June 25th, 2004, 11:54 am

Tables turning

Yesterday, we engaged in the most exciting exercise to date at Poynter. Given the time restrictions of the program, many of the students end up writing profiles for their stories: we simply do not have enough day time to write more intensive pieces. Taking that into account, the program directors devised a most interesting course. Two volunteers, Tom Nguyen and myself, were chosen to interview each other in front of the class. Once we were done, we split up and wrote stories about each other — while the rest of the class wrote ledes and nutgrafs about us.

The interviewing itself was fun — I had a blast grilling Tom. But being on the opposite end was quite different. Sure — he got some portions of truth out of me, but the truth can be splintered into tiny fractions. They might be accurate, but they don’t paint the whole picture. I learned what it was like to dodge bullets, to give colorful answers instead of fully honest ones, and to read what it was that my colleagues took away from the experience. He started with a supposition, and finished with a conclusive narrative of who Laura Fries was. But he — and the rest of the class — only got the parts of me that were asked about. There was so much more that he didn’t even know how to ask about.

The most exciting exercise at Poynter, I called it. It may seem dry in the retelling, but the realization that we can get it all wrong was the most important thing I’ve learned to date.