Guest Speaker Gina Kolata Kicks Off The “Plague, Progress and Prevention: 100 Years after the Spanish Flu Changed the World” Series
On Tuesday, September 25, The College of New Jersey kicked off its Plague, Progress and Prevention: 100 Years after the ‘Spanish’ Flu Changed the World series with guest speaker Gina Kolata. Kolata, a science journalist for The New York Times (wiki), spoke about the Spanish Flu Pandemic in light of her book Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It.
All seats and floor space were filled. Kolata commented that she was delighted to see such a big turn out. She started off by presenting the history of the 1918 flu epidemic. Kolata presented the information in a story telling fashion. She told the information chronologically and then related the history back to how they came to discover the 1918 flu virus. She included photos from newspapers and quoted different doctors involved in rediscovering the virus. The clues involved recordings of deaths, with specific date and times. Kolata described the condition of the bodies found, focusing on mentioning fluid in the chest cavity or the condition of the lungs and lung tissue. She mentioned that pathologists were eventually able to find fragments of the virus preserved in an obese woman, which she earlier told the audience to keep in mind from earlier in her discussion why her obesity might be important. Kolata later disclosed that due to the woman’s obesity, the virus was preserved in the woman’s body, and doctors were able to reconstruct the genetic sequence of the virus. Kolata wrapped up her presentation by mentioning how people today are much less susceptible to obtaining the virus due to modern technology. People in 1918 were more susceptible also because of the war. However, there are still factors about the virus that remain ambiguous. She stated, “[It’s] still unclear why younger people were killed by the flu”…….“[There’s] a lot that still remains unanswered..”.
Kolata’s article, Scientists Uncover Clues To Flu Epidemic of 1918, elaborates further on the history of the epidemic:
https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/16/us/scientists-uncover-clues-to-flu-epidemic-of-1918.html
The College of New Jersey’s event series for flu awareness and protection will be running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10. https://science.tcnj.edu/2018/08/30/the-great-epidemic-100-years-later-tuesday-september-25-2018-school-of-science-signature-guest-colloquium/
If I learned anything about journalism from Kolata’s presentation, I learned that one can still be personable as a journalist. Throughout her presentation, Kolata would make little jokes, or she would mess up on a date, or admit she could not exactly remember a specific procedure the doctors used. It was reassuring and refreshing to see someone who was so successful in the field of journalism be so human. I have found that there is a fine line between adding one’s personal voice to a piece and coming off as biased. The concept of objectivity is starting to be ingrained into my head, and I was starting to think journalists were simply robots writing out facts and linking them into sentences. As extreme as that may sound, this is how I perceived the field of journalism as a first year student with no journalism background. Her presentation was a good reminder that one can be objective and be interesting. Kolata had the ability to add her own personal flair to her presentation, but still stuck to the truth.
Hesitant at first, I am glad I took on this mini project. It gave me more insight into what a real life journalists is like. I enjoyed taking notes on Kolata. I learned about a subject that I did not know anything about, and I ended up finding her presentation worthwhile. It was good to try something a little outside of my comfort zone. Next time, I want to make sure I have time to stay to interview students afterwards to get their perspective on the speaker. (Unfortunately, I had a time constraint that limited me from staying for part of a Q&A at the end.) Apart from interviewing, I need to learn how to take notes to write a story. I think one of the best ways for me to learn is by doing what I did: going out and trying my best to be a reporter. Experience is a very valuable way to learn and to apply what I have learned in the classroom. Initially only doing this project with the incentive for extra-credit, I am content to recognize the value I got out of this experience.