NEW PROFILES AND PHOTOS COMING SOON

The second set of Street Stories will be coming to this space soon.

For this new assignment, I asked the News Gathering class to write brief profiles on colorful people from the Tulsa area. I asked them to interview a stranger, not a friend or relative. I want stories about fascinating people and I'm challenging the students to find them and capture them in a short profile.

This idea was inspired in part by Jason Collington, a Tulsa World feature writer who recently spoke to the class. Collington is a passionate guy and he impressed me (and the class, I hope) with his creativity and drive. He's developed a keen ability to report the overlooked or unusual angle, the details most of us don't notice.

If the students follow Collington's advice, we'll have some interesting Street Story sketches here in a few days.

Since photos make this a more lively place, I'm also working with the students to get more images on the Street Stories site. I asked all the students to take photos of their interview subjects for the new assignment. I'm also working to get more photos of the earlier stories to that all the posts will have more visual interest. Check back soon to see what stories and photos have been posted.

--John Coward, TU Faculty of Communication