Everybody's got a story

Sometimes it seems like a good idea.

An editor gives you an assignment that sounds kind of cool. Or you come up with a story idea that might be fun to chase. And then it comes down to doing it and suddenly you wonder if it was a good idea after all.

That moment for me, this morning, was just before I was to board a bus for a two-hour ride to the end of the line and back. My editor wanted me to hop a bus with a photog and chat with the every day people who ride.

I'd been preparing all week, choosing and interviewing the bus driver, making arrangements with their corporate office and booking a photog. And yet here I was, looking at the closed Saturday morning faces of the people getting on and wondering if anyone would actually want to talk to me, a photog loaded with intimidating equipment in tow. Would they see it as a feeble attempt by the media to "mingle with the folk"?

This, I thought, is going to be a long ride.

It was the photog who made the first move once we hit the road, ambling toward the back of the bus to sit with two teens as if he knew them from before. In the couple hours we were on there, I began to realize every single person really does have a story: the two high school basketball players who missed their ride to practice and had to hop the bus to get there; the 14-year-old dimpled skateboarder with the broken arm on the way to the skate park for the first time since the injury; the penniless retiree on the way to the mall and the dog track; the 17-year-old know-it-all hacker. I could have done a separate story on everyone on that bus.

Before I knew it, we were back at the transfer plaza. As patronizing as it seems, those two hours went by so quickly and when we left the riders were sorry to see us go. After a while, it became less about interviews and more about hanging out. Yes, hanging out on the bus can be fun. You meet the most amazing people. Insert starry eyes here. LOL.

I didn't get a car until my senior year in college so the bus system and I were well-acquainted. I've always hated riding it because I've seen the worst of humanity on there, especially that Georgia Avenue bus in D.C. But today was different. Maybe it's because riding it is now a novelty rather than a daily need, but it just reminded me that behind those one-way ads are people with places to go and stories to tell.

If only we have the eyes to see it and the ears to hear it.


To read the story, go here. It's an impermanent link so I'm not sure how long it'll be up.


Photo courtesy volusia.org