Dame Jane Goodall

“I haven’t heard of her. She’s not that famous. She’s not a pop star,” I said to two friends.

“Yes, she is, in her field,” replied one of them.

The other one sent me a list of the top 100 famous women who’ve ever lived, on which Jane Goodall ranked 67th. Apparently she’s the premier researcher on chimpanzee behavior. She’s written a number of books, the most recent of which is entitled Seeds of Hope, and started youth groups under the title “Roots and Shoots.”

This background research led me to realize that I needed and wanted to know more about this living version of scientist Marie Curie. So I signed up to cover her lecture at the Mizzou Arena for Vox Magazine. I went to the Reynolds Journalism Institute library to check out a special camera, only to have it run out of memory on me during those critical first 10 minutes of the talk during which photography was allowed. Thank goodness for Creative Commons and Google Advanced Image Search, where reporters can instantly download free courtesy art that is licensed for commercial use. I played around with title ideas, such as “David Greybeard and Goliath” (the names of the first two chimps she observed) and “Seeds of Hope vs. Destruction” (on the relationship between plants converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and climate change).

I tried to think of interesting, unique angles for the story. I considered “top 5 most inspirational moments during the lecture” and just generally “top 5 quotes.” I decided on a listicle of lessons on public speaking learned from attending this event. When it comes to winning fans and influencing people, this thought leader of anthropology IS a pop star.