Open Heart Writing - Dude It's Jill Chittum

Below is the twenty-fifth in my 31 day writers series; each day I feature a different person and ask three similar questions about a person's writing process. Today, I feature a woman who was once an outstanding young photojournalist. Now she is one of the country's outstanding "young" high school photojournalism teachers.

In 2000, when Jill Chittum was still Jill Jarsulic, she worked for the Wichita Eagle. Jill applied for the prestigious Eddie Adams Workshop. She was selected. She became a member of Joe McNally's White Team; the team photographed weddings. The Eddie Adams Workshop is part award, part workshop, part fraternity. Jill will always even be a Barnstormer.

Jill and I met a journalism education conference. She is from Kansas and I am from California. At some point, we started calling each other "Dude."  I think she started it. Maybe because she lives in Kansas, she thinks all of us Californians call each other Dude, or maybe it's a Jill thing. Now it is our special greeting. More specific, we greet each other by saying, "Dude, it's Jill." Even when I say hello, I say, "Dude, it's Jill Chittum." By the way, besides my father, Jill is the only person who calls me Dude.

Below is a photo of Jill during a large group photo critique. I was going to delete the photo, but I decided to keep it, because I like how the photo illustrates several mistakes. Jill would appreciate the educational component, even though it appears that she is getting punched by the person behind her. (mistakes #1)The light is also uneven, because the overhead lights are fluorescent and her face is lit by a video screen. So, the lights are different temperature, and thus different color. It looks like I used a flash in a fluorescent room, and no matter how much I adjust the RAW file, Jill Chittum looks unhappy.

Jill Chittum in Washington, D.C. during JEA's first large group photo critique.

On April 16th, I saw Jill at the Portland JEA Convention. I had already posted her answers and the horrible photo. With Mark Murray's help, we recreated the punch. I took a few more shots of Jill. You can see she is really a friendly person, and she doesn't look nearly as fearsome as she does above.

dude it is jill chittum - Images by bryan farley

Jill answered my three questions below.

1. Why do you write?

I write because it helps me sort out everything in my head. I'm a highly verbal person, and writing has always been an area where I've been considered strong. Even if I'm sending a building-wide e-mail about group photo day, or yearbook distribution day, I always receive at least a handful of replies saying "I just love your e-mails." I write to entertain, I write to (hopefully) inspire others, I write to get my voice out there.

2. What motivates or inspires you?
I'm most inspired by things that happen in my environment. My blog is typically just about my life, but sometimes I'll write about items in the news, things that happen at school (with no one being identifiable, of course...), my recent exercise exploits, my family, my knitting projects. Having a blog enables family members I don't see often to remain involved in my life.

I've been reading more books lately (like, the past year) than I had been for years. I'm inspired by those writers, who've made a career out of something I love to do.

3 How do you get past writer's block?

If you take a look at my blog, you'll see that I haven't really gotten past writer's block. My first year of blogging, I wrote more than 200 times, but as I became a slave to Facebook and Twitter, my blogging has reduced considerably. I'm still looking for that spark.

Jill mentions that she is still looking for a spark. I wonder if she feels that way, because she doesn't consider Facebook and Twitter "real writing."  I follow Jill @Chitknit. She tweets often.

Jill still maintains a blog at thechittumfiles.blogspot.com. Perhaps this project will encourage Jill to find a way to incorporate her photography, Facebook posts, tweets, teaching and blog... or Jill might realize that she doesn't need a spark. Those who write still need readers.

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