The past two weeks (Aug 16 - Aug 31)

The past two weeks have seen me doing something interesting and relevant to my internship here. I proposed a story idea to Metro editor: the acupuncture and Chinese medicine in Minnesota. I'm glad that she gave me the go-ahead. I interviewed head of an acupuncture academy, its doctors in the clinic affiliated to the academy, some patients and students studying there. I was surprised that there are two such academies in Minnesota, which altegether churn out about 60 graduates every year, and some Americans like to receive acupuncture and Chinese medicine treatment, citing its effectiveness.
I've finished the story, which, if published, would be the longest one, if not the most interesting. I'v not had any feedback from the editor, but to me, it's a good opportunity to learn doing interviews (such as how to protect privacy of those patients and make them willing to share their stories with me), how to organize the materials I've got from the interviews, and how to structure the story, making it interesting.
Before writing, the editor gave me some tips as how to organize the story. They are good, but it turned out that I used my way of starting and telling the story, because I think mine is more relevant based on my interviews.
The process of doing the story helps me in structuring a feature story.
A by-product of the interviews is that I met a Chinese Qi-gong practioner, who introduced his clients to me. We had pleasant talks on Chinese culture, Chinese medicine, and its difference with the western medicine.
On Saturday (Aug 29) I visited the Minnesota State Fair, the major annual local event, where there were a variety of shows, food, exhibitions, markets, parade ... everything. It lasts until the Labor Day.