(Editor's Note: As we end 2011 and move into a New Year, the Oakland Local staff and featured contributors would like to share some of our favorite stories, experiences and thoughts over the last 12 months.)


I had just finished reading Kafka and the world felt disjointed. People said one thing and did another. Madoff was in the press, my sister was in Mexico and I was moving between Oakland Local and KPFA.

Or maybe I had just finished reading "Telling True Stories' and a media mogul was in the press.

In any case, it was December 2010 and unemployment was at 9.5 percent.

Climbing the stairs two steps at a time at KPFA radio station, I clutched my breast pocket. One year into the apprenticeship program, I had begun carrying memory drives wherever I went. Today in my breast pocket - sitting safely should someone take my purse - was a 3GB drive containing raw audio from recent interviews at St. Vincent de Paul.

Included in the three hours of audio were sharp metal spoons clattering, husky voices laughing, office phones ringing behind hushed voices and the sounds of a kitchen staff preparing lunch for hundreds.

In time, the content would become several small pieces: photo stories, online print articles and radio segments. This was before I saw Claire Schoen's organizing techniques, followed KDMC's just do it multimedia philosophy and aimed for Susan Mernit's target focused outcomes mantra.

Hunched over the monitor while using Sound Forge and Audition, my three hours of work average per minute-on-air stood enviously dwelling on the one hour per minute-on-air industry average.

As the rain pattered on the roof above the apprenticeship office, the content in front of me went from a disjointed though thematic rough sea of sounds at 4 p.m. to an include-it-all lima bean stew concoction at 2 a.m. Though improved, it was still far from a smooth crème d'affinois that you enjoy without prodding.

Speed stood strong and took the reigns from detail as I, yawning, wove background sounds and interviews together as quickly as possible. Luckily, I worked among a caring community of media makers.

At least two trained ears noted how pieces could be improved before they went on air. That buzz in the background, the loud breath, conjoined words from a previous splice, these needed to be fixed, I was told.

In December 2010, I dreamed of an ethereal 2013 and was driven to capture stories that surrounded me such as West Oakland community revitalization, bike kitchen projects and restaurant openings. Juggling media gathering with editing, I was returning home spent.

As the months have passed, I've learned to hold off from hitting the buzzer the moment my word limit and or segment length is reached. I now admit that the subtleties don't escape the listener or reader. This allows for finer editing, which is just as well now that I'm making a habit of story boarding, outlining and scripting before jumping in full force.

This December, I'm focused on narrative arc and enthusiasm, enough to keep me creating through the 8.6 percent unemployment rate.

Looking back in order to gauge my progress over the last year, I'm reminded that what happens now, today, is more important and moves even faster than my recollections.

As the no longer sticky 2x2 pink note on my desk, penned in the winter of 2009, reads: "El tiempo vuela, pronto sera Enero." "Time flies, soon it will be January."