi-media journalist offering online writing, online video and radio reporting. As always, I'd love to do television, but we'll see if that becomes a reality. As I have no contracts with clients yet, I can't tell you who I'll actually be reporting for, but that's the next phase - drumming up the business.

HOW DID I GET HERE?
Basically, after being laid off twice last year here in Washington, DC while still continuing to do some work for FOX News Channel as a freelance producer doing story enterprising and story planning - and while I still have another year's worth of health insurance under my belt, I have decided to take this year and take some risks, try some new things, get some new skills and do projects - professional and otherwise that I would never have a chance to do if I were still under contract. (A mediterranean cruise being chief among them.)
But back to work - one of the things I've been interested in doing is overseas work - a chance to witness a major news event. Now - Afghanistan rose to the top of my list because it's something that holds a lot of interest, a lot of intrigue and a lot of taxpayer dollars at stake, and the elections are this year so it was good timing. I began this thought process in January, and as a result have been researching and ruminating ever since.
I realize for many of you this is a new and scary idea, so I hope that this blog will give you the information you may be seeking to understand that this is a calculated risk for me, not some silly fly-by-night idea. Everything is planned and researched, and I am so blessed to have so many people to talk to about this project, and so many people to encourage me. A great team of journalists who has gone before me continues to be a tremendous asset.

MAKING CONNECTIONS
It began with mentioning the mere idea of doing this to my good pal Mollie who had worked with a local news photographer who goes overseas (Iraq and Afghanistan) as a freelance photographer, shoots video for various clients, blogs about it and in general, feeds his need for adrenaline and his need to understand something up close that local news coverage just can't satisfy. He was a huge resource early on. He provided me links to all the PAO's (Public Affairs Officers who could help me set up embeds with either the US forces or the NATO forces. This man also provided me with contact information for a non-for-profit that has a risk pool for insurance (death, dismemberment, disability) and the all-important media-letter. They are called Public Media International - www.pmi.org.
I also started the process of talking to management at FOX News Channel, my main client for work out of DC. That interview process led me to better understand what broadcast would be looking for - essentially, a one-man/woman operation who could hold down the fort and do coverage on breaking news events until the big shots show up. That never ended up working out, but it began to build my brand in the company.
Through friends and family, I started to build up contacts at CIA and Department of State for reading lists, unclassified documents and backgrounders on the history of the Afghans and their loosely configured nation. I got my library card and read a number of the books published by journalists who covered the invasion at Tora Bora, the search for Osama Bin Laden, and who offered primers on the nation itself. Some books I'd recommend: Philip Smucker's Al Qaeda's Great Escape, who broke the path that OBL took out of Afghanistan even before the US military was aware of it. The Great Game and the race for empire in Central Asia by Karl Meyer and Shareen Blair Bysac. But I'd still love more contacts if you got 'em!

Thus far, I've had no outlay of capital, but I'll be pricing the flight, the insurance, body armor, ballistic eyewear, radio gear (I'd like to offer radio reporting) MAC laptop, still camera, and I'll probably buy an inexpensive flip cam video camera which I can at least use to provide video content for my web products. So - now that I've got dates for the US Military, I've still gotta nail down my dates for an embed with NATO or ISAF (International Security Area Forces) as well as starting to really focus on how I'm going to get this product out of the country via Internet. This requires me to research the bandwith issues of an Internet that's spotty, and a cell service that is said to be everywhere but without a SAT phone, I probably wont' be able to get product out in a timely fashion, so now I'll have to price those too. If anyone has suggestions - I'm all ears!

So - thus begins a simultaenous gearup of my physical fitness as well as CPR/first-aid and a possible military training course, my studyup of the right kind of gear to purchase and just planning every last thing.

That's where I'm at right now. Thank goodness for the advice of a woman who's done this 5 times in Iraq as a freelance print and online journalist and the many others God as brought to put around me for great information and counsel. It's invaluable to know I'm not crazy....or alone.

Gettin' By

I signed up with anticipation.
I arrived with a certain amount of trepidation.
After all. I'm used to a high-paced job with a certain amount of intellectual stimulation in a professional atmosphere. My expectation was that this would be none of those things. This, to me, was "gettin' by." One of America's recently laid off workers, I am now seeking out and discovering how to make ends meet through a series of freelance projects and odd jobs. This gig falls into the latter category, though I would soon learn that some make their living through a series of gigs like this.

I found it on Craig's List, an offer to make about $15 an hour, handing out fliers. As I am not a marketing professional, I had neither heard of this nor done it. Above all, I had not realized that people actually make a career out fliering, as it's called, as well as other types of hire-by-day promotional jobs. Think about who is the mascot for a product? Who hawks the tissue-brand products to snotty-nosed kids and their parents? Who touts the virtues of Shea butter at the kiosk in the mall? And who puts that paper brochure in between the screen door and the front door of your home?

Last week, it was me.

Via email, I had been hired and told what to wear and bring. We agreed to meet at a coffee house in the city. I arrived wearing black pants and comfortable shoes, hoping to distinguish my colleagues by their similar attire. That's how I spotted at least one of my would-be colleagues, a young man in black jeans, reading a newspaper. For me, in all my naivete, it was a reassuring sign that I would at least be working with someone who was interested in current events.

We were given logo T-shirts and hats to wear along with a bag for our fliers. We lined up for pictures with the products in our logo gear before setting out to 'flier' the first neighborhood. The client had already chosen and pre-mapped out two zip codes containing demographics thought to be favorable to its product. I learned how to be extremely efficient at sliding fliers in appropriate crevices - on door handles, on hand rails, and on the wrought-iron outer doors of these inner-city homes. But the best was when I found a row of homes with wrought iron gates encompassing their front yards, a ready-made tree for my ornament of choice - and a quicker way to finish the job. When you are working hourly, you are always looking for efficiencies to increase your per hour profit.

With fliering, it's not simply good enough to wallpaper a neighborhood or a street, you have to document the whole entire process to prove to the client that the work was in fact done, and you didn't just dump the fliers in the nearest landfill and claim to have blanketed a neighborhood with the benefits of a certain product. We were required to take 300 pictures and upload them to a website. In order to stay efficient, we worked out a system. The group leader charted our course on the map, wrote the required notes, verified addresses and took both still pictures and video of us out her car window. In this way, we were able to finish two day's work in one day - thereby increasing our hourly profit to $30 an hour, well worth the effort.

Along the way, I saw neighborhoods in DC, up-close; places I would never have dared tread otherwise. In part, because I didn't know anyone there. In part, because they are neighborhoods in decline or in the process of re gentrification, and thus, the concerns of bumping into a drug dealer or witnessing a shooting were real possibilities. I lost count at the number of homes I visited that had locked boxes on their doors. Some were foreclosed. Some were condemned. Then there were those that had been completely rehabilitated, and others that had clearly been torn down and redesigned. I saw in those neighborhoods, old, historic, parts of DC, and up-and-coming parts of DC. I saw there the impact of a poor economy, and the hope of rebirth. In these neighborhoods, the reception was always warm, always welcoming. These people actually wanted the piece of paper I was doling out - unlike the individualistic isolation of the suburbs.

As we walked, I began to learn about my new-found colleagues. All were attracted to the possibility of making money and staying in control of their own time. No one here, worked for 'the man' - at least for no longer than a day. One was a 20-year-old young woman with poorly died blond hair and too much eye makeup. She didn't seem well-suited for a desk job and had all the rebellious trappings of a girl trying to escape responsibility. Another, just couldn't decide what she wanted to do. She hadn't finished college, and she wanted to be available to visit her ailing grandmother. The third was a man who had just turned 30. He not only participated in promotions, but ran them. He earned enough income to buy a house!

These folks were my colleagues, my instructors of sorts, in a new profession. One that requires neither intellect nor ambition. But it was physical and sometimes hard work. We walked miles. We traversed many steps, and while the weather conditions were ideal for our fliering that day, I marvel at those willing to do it in tougher conditions. What was so refreshing? We accomplished something that day. And in a sort of back-to-basics, old-fashioned, way, it reminded me of the value of hard work. It reminded me too, that I should never think I am too good, to educated, too skilled to do a job that can still earn me some cash. As long as it's legal, why not, take a chance? I met four people I would never have met any other way. And I learned something about my city, and I learned some humility.

Plus, now, I have killer calf muscles.