Rahkia Nance, 'Newsdesk' editor

By Rahkia Nance
I’m pleased that you’ve found yourself thumbing through the pages of the inaugural edition of BABJ Newsdesk. This publication symbolizes the fresh approach the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists is taking to introduce itself to the community at large.

Over the past several months, BABJ members have shaped a simple suggestion into a tangible product.
In this issue, you’ll be introduced not only to some of the members who comprise our organization, but also some of their ideas and activities. You’ll read about Jazmund Walker, a Birmingham native who’s becoming a catalyst for change in the neighborhood in which she was raised. You’ll read about a group of twentysomething journalists – including yours truly – who want to make the internship process a little easier for aspiring journalists. And you’ll also read about diversity in mainstream media.

In each issue, we’ll also pay homage to those trailblazers who paved the way for back journalists in Birmingham. This issue features the late Jesse Champion Sr., a towering figure in Birmingham broadcasting who helped lay the foundation for BABJ.

As you continue your perusal, I hope the pages of this publication inform, provoke, entertain and, above all, spark the anticipation of future issues.

Rahkia Nance is editor of BABJ Newsdesk and a reporter for The Birmingham News.

Eddie Lard, BABJ President

Despite being an organization of communicators, sometimes we don’t do a good job of communicating what we are and what we are doing. Improving that has been one of my top goals since I was elected president of BABJ nearly two years ago. The launch of this newsletter, BABJ Newsdesk, we hope, will be a useful and important vehicle in informing the greater Birmingham community of some of the things this organization is doing and what we are about. In other words, BABJ Newsdesk will help us tell our story.

Telling that story begins with paying tribute to our past. A lot of dedicated journalists, broadcasters and public relations professionals who sincerely care about our profession as well as this community helped formed and shaped BABJ some 25 years ago. Through the pages (both print and online) of Newsdesk, we will tell you a little about these pioneers. Our premier edition honors a radio newsman I came to know and admire during my early years in Birmingham, Jesse Champion Sr. Mr. Champion died last year at age 80, leaving behind a legacy both in radio news and in music. He was the first black news reporter for WERC radio, and his musical talents earned him a spot in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Please read Birmingham News staff writer and BABJ member William Singleton’s “Farewell” tribute to Mr. Champion, which ran last December in the newspaper.

Of course, I remember the integral role Mr. Champion played in a then-fledgling BABJ. Many of our early planning meeting were held at his Omega Psi Phi fraternity house in west Birmingham. Mr. Champion’s son, the late Jesse Champion Jr., also was a radio journalist and an officer and active member in BABJ. Our organization is extremely grateful for the contributions of this father and son.

On the subject of contributions, one of the goals of BABJ is to contribute to public discussion by being a catalyst for community dialogue. Last year, BABJ, along with our media partners, put on a Town Hall Meeting on Violence. The event, held at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, was historic — the first time any event was simulcast by all four Birmingham television stations with news departments. The Town Hall Meeting event provided a forum for elected and other public officials to discuss the city’s crime problems and what was being done about it, and for citizens to question those officials and give their take on what they believe need to be done. The event was a hit, and won BABJ the Rufus N. Rhodes Leadership in Media Award from the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce.

This year, BABJ is planning a Town Hall Meeting on Education for this fall. Check future issues of BABJ Newsdesk for more information on that event.

Be sure, too, to check out the other features in this first edition of Newsdesk. We hope it gives you a better understanding of BABJ.

Leading our team of professional and student journalists in publishing Newsdesk each quarter is Rahkia Nance, a young, talented, enterprising reporter for The Birmingham News. Rahkia comes from a great reporting bloodline; her father, Roscoe Nance, is a retired NBA beat writer for USA Today. Read in this issue about the seminar on internships Rahkia co-planned and will co-host at this month’s Unity ’08 Convention in Chicago, where 10,000 journalists of color — African-African, Native American, Hispanic American and Asian-Americans — are expected.

If you have any suggestions for us, or perhaps want to submit something for inclusion in Newsdesk, drop us a line at president (at) babj.net.

Eddie Lard, an editorial writer for The Birmingham News, is president and a founding member of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists.

Kathy Times, NABJ Vice President of Broadcast

By KATHY TIMES
As Vice President of Broadcast for the National Association of Black Journalists, there’s something on my things-to-do list everyday, but it has been a wonderful journey. Since you elected me last August, I have had meetings with the presidents of ABC News, CBS News, Fox News and NBC News to discuss hiring, training and promoting more African-American journalists. I’ve worked with a committed NABJ Board of Directors to crank out a bare-bones budget. It was quite an experience cutting, adding and subtracting to make sure we have funds to offer quality events and programs and pay down debt. We did it in one weekend.

As the chair of the Media Institute committee, I am responsible for NABJ professional development beyond the annual convention. NABJ President Barbara Ciara has challenged the committee to offer you a workshop or incentives to get training every month. Starting in the fall, NABJ plans to offer coast-to-coast training every month. Get ready for classes on digital journalism, political reporting, dissecting standardized tests and much more. Details will be posted soon on NABJ’s Web site. With the support of The New York Times and television networks, we’ll offer management training. Earlier this year, we partnered with Investigative Reporters and Editors for a “Better Watchdog” class. We also teamed up with San Francisco State University, CNN and the Knight Digital Media Center to offer members intensive training in digital media.

The smorgasbord of workshops continues at Unity 2008 in Chicago. Here are some things to remember if you’re going to attend the convention:
NABJ’s big events are being held at the Sheraton Hotel. The Career Expo opens Wednesday, July 23, instead of Thursday. Get there early. We’re sharing the stage with three organizations that represent journalists of color. You’ll be competing with twice as many people for an interview or critique. On Thursday, make plans to hear the presidential candidates. Spend Saturday with some of the best in the business as NABJ honors Journalist of the Year Leonard Pitts and other super journalists during the Salute To Excellence. You don’t want to miss the Tampa party Saturday night as we get crunked for NABJ 2009 in Florida.

Here is some great news that came out of the spring board meeting in Atlanta. In response to the 266 black journalists who lost their jobs or left the nation’s newsrooms last year, the board established scholarships that will pay the Unity registration fees for those who lost their jobs since January of 2007. For information, go to www.nabj.org.

If I can help you or if you would like to volunteer to make NABJ a stronger body, don’t hesitate to e-mail me at kytimes (at) aol.com. Thanks to those of you who came to my going-away bash in Birmingham. I can’t wait to see you all at the convention in Chicago.

Kathy Times, National Association of Black Journalist vice president-broadcast, is evening anchor for WDBD-TV in Jackson, Miss. She is a former investigative reporter for NBC-13 in Birmingham and past treasurer of BABJ.

Multicultural Journalism Workshop

When Joseph D. Bryant was a student at Daleville High School in 1995, there was no school newspaper, but his teachers and counselors knew he loved to write. The eager, bespectacled teen got his hands on an application for the Minority Journalism Workshop at the University of Alabama and quickly completed it. Weeks later, he was off to Tuscaloosa for two weeks of learning.

“Before MJW, I didn’t even know where the University of Alabama was located. I just knew about the elephant and Bear Bryant,” he said jokingly. Today, Bryant, an award-winning government reporter at The Birmingham News, credits MJW with launching his career.

“I didn’t know that it was possible for me to have a career that includes all of my interests — writing, social studies and talking to people.”

Hundreds of students have participated in the two-week summer program, launched in 1984 by UA graduate student Marie Parsons, journalism professor Dr. Marian Huttenstine and journalism department dean Dr. Ed Mullins.

Many who have attended the workshop or served as professional instructors returned to the Capstone on July 11-19 to share their memories and their professional skills with a new generation of students.

“Until MJW, I didn’t see people in the print or broadcast media who looked like me,” says Staci Brooks, a 1994 MJW alum. Brooks, now assistant metro editor at The Birmingham News, also credits MJW with stirring her interest and launching her career.

For Brooks, MJW opened a window to her career. Both Brooks and Bryant attended the University of Alabama and majored in journalism. They also picked up some scholarship support along the way, thanks to their MJW connections.

Brooks was news editor for the Crimson White. Bryant went on to become the first black selected as editor of the award-winning campus newspaper.

Mullins, MJW director, often points to Brooks and Bryant as examples of what MJW can do to fill the void in newsrooms across the nation where the diversity in the offices still does not resemble the makeup of the communities served.

“Not many outreach/engagement programs have gained the necessary traction to last for 25 years,” Mullins said. “So just being here for 25 years attests to its success.”

But the road to success has been a long one to travel. Back in 1982, then graduate student Parsons and Professor Huttenstine came together with the idea to recruit and develop minority students towards careers in the field of journalism.

A year later, Parsons became the director of the Minority Journalism Program, which decided that a workshop would be a valuable tool in attracting future journalists to UA and developing them. In 1984, the first Minority Journalism Workshop (later changed to Multicultural Journalism Workshop to reflect the idea that the workshop was open to all races and ethnicities) began with the inaugural class of eight students, six of whom lived in Tuscaloosa.

“I stumbled through the first MJW with just a few months to plan, trying to figure out how to pull off this new project,” Parsons said. “The second year, I knew exactly what year one could have been, and we spent 12 months in preparation. It was a resounding success. A highlight was an hourlong meeting with then-Governor George Wallace, in his office in the Capitol.”

Within the first 10 years of the Minority Journalism Program, minority enrollment rose 12 percent within the college and department, a percentage owing some of its success to MJW. Donations also helped, including a $100,000 contribution by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in 1994, as well as MJW’s self-fulfilling dynamic that brought in funds from Alabama’s two major professional media associations, the Alabama Press Association and the Alabama Broadcasters Association, as well as donations from individual newspapers and broadcast operations.

“MJW got its kick-start with $4,000 from Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, The Birmingham News and The Tuscaloosa News and through the dedication of a few faculty members and a corps of undergraduate and graduate assistants,” Parsons said. “The power that has sustained the program comes from the reporters and editors who are MJW’s visiting professionals.”

While students are the heart of the program, Mullins said the visiting professionals — many of them who travel distances to volunteer — are what helps keep the program going.

“If there is one factor most critical in MJW’s success, it’s professionals returning to the Capstone year after year to help the new class acquire their skills, graduate, take their place in the profession, then come back and help the next class,” Mullins said. “They have become leaders in student media on this campus and others, and then they have gone on to become professional leaders. It’s the quality of leadership that stands out. The thousands of students — 500 of them through the workshop but hundreds more through other programs in the college related to MJW — have benefited from MJW since it began in 1984,” Mullins said.

“They acquired skills and attitudes. They got education and training. They networked with distinguished professionals. They attended job fairs and other career-boosting activities. They got jobs. They succeeded. And then they gave back by returning year after year to help the next MJW class.”

Sherrel Wheeler Stewart is a University of Alabama graduate and a former journalism instructor and is an assistant metro editor at The Birmingham News. Alan Minor is a communications student at UA and a BABJ scholarship winner.

Staci Brown Brooks

By Staci Brown Brooks
Contributing writer

Some people just know what they are. My mother is a born nurturer who wears a perpetual smile. She’s a nurse. My sister has the patience to deal with other people’s children all day. She’s a teacher. Me? I guess I was built to be an editor. As I child, while reading, I would circle words beyond my young vocabulary and create new endings to “improve” my storybooks.

But after being in the newspaper business for eight years, I was in serious need of a boost to prepare me for the next level. There are classes and seminars on editing and managing all the time. But I began to wonder: What can I do to further develop my leadership skills?

Enter the Maynard Media Academy, a selective training program for emerging newsroom leaders. I applied, and a fellowship from the Freedom Forum graciously covered all costs.

The primary purpose of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education is to help the news media reflect America’s diversity. My 17 Maynard classmates and I gathered for two weeks earlier this year in the hallowed halls of the Neiman Foundation headquarters at Harvard University.

The Academy’s goal is bold: We are each expected to take all we’ve learned, along with our various talents and raw ambition, and lead a news organization one day. The goal isn’t middle management; it’s masthead.

Another one of the Academy’s mandates is that its alumni share the knowledge. So, here are the top five things I learned or that I’m thinking about since my time at the Academy.

1. Nobody in their right mind would ever want to be a manager.
But that’s OK, a little crazy never hurt anybody. Being a manager requires a lot of investment and a lot of faith in other people. Your individual accomplishments no longer really matter. As a manager, one is judged by her products and her people.

2. The key to success is starting with a goal you can measure.
Michael Roberts, the deputy managing editor of staff development at the Arizona Republic, one of the presenters, advised setting SMART goals:

• Specific — Each goal frames a single outcome that is observable.

• Measurable — Success is described in quality, quantity, frequency, etc.

• Action-oriented — The goal should contain action verbs.

• Realistic — Don’t aim for things that require resources, abilities or skills you know you don’t have.

• Time-dated — When’s your deadline?

3. A team needs a variety of functional players to work.
Sometimes someone’s a point guard; sometimes somebody’s coming off the bench; you have to have a coach. That being said, some people shouldn’t be allowed on the court until they have an attitude adjustment: the buck-passer, the nitpicker, the martyr. It’s the rest of the team’s responsibility (and especially the leader’s) to nudge those people into functional roles.

4. Difficult conversations are often necessary to keep the train moving.
All managing is, is dealing with people — and often people have problems. Still, in any situation, if basic rules of professionalism and common courtesy are followed, all parties can end the conversation with their dignity intact and be able move on.

5. Are surprises really surprises?
We studied and discussed a number of case studies with Harvard business professors. One of them was “Predictable Surprises: Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming.” It talked about Shell’s botched handling of a major environmental protest. Of course, it talked about 9/11. It didn’t talk about the news media, but it could have.

Larry Olmstead, a former Knight Ridder executive VP and now a leadership consultant, gave us an exercise. He asked us to predict Time magazine’s cover words on the state of the media in 2013. The two predictions we agreed on: more digital and less filtered.

What do you think our future is?

For information about about the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, visit the Web site maynardije.org.

Staci Brown Brooks is the assistant features editor at The Birmingham News.

Staff
Rahkia Nance Editor
Eddie Lard BABJ President
Donald Wiley Design Editor
Terry Brown and Vickii Howell Interactive Designers

Contributing Writers
Sherrel Wheeler Stewart
Alan Minor
Kathy Times
Jazmund Walker
Staci Brown Brooks
William C. Singleton

To contact us:

Send inquiries to:
BABJ
P.O. Box 185
Birmingham, AL 35201

Web site:
www.babj.net

The initial group of members included professionals from print and broadcast news. It later grew to include those in public relations and other related fields.

BABJ has increased its membership over the years from a group of 12 that could fit at a table in the Birmingham Press Club, to an organization of more than 50 media professionals.

BABJ has hosted three regional NABJ conventions. The first was in 1987, before the organization was officially affiliated with NABJ. The second was in 1994, the third in 2002. Also, three BABJ members have served on the NABJ Board of directors.

BABJ has awarded academic scholarships to numerous young journalism students over the years. The
organization also has awarded professional development scholarships to college students desiring to enhance their skills by attending NABJ, Associated Press and National Association of Broadcasters events.

Today, BABJ continues to hold a position of prominence in the community. Its members are involved in almost every facet of the local media.

BABJ Officers
Eddie Lard – President
Steve Crocker – Vice President/Broadcast
Charles McCauley – Vice President/Print
Charla Draper – Secretary
Solomon Crenshaw Jr. – Treasurer
Willie Chriesman – Deputy Treasurer

Sherri Jackson

Chianti Cleggett

Kari Nesbitt

Chianti Cleggett has joined Birmingham Home & Garden magazine as managing editor. She formerly served as a freelance writer for the shelter magazine, which displays home interiors and gardens from around the region. As a member of the editorial team, her duties now include choosing content for the magazine and raising awareness about the publication to new readers throughout the city. In addition to the bimonthly issues, Chianti also assists with scouting content and designers for the magazine’s special issues, which include the Entertaining Guide and Second Homes.

Cleggett is a former associate with The Lewis Group PR firm where she managed content for various client publications. She is also a freelance writer for the Birmingham Times weekly newspaper and Lipstick magazine.

Her work has been printed in various other publications including the NABJ Journal, The Crisis (NAACP), The Financial World, Deep magazine and Birmingham magazine. Cleggett also serves the community as a volunteer with various organizations.

Ronda Robinson of Fox 6 News along with Vincent Parker received a Community Health Award from the Jefferson County Department of Health for the Fox 6 On Your Side team’s reporting on health issues. The team was awarded for its “significant contribution to public health and the well-being of the community.

Robinson is a former president of BABJ.

Sherri Jackson, CBS 42 News anchor, is the only finalist in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Awards for television market 16 and under in the Specialty Reporting category for her “AIDS from Alabama to Africa,” which aired last fall. In her series of reports, Jackson journeyed to Tanzania and Kenya and tells the story of children orphaned because of AIDS. Then in Birmingham at the clinic that treats people with HIV and AIDS from 65 of Alabama’s 67 counties, she reports who the victims are in our area, concluding that the fastest growing group of people infected with HIV/AIDS is African American women and children.

Since Jackson is the only finalist in the category, she will be the winner. The award will be presented at the NABJ Salute to Excellence Gala on Saturday, July 26, at the Unity ’08 Convention in Chicago. Jackson is immediate past president of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists.

Solomon Crenshaw Jr., a sportswriter for The Birmingham News, was part of a four-member team that earned honorable mention in The Associated Press Sports Editors’ contest for project reporting for newspapers with circulations between 100,000 and 250,000. The News’ project was a four-story package that compared athletics in Birmingham city high schools with athletics in high schools in the surrounding suburbs.

Crenshaw is treasurer of BABJ and a founding member of the organization.

Several BABJ members at The Birmingham News won awards in the spring from the Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors newspaper competition. They include: Tamika Moore, first place in photo illustrations, second place in best humorous moments, second place in best picture story, second place in photo portfolio and honorable mention in feature photo; Robert K. Gordon and Rahkia Nance, second place in deadline reporting; Chanda Temple Guster, honorable mention in lifestyle features; and Solomon Crenshaw Jr., second place for sports nondeadline reporting. The newspaper also won the community service award for its “Birmingham at a Crossroads” series.

Norman King recently joined the staff of Southern Living Magazine as an assistant editor/test kitchen professional. He will work mostly with the magazine’s Health Living section to help readers focus on wise food choices.

Kari Nesbitt, a December 2007 graduate of Auburn University, has begun work as a communications specialist with the YWCA of Birmingham. She is a former member of Auburn’s Black Journalists chapter and is the daughter of longtme BABJ member Samuetta Nesbitt, senior vice president for communications with United Way of Central Alabama.

Teresa Wells, a Miles College senior communications major, was selected to participate in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Student Broadcast Short Course, held this past spring at North Carolina A&T University. The Short Course is aimed at encouraging more African-American journalism students to pursue television Management as a career. BABJ helped underwrite Wells’ trip to the four-day seminar.

Bryna Reid, a communications student at Florida A&M University, is interning this summer with Alabama Power Co. Reid is the daughter of longtime BABJ member Felyicia Jerald, head of communications for Mercedes-Benz U.S. International.

Florida A&M University’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication will host a reception for FAMU alumni, faculty and students July 24 at the Unity ’08 Convention in Chicago.

Also, FAMU’s School of Journalism & Graphic Communication is accepting applicants for its graduate program in journalism. For more details about the graduate program, go to www.famu.edu/sjgc or contact Dr. Bettye Grable, interim director for the graduate program in the Division of Journalism. Her e-mail address: bettye.grable (at) famu.edu.

Jesse Champion, Sr.

Whether singing with jazz bands or harmonizing with college and church choruses or choirs, Champion was always ready to unleash his baritone.

His was the first black voice to read the news for WERC radio in 1970.

Champion also used his voice to teach students and to encourage adults to read.

”He sang his way through college,” recalls daughter Sharmayn Champion Stoves, 44. ”He went to Alabama A&M with $5 in his pocket. He had been to the thrift store and bought him some nice clothes. But he sang. He had this voice. They called him ‘Swoon.”’

Birmingham lost one of its great voices when Champion died Nov. 2 after a long illness. He was 80.
Champion was born in Dolomite. He attended Catholic schools and then Parker Industrial High, where he graduated in 1945. He attended Alabama A&M University where he pledged the first Omega Psi Phi fraternity line in 1948.

Champion also met his future wife, Wilhelmenia Lenud, at Alabama A&M. They eloped while in college but both finished school.

It was at A&M that his musical talents blossomed in choirs, choruses and local bands in Huntsville.

Champion served a short stint in the Navy and then returned to take a teaching position in the Gadsden school system from 1950 to 1954.

He moved to Birmingham to teach at Councill School from 1954 to 1963.

He also was involved in the turbulent civil rights movement that swept through Birmingham in the 1960s. Champion tried to help a student who was being harassed by police, was arrested and then fired.

He moved to Flint, Mich. and taught there from 1963 to 1970. That’s when he returned to Birmingham’s WERC as news announcer and director of community affairs, a job he held until retirement in 1990.

But his life was mostly about song.

His contribution to the state’s jazz scene was recognized with his induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

”He was an outstanding tenor even though his singing voice with combos and groups was baritone,” said Tolton Rosser, a college classmate and director of the Birmingham Heritage Band. ”He was just that versatile. Jesse was singing with all the groups. Fraternity brothers, everybody.”
Champion, Rosser said, was always willing to work as hard as any band member in the groups where he sang.

”When Jesse was able, he came to all rehearsals. He helped load and unload. He would set up the microphones and test them, do all of that by himself. You never called on him to sing a tune that he didn’t put forth the effort on.

”There was something about his voice,” Rosser said.

Even when Champion became ill, he didn’t fall quiet.

”I would say among male singers throughout this city, and I don’t know them all but I know most of them, Jesse would have to rank right in the upper echelon of all the singers of the last 25 or 30 years,” Rosser said.
————————-
(Editor’s note: This article is reprinted from The Birmingham News on Dec. 23, 2007. Jesse Champion Sr., a longtime radio news voice in Birmingham, was a founding member of the Birmingham Association of Black Journalists. William C. Singleton is a Birmingham News reporter and BABJ member.)

Jazmund Walker

A high school teacher once told a student,”You’re never gonna make it; you’re never gonna be anything!” Although it was hard for me to keep my head up in an environment that seemed to be destitute of positivism, hope, encouragement and success, my parents made sure I did not succumb to the circumstances of my environment. Unfortunately, some of my peers struggled with authority figures in their lives or didn’t have positive, responsible role models.

But in every neighborhood, in the midst of all the jagged edges, there’s greatness. It just needs to be properly cultivated. Many inner-city youth face challenges that crush their inner being and defect their personal development. One demographic I’ve always been keen to helping is female youths.

I’ve noticed that some girls have lost respect and love for themselves. I believe they can benefit greatly from the guidance of someone from their same background or situation — someone close to their age who can listen to, understand, and relate to their struggle.

Last year, I decided to finally tackle my lifelong goal of starting the change I would like to see in my community. With this in mind, I decided to start LIFT (Leadership, Intellect and Femininity Training).

In high school, I came up with the idea of starting an organization to empower inner-city youths, but due to lack of time, focus, general support and other personal circumstances, I postponed the idea. Last summer, I was fortunate enough to receive a $1,000 grant from mtvU and Youth Venture Inc. to launch my organization.

LIFT’s mission is to empower and educate inner-city girls on essential life lessons that will strengthen them both interpersonally and intrapersonally.

The organization’s board members will accomplish this by hosting an intensive, two-week summer training program every year, and by providing mentorship to the girls throughout the year. The unique aspect of LIFT is that it is a program for youths by young adults. Most of the board members are age 25 and under but are mature, accomplished, intelligent, inspirational young women who are driven to help young girls. The program will provide trips, learning activities and mentorship, all free of charge, to the program participants.

The program will also cover topics such as etiquette, leadership, self-esteem and teen pregnancy prevention.

LIFT will launch this summer for girls ages 11-13 in the Norwood area of Birmingham. For information about the program, e-mail upliftingyouth@gmail.com or visit the Web site www.genv.net/en-us/team/lift.

Jazmund Walker of Birmingham is a graduate of Carver High School and a senior journalism student at UAB.

She is a contributing writer for Newsdesk. E-mail: jazmund.walker (at) gmail.com.

July 1-Aug. 24 –
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), 520 16th St. North, Birmingham, AL 25203
“5 Days in July: The Newark Riots” — Odessa Woolfolk Gallery. This multiscreen video presentation chronicles the unrest in Newark, N.J., during the summer of 1967. Edited by Chuck Schultz. Admission required; Sundays free.

July 1-Aug. 24
“Passions: Works by Komeh Ottison” — David J. Vann Gallery. Exhibition of paintings by local artists. Admission required; Sundays free.

Thursdays
“Heritage Alive!” — Scheduled on Thursdays in July and August by request only. Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr. Community Meeting Room. Recommended for grades K-5. Please call 866- 328-9696, extension 228, for more information and reservations.

July 11-12,
University of Alabama College of Communication and Information Sciences
Multicultural Journalism Program’s 25th Anniversary Reunion. Events include a Friday banquet at 6:15 p.m. at Sheraton Four Points Hotel Ballroom featuring Mervin Aubespin, retired editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. For information, call 205-246-3334; e-mail lemullins13 (at) aol.com; Web site www.ccom.ua.edu.

July 22-27 — NABJ
Unity ‘08 Convention of journalists in color, in Chicago, Ill. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama will speak. For information, visit www.2008unity.org, or www.nabj.org.

July 25 — BCRI, 6-8 p.m.
“Heritage Alive Community of Readers” Summer Family Reading Program. Fun, food and movies. Free admission. Call 866- 328-9696, extension 228, for information and reservations.

AUGUST
Aug. 29 — BCRI, 6-8 p.m.
“Heritage Alive Community of Readers” Summer Family Reading Program. Free admission. Call 866-328-9696, extension 228. for information and reservations.

SEPTEMBER
Sept. 2 -Oct. 26 — BCRI
“Darkness into Life”: The Birmingham Area Holocaust Survivors Through Photography and Art, Works by Becky Seitel and Mitzi Levin — Odessa Woolfolk Gallery. Exhibition includes paintings and photographs accompanied by text explaining the struggles of nine individuals and memories of their lives before Nazi occupation, to imprisonment and their current lives in Birmingham. Admission required. Sundays free.
Sept. 4, 11, 18 and 25 — BCRI, 10 a.m.
“Heritage Alive!” —Rev. Abraham L. Woods Jr. Community Meeting Room. Recommended for grades
K-5. Registration required. Call 866-328-9696, extension 228, for information.

Sept. 9-Dec. 31 — BCRI
100th Anniversary Birmingham Art Association — David J. Vann Gallery and Milestones Hallway Gallery.

Exhibition is a commemoration of the 100-year history of the organization encompassing nearly 100
works of art. Admission required. Sundays free.

Sept. 13 — BCRI, 10 a.m.
BCRI Docent training program begins. Lecture Room. Registration required. Call 205-328-9696, extension 204.

Sept. 15 — BCRI, 7:30 a.m.
Annual Birmingham Pledge Teen Conference. Registration required. Call 866- 328-9696, extension 234, for information.

(Community and civic organizations are welcome to submit items to BABJ Newsdesk’s calendar. Send items to president (at) babj.net. Please include your telephone number.)

Later, some members settled in for a card game. Jerald is head of MBUSI communications.

Enjoying the view from the deck of Felyicia and Mark Jerald's home in McCalla are, standing, Felyicia, right, daughter Bryna, and BABJ President Eddie Lard. Seated are Mercedes team members Subrina Champion, left, community relations specialist; Diane Smith, administrative assistant; and Paul Daugherty, internal communications specialist.

Nancy Crenshaw, right, wife of BABJ Treasurer Solomon Crenshaw Jr., checks out the food offerings with her daughter, Ashley.

But there were so many things I wish I had known before I stepped foot into a professional newsroom.

At the Unity ‘08 Convention of journalists of color this summer (July 22-28), I will help host a workshop that aims to help student journalists have the most rewarding internship experience possible.

The idea sprang from a conversation I had with one of my college classmates, Marlon A. Walker, now a crime reporter at the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. Both of us graduated from Florida A&M University, where alumni and other professionals were constantly returning to share their knowledge with us. In keeping with the tradition we benefited from, we decided to pitch a workshop to Unity.

Walker and I will be on a panel of 10 reporters and recruiters who will discuss “How to Make the Most of the Internship Process.” From what to wear to how to sell your story, we will talk about the things successful interns do and how to make the internship experience a good one.

Between Walker’s 10 internships and my four, we drew up a laundry list of dos and don’ts. They were suggestions from experience, some from hindsight and a few from gaffes committed by our classmates. A lot came from what we have observed as young professionals now spending our summers working alongside aspiring journalists. We’ve walked in their shoes and know the road they’re tramping is long, winding and sometimes bumpy. We hope our suggestions can help light the way.

Other panelists include:
Joe Grimm, recruiting and development editor at the Detroit Free Press.
Doug Mitchell, a producer/director at National Public Radio.
Talia Buford, a reporter at the Providence (R.I.) Journal.
Veronica Marche Miller, a producer at National Public Radio.
Chloe Hilliard, a staff writer at Village Voice.
The workshop will be Thursday, July 24. For more information about this and other workshops at Unity ‘08, go to www.2008unity.org.

Rahkia Nance is a reporter for The Birmingham News and editor of BABJ Newsdesk.