Story Ideas... Bueller? Bueller?

I think of story ideas just like I thought of quarters in college. (You fear the day when you're out of clean underwear and you MUST do a load of laundry but, as luck would have it, you're down to your last quarter and you need 15 to wash a load and then run it through the dryer--twice-- because the dryer blows a faint cool breeze that *may* dry a tissue the first time through). 

Such is the case with story ideas.  When you run out, you're screwed. And might as well be wearing some inside-out 2nd-day underwear, because it's all downhill from there anyway.

You roll into the editorial meeting, eyes of all producers, news directors, photographers, other reporters, and what feels like the eyes of all hungry children in Africa are staring you down with a "we won't ever eat again if you don't come up with stories to fill the newscast" look.

So, it's in fear of that dreaded moment that all reporters become *resourceful*.  After trolling the web moments before the meeting, digging through the nasty pile of papers/old food around your desk, and working the Ouija board for help from the beyond, you begin to read over some questionable viewer emails and think, hmm what DO they do with all that goose meat at the airport? 

Yesterday the internet blessed me with the ultimate CNN headline about the economy: "Could YOU Live on $____ A Day? Some People Are Forced To These Days. " 

I can't write the amount.  You guessed it.  More than *yours truly* hauls in every year.

Sure, the manager at the Taco Bueno on the corner makes more than I do. Sure, he can wrap a bean burrito air tight in 3 seconds flat, and for that, I applaud him.  BUT, I dare him to come up with story ideas 365 days a year.  Stories YOU want to watch. 

They don't call it a *B.S.* in Journalism for nothin'.