Siri said I slept 11 hours and 57 mins... approximately
- Marvis N. Herring
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
A note on rest: make sure you get some!
That really could be the entire blog post, but the week was so rich with work, delight, dusting off some old production skills, meeting new people, team work, tough headlines and witnessing my own becoming.
Viewers and coworkers alike constantly ask me, "Marvis, when do you sleep," "Do you ever sleep?," and/or some authentically interested rendition of the question. It doesn't bother me in the least. REST ASSURED -- no pun intended -- Marvis N. Herring is in a deep, and serious, and unconditional relationship with rest.
Self-care didn't come easy, honestly.
It's learned and practiced; sometimes it was forced.
This week, both my devotional and commitment to finish Inyanla's pages of gentle truth (laid bare through lifechanging truth shared in "Spiritual Hygiene") provided even more of a boost of inspiration.
A blog on self-care can be forthcoming, but in this one I'll just share a short recap of what led to Siri screaming my praises for sleeping.
About This Week
First, I do not always wear a charged smartwatch to bed. Thus, Apple's alleged tracker often thinks I'm hitting vampire status. This week, however, was BIZZZZZY (busy).
KOMU 8's team allowed me to join the special live coverage the Sports and News teams produced. Obviously, I wanted a feature story that tingled the senses and promoted community. I pitched a few in our Tuesday meeting, including a feature on University of Missouri's internationally-known marching band, Marching Mizzou. (Did you know I was drum major the year Avon High School won its first Bands of America National Championship? #UnashamedBandKid)
Producing a Story as an Morning News Anchor
Giddy with excitement, I threw my video off during the virtual meeting and emailed Dr. Amy Knopps -- which.... SHOUT OUT TO HER! She agreed to let me shoot video and interviews in an email timestamped after midnight aka a perfect confirmation to wake up to for the AM newscast (12:45 a.m.)
I came in for my 3am shift, took a nap around 10am, picked up meteorologist Kesley Kobielusz, and headed to the band's rehearsal at 4pm. It was en route that I remembered I was about to sweat buckets in the summer heat.
It was a non-issues, as they say, because WOW. The deafening metronome, sectional rehearsal, brass and woodwinds -- it all brought back the nearly forgotten details of past summers spent in Hendricks County, IN.
By the time I'd showered, uploaded the videos to my computer, and looked through a bit of it, it was bedtime. I wrote the story in between TODAY show updates (7-9am) after KOMU 8 News TODAY, submitted the script to managers, canceled a doctor's appointment to maximize nap time, and returned to the newsroom to voice track the story, meet with the team, and -- edit my story for the newscast. I wanted to make this a masterpiece of epic proportions, but made it as creative as possible while still getting to the KOMU 8 caravan to our live location by 3pm.
The team coverage for our live Mizzou Football special was an overwhelming success! I have no regrets that a few hours here and there were missed. Not only did our talented on-air and newsroom teams produce great content, I'm always delighted by the high-level technical execution by the people you may never see.
You can't hear us without the audio tech on their game.
You don't know who we interviewed without accurate banners coming on-screen at accurate times.
At one point, even the live operators proved their unwavering worth as I finalllly found air conditioning --a respite for the diabolical heat -- when I hear "YOU'RE LIVE IN 20 SECONDS OVER THERE!"
...ooopsies...teeehee
A final note on the job: It's so reward, personally. I shared a mic on-location with a grad student -- 20 years my junior -- who flawlessly delivered some of the most important news of the sizzling day. She also attended an HBCU as a undergraduate and brings invaluable perspective to news meetings I've attended where's she's very much present to what's happening in the community... all while navigating the pursuit of an advanced degree. IKTR, Sam Jackson!
Onward,
Marvis
P.S. If this seems scattered, remember to always press save 1 trillion times while working on something on a computer #take2
⬇️⬇️⬇️ Below you'll find evidence of my tendency to sweat like my life depends on it! ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️
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