Awarded

I made a brief trip back to Kansas City last weekend (by train - more on that later), to tie up a few loose ends from our recent move and also to collect an award. The Kansas City Association of Black Journalists selected a piece I produced about urban farmer Joe Jennings as best radio feature.

As is so often the case, it came down to luck. I was lucky to have come across Mr. Jennings during my brief-candle stint as producer of the Walt Bodine Show in the summer of 2006. I didn't have room for him on an urban agriculture show, but he was such a great talker that I kept him in my mental reminder file. Then last June, I spent part of day trying to keep up with him at his place in Wyandotte County. When it came time to put the piece together, the trick was staying out of his way. I was pleased with the results and apparently so was the KCABJ.

Have a listen for yourself:


Mr. Jennings is an award winner himself. The Pitch named him Best Urban Farmer in this year's Best of KC issue. Congrats, Mr. J!

Extra linkage:
KC Star story about the KCABJ awards (which featured a KCUR sweep of the radio category)

Down on Joe's Farm

A veteran broadcaster I happen to work with told me once that the great thing abut being a reporter is that if you want to know about something you can just call somebody and ask them. In theory anybody can do this. But how would you react if, say, a plumber called you up and said she wanted to follow you around with a microphone for a few hours? That would have to be some plumber.

Which is by way of saying that I spent part of a day last week on an urban farm in Kansas City, Kansas. J-14 Agricultural Enterprises is run by Joe Jennings, a man to be envied for the satisfaction he takes in his work. I first talked to Mr. Jennings last summer when I was trying to book guest for a talk show on Urban Agriculture. The panel filled up pretty quickly and he got squeezed out, but I promised myself I'd try to do some kind of feature on Joe later on. Last week everything fell into place.

I prepared a profile of Joe for KC Currents, KCUR's urban affairs show. A slightly condensed version ran during Morning Edition on Tuesday.

> Listen to the full feature in all its glory here.
(Music geeks among you may enjoy the arcane reference at the end of the piece.)

I hope to get back later on this summer to cover one of the camps held there for inner city kids.