I was lucky enough to have actually been in Washington, D.C. for President Obama's inauguration, and it was a truly amazing experience. It was the first time that I found myself in the middle of such a political and historical event. Even though I had reported from Long Island during the final presidential debate at Hofstra University, this time I was right in the middle of the action! It was exhilirating, and for a reporter, it was bliss. There were so many people there to talk to, and so many of them had such wonderful stories to tell about why they were present and how they had gotten there.
On the day of the inauguration (Jan. 20), I left my friend's apartment at 4:30am and was standing on the National Mall by 5am. I spent close to 12 hours on my feet, in the freezing cold, talking to as many people as I could, listening to their stories, and just observing the events that were unfolding in front of me. I filed a story about a lovely woman who was moved to tears as she spoke to me about the significance of the day. I also included the story of a mother who brought her two kids to see Obama being sworn in.
The day before, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I had attended a service at Washington National Cathedral in honor of Dr. King. It was a fairly last minute decision. I had seen a note about it online, and since it was free and open to the public, I decided to check it out. I arrived in Washington around noon, and after dropping my bags off at my friend's place, I immediately headed over to the cathedral. It was a great celebration, and I met a lot of interesting people there from all over the country. I ended up filing a story about how the event organizers had handed out papers addressed to President Obama to the people in the audience. The people in attendance were encouraged to write a letter to President Obama, expressing their hopes and wishes for the next four years. The letters would be given to the new president at a service he was scheduled to attend at the cathedral the morning after his inauguration. It was an interesting gesture, and people participated enthusiastically.
After finishing the story, however, I remember wishing I had more time to work on a separate piece about one of the performers I had seen at the service. His name was Daniel Davis, and he was a 19-year-old musician from South Carolina. His niche was playing the violin over top of R&B and hip-hop beats, and at the celebration for Dr. King, he performed two songs - one of which had King's famous "I have a dream," words repeated rhythmically in the background. After hearing him, I became really fascinated with his music. I had seen firsthand the incredible audience reaction, and I decided to do a little more resesarch into Davis and the genre that has become known as "contemporary violin."
In my story about the letters being written to Obama, I had described the service and had mentioned Davis as one of the performers. In the final editing process, however, that sentence had gotten cut. If I had had more time that night, I would have tried to write a separate story about Davis, but since I had to be up before dawn the next morning, I decided to file it away as a possible future piece. Well, this brings me to what I have chosen to write about for my first beat story! The article will be a 650-word profile of Daniel Davis, and how his music is changing his generation's views of classical music.
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