Today's Post.

Today I read a piece of journalism online about the Happy Wheels skating rink in Portland. It was a wonderfully crafted piece of writing, focusing on the atmosphere and feeling of a typical evening at Happy Wheels, but more so on the stories of the individual people there. It discussed the decline of skating since the 60's and 70's, but it never came off as whiny or overly nostalgic - merely appreciative of past eras, and those scarce places like Happy Wheels that aim to preserve those past eras.

What I learned today was that a good piece of journalism is deeply personal, and connects with the reader using true stories of romanticism and emotion.

Yesterday I biked a decent portion of the Eastern Trail, and reading this article just now I've started thinking that I want to do my article on that. The Eastern Trail is in many ways the opposite of Happy Wheels, a new place of recreation recently created out of the desire to have something southern Maine has never had.

Those people who walk or bike the Eastern Trail most certainly have stories, but most of them probably aren't very long, given the recent nature of the trail. However, what trailgoers probably do have are hopes for the future - what they hope to do on the trail, what they think the trail will do for the region, whether they think it'll still be there in forty years.

The one problem I can see with this is that the Trail is a place of motion. It is not a place where you stop and talk to reporters. It's not a particularly wide place, either - an interview would very probably clog traffic unnecessarily.

But the Eastern Trail is very relevant to us as a school, because the portion of it that runs offroad from Saco to South Portland starts right in our backyard. So yeah. That's my idea.