Monday, January 19, 2009

New Year, new direction....

Ive been on holiday from CDD for the past two weeks or so, and Ive realized Ive had so much more time to focus on my own project. Ive gotten more contacts at Radio Gold (Pro NDC station) , more contacts with others in the media, gone on interviews, etc etc. Ive been contacted by the African University College of Communication to come on board with a project that is being funded by the World Bank to look at coverage in the media of developmental issues during the election period. This could be something really huge for me to do, and its right in my research interest alley. But I have to remember not to overload myself. I did get an opportunity to take a little bit of a break to visit one of the other Fulbrighters in Cape Coast not too long ago. She took me along on some of her interviews and I was inspired by how passionate she was about her project and about the future plans she had for her work. Not that Im not passionate about the media, but I think for the past months leading up to the elections, I was distracted by alot of things. CDD has been a great place, but honestly, a lot of the (hard) work I did for them had nothing to do with my project. I got so caught up with elections, I didnt really have the time or the space mentally to focus on my own project. So Ive decided to reduce my time at CDD drastically.

So now, Im trying to make up for lost time. Im trying to go on more interviews, more recorded interviews, for sure. I dont know what my problem is, but sometimes, I dont record my interviews and just resort to taking notes. And then I look back at my notes, and Im like, what was I doing? Im going to do more in terms of getting quality audio, just so that I can transcribe better.

Im learning that I have to really be an independent self starter with this project. Its not like college or high school where you have professors or teachers checking up on you like "How is your paper coming" or "Remember there is an exam coming up". Here there are no deadlines, no tests, no one checking up on you. I bet the whole time could pass by before someone from my family or friends is like, "Oh yea, by the way, what did you find about about phone in radio?" Sometimes I get discouraged. There is sooo much to learn about the media here. I didnt get my degree in journalism, and there are times I feel like im in over my head.There are also times where I wonder, what am I doing this for? Do I want to take all this research and go back to the States and get a MA/PhD and just begin the academic track? Do I just want to leave here and go back and use the Fulbright as leverage to get me into a good law school? Or do I want to stay here in Ghana, and work more in the media?? Because honestly, fam, this is what Ive always dreamed of doing. Doing research abroad....in radio? Its been something Ive wanted to do since high school. And I beleive in my heart that media and communication will be the thing to study in Africa and other so called "developing nations".

Not only do I really need to buckle down on getting a decent project, but I need to think about my future....

I mean, Ive gotten a lot of information. Theres no way I dont have anything. But will it make sense? Am I missing something? But all I can do is do my best and pull out all the stops right?

xoxoxKaren

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