Another Pollner semester over
Goodbye Missoula —Hello Baltimore

photo by Neel Deshpande

2007 Pollner Prof John Woestendiek mulls a multimedia project with Cristin Rennick, a student in his "Journalism With Heart" seminar.

By John Woestendiek
2007 Pollner professor

If you’re wondering about that fourth floor office with yellow “HAZARDOUS AREA KEEP OUT” tape all over the wall, blame John Woestendiek, the 2007 Pollner professor who painfully parted from the University of Montana on Dec. 20, 2007.

“I wanted to leave something of myself behind,” he explained. “Actually I wanted to leave my entire self behind, but that was not possible.

photo by Neel Deshpande

Ace the dog, whose adventures are the subject of Woestendiek's blog.

He was expected to return to his real job, as a features reporter for the Baltimore Sun, Jan. 7.

His last official act – rather than cleaning up his mess -- was to write a faux third-person article about his departure for the School of Journalism web page, which he did in an all but empty and eerily quiet Don Anderson Hall on Dec. 19.

Woestendiek said he will treasure his time on campus, at least until he can no longer remember it, which, for him, could be a matter of weeks. He encouraged students in his Pollner Seminar class and those who work at the Kaimin to stay in touch, thus enabling his memories to possibly last longer.

The class was called “Journalism With Heart,” and its members worked together on a project about Opportunity, Mont. – a town created by the Anaconda Copper Co. in 1914 to show how people could live happy, healthy lives in the shadow of a smelter.

Today, the town sits on the edge of part of one of the largest Superfund sites in America and a dump that has become a receptacle for much of the state’s lingering mining waste. And worries about health issues are one part of a lawsuit expected to be filed on behalf of residents in the near future.

The stories and multi-media presentations put together by the class are now in the hands of the Missoulian. If and when they are published, Woestendiek said he would like a copy, preferably a free one.

Students in the class may pick up their own copies of the project in the journalism school office, where a copy or two will also be left for public consumption.

Woestendiek and his dog Ace were planning a southerly route back to Baltimore, and, as usual, their adventures can be followed on the Baltimore Sun blog, Mutts, in which he has already bemoaned his departure from Montana.

The journalist said he will count his time at the UM School of Journalism as among the most rewarding times of his life, and that it was a genuine pleasure to work with so many talented and dedicated people – meaning students, faculty and staff.

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