AP@DNC - Epilogue

Honestly, there was no way I was going to be able to post anything the last 2 days of the DNC.

The sights, sounds and colors of this adventure will stay with me forever. Luckily, the fatigue is abating and I'm getting back on my feet again.

More to come later.

AP@DNC--Day 2

Tonight's final speaker was Hillary Clinton. Did I get to see her? Nope.

Like I've mentioned before, the traffic management at the DNC is really poor. It was so bad this evening that the fire marshall ordered all portals to the main floor closed, allowing people to exit with no chance of re-entry until after the session was through. When every seat is full, there are still hundreds of people who are milling around in the aisles and walkway. This is further complicated by the endless TV crews that stop and interview people where they find them, thereby efficiently blocking any movement. People stand and gawk at these interchanges, cameras and cell phones flashing, the more "sophisticated" amateur uses digital SLRs, but regardless of equipment, they all stand there hoping to capture some important moment in Democratic history. They are blissfully ignorant and unaware of the problem they create.

I was sent on an errand inside of this human collision to retrieve cards from one of the photographers that had important images that needed to go out on the AP wire. This meant jumping into the foray and leaving my runners to fend for themselves. At this point we didn't know the exits were going to be closed, but with the photographer unable and unwilling to leave his choice location, there simply wasn't a choice. I had to go.

After many close quarter encounters with people of all sizes, shapes, colors and purse sizes and one encounter with a groper, I managed to get to a place that I thought I was home free. I ended up being stranded above the AP platform and out of reach of the photo editors, unable to re-enter due to the restrictions of the fire marshall. So, I watched Hillary Clinton through the curtains of the portal entrance which remind me of being at the Coliseum watching the Stock Show.

I heard from others that her speech was great. She was able to motivate a response from the crowd that was even better than the reaction to NPR's favorite goat candidate, Dennis Kucinich.

Still, no real photographs. Odd how almost everything about this photojournalistic internship has NOT been about shooting and cameras. It's been about time management, crowd management, getting cards straight and working with all types of personalities under difficult, trying circumstances that are aggravated by lack of breaks, food and quiet. The stress is great for everyone from photographers to editors to runners.

It takes something special to do this job on a regular basis, and it isn't about the skills I thought were most important. It's about professionalism,and not being the one that lets down the AP and its successful history of 160 years.

It's a high standard and a lot of hard work.

AP@DNC--WOW!

Well, I wasn't ready for that.

I now understand why people don't really try to explain what goes on for photographers and assistants during an event like the DNC. There are no words to describe what you see and how things unfold.

We weren't allowed to take our cameras into the convention tonight, but I snuck in my little Coolpix and got a few shots when I wasn't trying to manage cards for 2 editors, 3 runners and 4 photographers. So, I'll try to image it with words instead of pictures.

The absolute shoulder to shoulder congestion on the floor and stairs inside the Pepsi Center is spectacular. Runners tonight couldn't get through the people wall without great difficulty.

Kudos to the runners for keeping track of their photogs and keeping all the cards straight. There's one "Camera Stand" pass and I have it. It means I'm one of the few people from the AP allowed on the levels that directly face the podium, so therefore I'm up and down the stairs and have to keep a watch out for runners coming my way, as well as letting the photo editors know when "notable" people are in the vicinity. Through talking with the runners, I know where the photographers are, and I can see some of the taller shooters, so it's also my job to let the editors know if there's something needs to be shot and there isn't anyone to take the picture. Add to that the band and all the cheering and it's hard to communicate through something other than hand signals or yelling loudly.

It truly is chaos.

AP - Carpet Man

No job is too small or too unimportant at the Democratic National Convention.

AP - Random Things

Katie Couric wears flip flops while she does her sit-down broadcasts.

Anderson Cooper is friendly and signed an autograph for Natalie, one of the interns

Kenn Bisio was right; they really do edit that fast. However, they do crop the shit out of things.

Running shoes are the only sensible footwear for interns.

Interns take out trash, get water, find instructions on how to work the phone, fill the fridge and sit around.

Police radios are a great way to overhear where the "action" is.

Keep one eye on the subject, the other on the guy with the baton.

Secret Service people get a goody-bag filled with stuff we aren't allowed to see.

Don't forget extra CF cards and don't mix up the photogs CF cards.

Domke bags are awesome.

The Pepsi Center has someone who trims the carpet with a pair of scissors.

Everybody has a story including journalists.

Lose your credentials and you won't see the inside of the Pepsi Center.

When the guy with the gun asks where's a hole punch, you find one for him.

Parking is a nightmare and it's intended to be that way.

People are stupid enough to go downtown and watch the protesters like it's a spectator sport.

AP- Tomorrow's the Day

The last few days in the tech tent have been a blur of new faces, new equipment, new security procedures and the wonder of it all. The AP is a professional organization. However, when they talked about the "chaos" that will ensue in trying to capture the energy and vitality of something like this, they weren't kidding. The convention hasn't even started yet and already we are cattywumpus around the streets of Denver running cards, trying to avoid being tear-gassed, and watching the endless parade of celebrities, the infamous, and the plain old weird.

The tech tent is no longer an icebox; the place is filled with dozens of journalists and where there was time and place for the on-going Monopoly tournament, doing that now would be almost obscene. Next to the AP section of Pavilion #3, we have an oxygen bar, ready to serve. The one commodity that's scarce is food. Not sweets and junk, but real food.

Getting in and out of the DNC perimeter is fierce. It's not like you can come and go at leisure. You also can't bring a cooler filled with food either. Fruits and vegetables are a no-no, since they are low-rent tools for making political criticisms. Runners bring food ordered in from delis around the Lo-Do area, but their average delivery time is about 2 hours. Trying to pair sandwich and owner puts a lot of miles on your meal, and to add insult to injury, a sandwich runs about $8 to $10.

We lost two runners today. One had a bad reaction to food she ate, and another runner collapsed and paramedics had to be called. Heat stroke is very real in Colorado, and a combination of events put our runner on track for a visit with the mobile medics and a trip to the ER. Hydration is the key, and the downtown runners will be carrying several bottles of water in their backpacks to assist the photographers and keep them going as well as keep up their own intake. Some of the interns/runners are on bikes, and pedaling CF cards to the AP office on 14th and Wazee saves time and shoe leather. This was true today when protesters shut down streets around the Civic Center and intersections downtown. Their focus was the Light Rail and mall shuttles, effectively bringing a halt to a quick way to get the "outside" images to a card reader at an editor's desk.

My bike gets loaded up tomorrow morning and it and I will head to downtown. We are splitting shifts between being "inside" assisting the floor photographers who are a few feet away from the podium and being "outside" where the protesters, tent state and heat stroke are waiting on each corner.

We had a quick lesson today in the gas masks that the AP supplies its journalists. Somehow the demonstration of how to use one bring confrontation a little closer, it was easier to believe that the conflict is farther away.

AP Prep

Few people realize how much work goes into setting an event up. Sure, wedding coordinators know it; even rave planners know it. The person I've seen who knows best is Kathy Packer. Kathy is the administrative assistant for the Denver bureau of the Associated Press and that title doesn't even begin to cover what she has to do to get not only the AP ready, but to get the interns ready as well.

Last night, right before our shift ended in the techinal equipment tent at 10 p.m., Kathy and her daughter Ginger pulled up with a mini-van filled with more than $1000 worth of water, pop, cookies, paper towels, plates, coffee and the usual trappings. The back end of her van was draggin' like she was hauling a swimming pool back there. Not only does she shop for this stuff, she transports it, unloads it, and no doubt accounts for it in the AP budget. The "T"'s are crossed, the "I"'s are dotted.

This is by no means the only shipment of staples this tent will receive. This is only to keep the crew working on setting up the computers and network BEFORE the DNC starts. Kathy does this work on her own time, and it includes such things as ordering 28 television sets and handling all of the office supplies for the huge amount of people that will be working in this tent. Tonight, it's around 8 p.m. and Kathy is out shlepping around. We expect her back in here shortly, and she says her night will go until about 10 p.m. as she sorts out the unending tangle that is the logistic of AP.

I haven't even mentioned the huge effort needed to coordinate the interns. There are about 30 of us, and one missed set of credentials can make a person's day rough. Simply it means you won't get into the Pepsi Center or surrounding area. It's not happening. I watched some guy try to talk his way into the Pepsi Center parking lot when I came in at 5 p.m. and he didn't get anything other than a chance to see if the turning radius on his car was good.

All the interns will have to delegated tasks, some of us will be matched up and mentored by other AP professionals. Some will be gophers, or hang out in the equipment tent and those schedules will have to be arranged, and of course changes will have to be made to accomodate the individual details of people's lives. At the most basic level, someone has to help familiarize the interns with the whole process of the DNC, and that someone will most likely be Kathy.

With a quick smile and teaming energy, Kathy will get all of this done. She is caring for both the human and the commodity end of the AP, and hopefully, the interns will see how dedicated she is and treat her with the respect she deserves.

If not, they'll have to answer to me.

AP Fridge

The Pepsi Center has become a tent city of structures designed to hold hi-tech media equipment used to assist the media in reporting the happenings at the DNC. Right now, the only people at the AP tent are the craftsman that design the network, install the computers, routers, wireless, phones, televisions and other media equipment. I'll introduce you to some of the master technicians in a later blog, they have stories to tell as well.

The AP branch of Frigidaire is temperature controlled and one of the coldest places I've been all summer. Gale force winds circulate air conditioning to protect the equipment, but with nothing to stop the flow of air, it's an icebox. Students like myself are already working in the tent, watching over the extensive equipment, and our shifts are both evening and overnight. Shoshona Tyler has been one of the students working the overnight shift and on Tuesday, she brought long underwear to help keep warm. I kid you not.

It's a strange mix in the AP tent of expensive electronic equipment, leaves and sprinklers. The Pavilion that houses the AP is part of the parking lot closest to the Pepsi Center and under the huge tent, complete with an indoor arboretum, all things that grow need water.

Monday night around 10 p.m. the sprinklers came on. Indoors. Right next to thousands of dollars of electronics. There were four of us there, Virginia Packer, daughter of Katherine Packer, administrative assistant at the AP, Shoshona Tyler and Dominic Graziano and myself and we scrambled fast to move boxed and unboxed computers, wrap garbage bags around the data outlets and try to find someone to shut the water off.

We notified the technicians, and they had to make a late night junket to the tent to check out the damage. Fortunately, there wasn't any, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Tomorrow!

So I get a call late this afternoon from Kathy Packer, the administrative assistant from the AP and she asked me if I was ready to go to work as of Tuesday. Of course, I said yes.

So tomorrow I meet her at the AP office, I get MY CREDENTIALS and we walk over to the Pepsi Center and I get going. My job isn't glamorous; I'll be working in the equipment room, but technical equipment for the AP@DNC is pretty important, so we'll see what that looks like. What am I going to do, say no?

Sure, I would like for someone to walk up and say to me, "Hey, we can see it in your eyes, you're the world's best shooter," but I don't think that's going to happen. I'm willing to start somewhere!

I work the evening shift and get about 25 hours this week and get to see the operation from the ground up. That might be worth documenting, yah think?

In Kenn's Photojournalism II class this morning, he had some wisdom for those of who will be shooting the DNC or trying to get stories from the assorted venues. Communities like Tent State in La Cuchavera (spelling) park, or possibly from the homeless community that hosts rumors of bus tickets to Los Angeles and other cities to get their presence off the streets of Denver during the DNC are fertile ground for "interaction." We'll see what that looks like.

Kenn's wisdom: "If you get tear-gassed, put the camera on auto-focus and keep shooting."

Associated Press- Here we go!

On Thursday, a group of Metro students got the chance to meet with News Editor, Jim Anderson of the Associated Press bureau located here in Denver.

This wasn't just a random meeting. Many months of emails, questions, paperwork and waiting culminated in the selection of about 20 students from Metro State College to assist writers, photographers, editors and just about anyone else covering the Democratic National Convention starting at the end of August.

The office of the AP is located near 14th and Wazee in Denver, housed in one of the buildings on the site of the old Elephant Corral, an icon of Denver's historical past. The AP is on the lower level, with walls of old textured brick that document the building's age and link it to Denver's past. Fitting that the AP is in one of the oldest areas of Denver, as if to say that this bureau is rooted in Denver's past with a watchful eye on its future.

The office is small and space is a luxury, but these building are familiar to me; I used to read the gas and electric meters in this part of town when I worked for Public Service, and it's like coming to visit an old friend. I'm pretty sure I can find their big 5-dial and their demand along with a few commercials. Maybe even I'd find a closed loop on the mid-span or a DV in the BM.

This is a different time and place, and it's a different job. The main thing that concerned me was how we would be perceived by the staff at AP. This always affects me because I stand out from everyone else when I'm around my Metro peers. Sometimes it's a challenge to live life in two distinctly different worlds; successful student who knows to shut up and listen and successful adult who has navigated experiences from illness to inheritance. I was relieved they see us as part of the team and our individual talents and skills will be put to use regardless of where we are in our journey. Jim told us our experience and knowledge of Denver, its culture and community will be invaluable as the days ahead progress.

I felt like Jim and the Human Resource staff interacted with us as if we were professionals, and I have always loved that feeling. That straightforward treatment makes me want to do more, accomplish more. For me, for them. I don't mean the kind of intro you get when people want you to use the Pike Place Market method of selling fish, and what they're selling will stink like dead fish if you take it out into the workplace. I'm talking about being treated liked they're glad to see you, not that they're afraid you'll eat all the Hershey's kisses out of the candy jar leaving only yellow Jolly Ranchers.

We filled out our paperwork, had our ID's copied, and got a huge dose of excitement over our pending journey through the Democratic National Convention and the world of media communication. We're on our way.

Jim told us we're going to get a big old dose of chaos. Cool.

True to chaotic form, it's back to the AP for more paperwork and social security cards that need to be copied by Monday since we are considered employees of the AP and will earn a paycheck for our service. I'm ready to get started, not because I'm getting paid, but because there's a special excitement at being part of the process of setting all this up and watching it come to fruition.

We'll see what's coming next.

PSA-MobileMe Problems

OK-
If you are unlucky enough to be a current mac.com member, you have received the countless emails hyping MobileMe.

I have the answer to the problem you are going to have if you try and renew your account through MobileMe's website. When you try to give Apple money, guess what? They won't take it. OK- enough drama.

I needed to renew my subscription to continue my mac.com email and website access. I logged into MobileMe which is now the carrier for mac.com subscribers. I entered in my credit card number and got the spinning wheel of death. The card never went through. I tried a second card, it didn't go through, either. I tried logging into my account on my PC, I tried using FireFox instead of Safari. No joy.

As I am trying all these different avenues, I'm getting emails from MobileMe saying my account has been de-activated and I need to renew. Duh.

I went to the Apple store at Aspen Grove and talked with an associate there who explained that lots of people are having problems with renewing accounts with MobileMe. He wasn't quite positive about what exactly was happening with MobileMe, but in true salesman fashion, he sold me something. While in the store, we logged into my account and tried again, unsuccessfully to renew my account. He suggested purchasing another activation key at $99 and try it right there in the store. We did. It didn't work. He refunded my money and told me to contact MobileMe support chatline. I was told to be prepared to wait a little when I get into the LiveChat.

How about 3 hours?

Waiting.

Waiting with their little minute counter that counts down how many minutes you have left to wait with the ratio of posted minutes equally about 3.5 minutes to every 1 of theirs. My count the FIRST time I entered LiveChat? Fifty-three minutes. Total time waiting? Three hours.

Did the technician help me? Yes and no. We were online trying different things to make the system take my payment (Imagine, having a hard time giving a multi-million dollar company money. Something's wrong with that picture).
I wasn't able to get the payment through, but she did tell me that the auto-renew feature built into Macs was the problem, and if she de-activated the feature it should take my payment. In 24 hours.

I tried again this morning, and still luck. Back online again, this time is was 3.5 hours of waiting. This technician told me that the problem was the auto-renew feature and since it was de-activated, I need to go back to Aspen Grove and purchase another activation key and try again. Back to Aspen Grove.

The associate who sold me my new activation key suggested I try to renew there at the store, and this time it worked. Done deal.

Here's the skinny. If you are unlucky enough to need to renew, check out the FAQ on the MobileMe page. There is a lot of interesting information on there. They are extending customer's accounts at no charge, even though the emails say something else. Ignore the emails. Pay attention to the FAQ. Unfortunately, the last time that page was updated was July 16, 2008, so good luck. This is the information age, right?

You will have to go into LiveChat and ask them to de-activate the auto-renew. You will have to go buy a new activation key in person, online won't work. At least the associate gave me MobileMe for $69 instead of $99, but I had to do some complaining to get that to happen.

Apple realizes that MobileMe is a pig's ear that'll never be a silk purse. We've come to expect a better product from Apple so disappointment is even more bitter.

Dealing with this felt like what most PC users experience when dealing with Windows Vista every single day. Ugh.