by Kathleen Foster
2:37 pm: The technical side of TV news is largely a man’s world. I know only a couple camerawomen. Kristin is the first female satellite truck operator I have ever met, and one of the finest.
She was set up and ready to go live when I arrived at Massachusetts General Hospital to cover Sen Ted Kennedy’s condition after seizuring yesterday. Kristin was bright eyed and bushy tailed. A good attitude goes a long way, especially at 6 in the morning.
Kristin lives outside Boston and takes special care of her satellite truck, nicknamed “Baked Beanz.” Though cramped quarters, Kristin has given “Beanz” a woman’s touch other trucks certainly lack. She has vanilla ice cream scented air freshener at the ready, a candy dish, and three different packets of gum fastened to the carpeted wall. “Gotta love velcro,” she told me. She also keeps her cherry chapstick stuck to the wall, too.
Kristin clearly loves her job. At one point today, I caught her reading a text book. Thinking she was taking a class, I asked her what she was studying. She held up a book entitled Satellite Communications. “I want to understand the math behind my trade. I want to know exactly what’s happening when I point my satellite up in the sky.” You go, girl!
8:35 am: I was supposed to attend a bachelorette party for one of my best friends last night. Instead, I’m camped outside Massachusetts General Hospital awaiting word on Ted Kennedy’s condition. The Senator was hospitalized yesterday after suffering two seizures.
My plane from NY to Boston was filled with journalists as everyone feared the worst. But last we heard, Kennedy was watching the Red Sox game and eating some take-out from Legal Seafood, a popular Boston restaurant. David Lee Miller and I tried to get a table there last night, but couldn’t. Maybe we should have ordered delivery too.
