JRN 423: final project proposal[s]

I have to admit I'm really struggling on what I want to do for my final 423 project. Can you believe I can't figure out what I really want to address?

I'm looking over the topics list and there are a few which stand out to me as things I care deeply about or am interested in: international culture, poverty, religious discrimination, social inequalities, homelessness, racial profiling...etc. These are story ideas with subjects I feel I could support through my pictures, in a way.

But what about the topics with subjects I don't support? - child modeling, ethnocentrism, etc? How do you address an issue and make a point if you're going into the scene with a negative outlook?

I remember vaguely a chapter in my 220/422 textbook that dealt with a picture story in which there was a single dad who ended up treating his children badly, but was the focus of the story.

I don't know how to approach a story without my subject being someone I believe in. And yet...I think it is very important that I try.

I don't want to do something trite. I want to work on a piece with some emotional depth. I also want to dig into something new.

I'm stuck. Is the lesson here that I need to go into new story situations, especially those I don't agree with, with an open mind, and tell the 'other side' of them? How can I gain access if I don't...feel empathy? Am I being judgemental? I am, aren't I?

This is not a proposal; it's barely a blog entry - more like a minefield of question marks.

Dear journalism: you never fail to daunt and bait me. I love long term stories, but sometimes I'm terrified I won't be able to hold myself to a high enough standard; that any good work I've been able to produce has been a fluke.

Why does everything I do have to be difficult? Maybe I should do a piece that deals with more joy. Something pretty and inspiring.

Dilemma.