2016 Excellence in Journalism Conference: Day 1

I attended EIJ 2016 conference as a Native American Journalist fellow sponsored by Columbia University. The three-day-long conference that focuses on great journalism by diverse people was held in New Orleans, Louisiana this year.

The day started out with a small bump in the road. My registration for the conference was not completed, though the other Columbia fellows had been. The ladies taking care of registration were very helpful and got all of my stuff ready for me.

My roommate, Raven Marshall, wanted to go to the session on Race, Religion, and Politics. We went and sat on the floor on the side of the room because there were not enough seats for everyone. The information was very interesting. Coming as a Native American, I knew most of what he was saying as I had learned it at Haskell. It was still very informative.

After the session, I went with two of the interns to lunch. We went to a little place in the French Quarter. I had the burger and it was delicious. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to continue the conference.

At 2 p.m. I went to the session, 5 Things You Didn't Know About Freelancing. I was very interested in hearing about this topic. The speakers were amazing and really grabbed your attention. They pretty much gave five tips on freelancing, it was still very interesting.

Raven and I went to the NAJA member’s meeting, before leaving to go to dinner. We ate at this little Bistro in the French Quarter that served pancakes and ice creme. I had never had that before, but it was so good. Then, we walked around the French Quarter seeing musicians, tarot cards or palm readers, and even a bagpipe player.

CNN hosted a reception at House of Blues for the conference. I loved dancing to the blues music. There was so much energy in that room, it was a lot of fun to see and experience.

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