How about local "feel good" stories to get us out of the rut of the political dogma and hate stories that permeate the forum.  We need some uplifting ideas in these times.  Thanks Katie for this suggestion post.

PS now I have to go find a feel good story...

How about asking people for to offer their ONE single best practical idea for altering lifestyle and expectation to fit whatever circumstance you find yourself in...whether new baby (good), new town (good) illness or job loss or downturn (all bad)?

And yes, Katie, thanks!

how about stories about teachers who made us who we are today?

could be interviews or just written stories, pictures, or just recollections in the first person.

apologies if this one has been done recently--although i think it will help to uplift people, as karmahd comments upon.

ok, while i'm here another one comes to me---how about "the time i won it all" stories about times people have really surpassed themselves and done something really great in their lives....

here's another one-oral histories-"the wisdom of the aged"-these could be videos, or print and graphic with an elderly person sharing their experiences with us-it would be a way of allowing them to make their contribution to us and the world--a legacy thing....

this one was touched upon yesterday, but it was called 'addictions'....i think this is an overly strong word with images of shooting heroin, at least to me...what if we called it "repetitive negative behavior" this allows us to tell our stories, but leaves off much of the onus that rides with "addiction"...

i don't know what the general interest would be for this one, but i know it would be in the "enrichment" category: the fine arts and culture....allow people to share their favorite symphony, ballet, artist, art with the community....

i'll stop here, for now.

Really great ideas wjoreilly --

I'm right there with you on oral histories and "the wisdom of the aged." We're going to unleash a new assignment along those lines soon as part of a week of special coverage. Stay tuned!

I think I'm going start a weekend blog for Ireport. Between soccer and our day trips in Ga. I'm sure I can can come up with somthing ggod.

Here's one: "Forgiveness" What can you forgive someone for? or What can you forgive yourself for?

I would love to hear some feel good stories as well. The bad news gets to be too much sometimes. I was going to share a story I read in the ocregister news today where some boaters came across an 18 ft  great white shark in Newport beach. The good news is the shark didn't attack them and the boaters didn't kill him. I wish you could cover that story.

wjreilly, good idea!

I wish you could have different blogs, one for legal issues for people who have questions and another one for self improvement or addiction survival stories. It would be nice to be able to bypass all of the news altogether sometimes. It can be kind of depressing.

Sounds like plenty of advice given but I say stay with real change issues.

I agree with the idea of good news stories. something to give you hope and inspire you. There are people out there who do good and we hardly ever hear about it. the Bad to good news ratio is like 95/5. I'd like to see it even.

For Example I found this report on Yahoo about Paul Levy, the guy who runs Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He is the CEO and was going to have to lay off alot of people but instead asked them to help him come up with ideas to save money. He said he got about 100 emails an hour. The full story is on Boston.com here...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/12/a_head_with_a_heart/

or till it gets bumped off you can see it on Yahoo's main page.

"Full Disclosure", before Foreclosure!

I wonder how many people believe their "homes size" is what's actually represented in their appraisal (Rm.Size,Sq.Ft.,Ammenities)?

Compare records of the Lender-affiliates(Appraiser/Escrow/MLS...) vs. County Records; and yes, even Homeowner Insurance, is suspect.  If not now, there could be great differences that could come back to haunt later,in a fire, a refinance, and property taxes!  Many homeowners in this country stand to lose if any of the misrepresented information comes home to roost!

America, American Homeowners; WE WERE ALL ROBBED IN THIS PONZI SCHEME, irregardless of foreclosure, your property has been affected, "FROM THE BOTTOM-UP"!

It seems obvious to me most news shows and anchors today are obviously biased. Maybe its time to put a co anchor up there with them to show just how ridiculous some anchors/shows are becoming.

I have further defined my earlier statement. If their are any assignments that are picked up by ireporters it would be nice to have a couple opposing points of view. I am so tired of interviews that ask the wrong question or draw incorrect points from the data.

I watch all news channels constantly I am a junkie and I rarely find a host or show that shares my point of view or answers my questions.

I would like to write on what I call global orphan stories. Stories that are not picked up by major networks because they wouldn't attract the ratings that other stories do. These maybe stories that follow up on what might have been a major news story in its time but has faded into the woodwork because people have small attention span  These stories I feel need to be told.

Hey, gentlemen. I'm the oldest iReporter. Don't take the oral history assignments away from me! Seriously, I think there should be some backgrounder iReports - ones based on a little investigation - even more time spent researching on the internet. With citations, we may even be able to feed into the work of the CNN staffs for the anchors or whatever. In short, we do something to distinguish ourselves beyond putting on funny hats and nightgowns (who does that?)and craft something uniquely our own - viepoint or style, etc. Nothing wrong with grabbing a camera and running when needed but there should be another level of iReport. Maybe even some research into a local news storry that Michelle009 would feel would work. And in some of this, we could work in teams. Thanks for listening to an old lady but, hey, did I ever tell you about the time I worked as an MGM extra of the set of "Where the Boys Are".... Later

PS On my idea of team work - perhaps there could be iReports that feature the same theme in different cities or even countries for comparrison?  Meanwhle Tyson and Reilly, make up those questions for and oral history - "I'm ready for my closeup."

I'm getting like O'Reilly - I'm on an idea roll. How about an assignment to find someone who is known as a kindly little old lady who has a surprising, exciting past experience or life? Perhaps it's the elderly clerk at the grocery store who used to train Lippizaners in Austria before the war and had the medals to prove it. OR someone who was the head of a large law office in Cuba but came to the US and started over at the age of 75?

Then again the tack could be - before the Depression you were doing this and now what are you doing for work to survive? And what do you do to accept this new life? What's good about it. What surprised you about it? This can be uplifting since it will give company to those who are down in the mouth having to do something like scrubbing floors when he/she used to be a computer programmer - and make this for all age groups.

Cancel my earlier PS, basically all of our assignments do that. I should not get involved in these stream of consciousness (spell check where are you?) blogs. You all are fully conscious. I am not so sure I am.

The suggestion that we do a report on people who have had to make drastic changes in their lives has been an assignment I guess what I am saying is that we could go deeper into this and other stories. That's what I am really saying. Perhaps you all know better what I am really saying. Perhaps I have said too much - yes that's it. How do I feel about that? Really bad. "Say goodnight Gracie."

I have recently had the fortune to get to know some of the amazing things our fellow ireporters have overcome.   I would love to see an assignment asking for stories like that.

I love the 'mature people who rock!' idea.

I would also love to see an assignment that showcased the artistic nature of the ireporters.  We have some great cartoonists, painters, writers, cooks, singers, photographers and poets on the site, how about one where people can put up a single sample of their art?

I love the site, although I wish some of the round table discussions were not in the middle of the day during the week.  Could we have two, on a that time and one on the weekend, or later in the day?

I have recently had the fortune to get to know some of the amazing things our fellow ireporters have overcome.   I would love to see an assignment asking for stories like that.

I love the 'mature people who rock!' idea.

I would also love to see an assignment that showcased the artistic nature of the ireporters.  We have some great cartoonists, painters, writers, cooks, singers, photographers and poets on the site, how about one where people can put up a single sample of their art?

I love the site, although I wish some of the round table discussions were not in the middle of the day during the week.  Could we have two, on a that time and one on the weekend, or later in the day?

How about discussing the world beyond American borders and a broader perspective than just America

@Katie

In the past our camera's have been assigned to Pointing-and-shooting the topics of CNN's concern and I can appreciate having a topic of the assignment desk that reflects our interest as well.

                I nominated: HOOD LIFE for the assignment desk.

LadysHoodJnl Reporting.

Good idea wjoreilly.

@Drewk,

Rogert that.

Dear Katie,

Bend the light to our children, right here on home soil.

LadysHoodJnl Reporting

A digital platform, designed for The Urban Voice.

*Nonprofit for inner-city Youth.

I would like a regular update on changes that will be made after roundtable discussions. I always feel things are up in the air.

@OCGirl,

Good idea... closure is always nice.

just to echo something that was raised at the discussioncan we have control over which of our reports are listed in our "profilehow others see it"? this way we can feature the work we're proudest of, not just the stuff that's last in the cue......know what i mean?

Hi everyone! Thanks for the excellent assignment ideas. We've added a lot of these to our brainstorming list, and will be sure to give you a heads up if we use your ideas.

OCGirl's suggestion is a great one -- I think follow-up blog posts could be beneficial. I'll mention it to the team. Thanks everyone!

Thanks so much katie. :) I also think honoring students who do well in school would be a good topic suggestion.

As a resident of the Nations Capital, I would like to propose this assignment to the Ireport community.

Your opinion on whether the people of Washington, DC, should get a vote on the House Floor.  Or, whether or not the District of Columbia should be the Territory of Columbia...thus freeing DC residence of federal taxes.  I ask because if the measure passes the house and senate and the president signs the bill into law, it still requires ratification by a majority of the states.  Currently, the legislation is stalled because of Senator Ensign, of Nevada, and his ammendment to abolish DC Handgun legislation.  One to think about.  I did a post on this very issue.

infoaddict, YOU ARE RIGHT! I think the key to making the ireport segment successful and useful is to have at least a portion of it backed up by sources.

I do understand the idea that every person can be a camera man and report but, Our news today is missing a balanced contributor. If we want to be that contributor we have to take ourselves serious.

What about exploring why McDonalds doesn't have Shamrock Shakes anymore.  That's a childhood staple!  Only a handful of McDonalds restaurants seem to have them now.  what happened???

I like tibet's idea about reaching beyond the usa.  how about a series of assignments about serious issues in other countries. Take one issue that a certain country is facing and ask ireporters to research it and offer ideas for assistance or just informative reports of how the country is dealing with the issue.  Aids in Africa could be one of them.

I wish someone would cover the Credit Card Annual Percentage Rate. I have several credit cards, one of them is a "CHASE", and I do not use them.

I want to purchase a new Dell Computer, but when I applied for the Dell Preferred Account Credit card it approved me for $3000 dollar credit limit....

But, my goodness, look at the APR..24%..Get real!! I will never purchase anything on credit if the APR is going to be that high..My Chase card has an $5000 dollar credit limit, but the APR is at 18%..

How come these Banks get to be bailed out with our money with no interest rate, to very low interest rate and the citizens that bailed them out have to pay exorbitant APR rates?

The bailout money is supposed to stimulate the banks and free up the credit market. Well, I will never purchase anything with that high of credit rate.

It pisses me off that I cannot get a good APR credit card. I have several credit cards worth $15,000 dollars, and yet I have ZEro balance because I will not pay that exorbitant APR... I would rather do without! Than to purchase anything at that high of rate!

moving out? why?

graduating class of '09

can art thrive in a tough economy?

leave it to karma to want a "feel good" story. what a hedonist. lol!

I would like to see limericks for St Paddy's Day. Doesn't need to be a contest, just a challenge.

Why not have an Ireporter of the month?

That is not what the economy wont's to hear after the economy is in bad shape.

They get bonus at AIG when the economy is in bad shape. At other jobs we don't get bonus, raises, we don't get our 5 days no more that's not fare.

How about a series of articles under the umbrella:

Never Assume; How I Got a Clue about ______(fill in the blank).

Samples from my shelves: How living in Jerusalem and on the West Bank taught me more about politics and humanity I ever really planned to know.

A light one: Not all teenagers are shallow. Some are saints. Details to follow.

What's on your shelf?

P.S. Just thought up a title:

Bust the Illusion!

Why do not we talk more about Foreclosures and come up with new idea to stop foreclosures?

Sample: We can suggest banks to let home owners have some mortgage breaks like every 5 yrs circle they can have 5 months break (It's upto home owners, even they can have yearly once or straight 5 in a 5 yr), so that when home owners do not have job then they can still keep the house and try to manage the mortgage.

Seriouly I do not own a house and I'm not planning to buy one.

I really want to see topics over the Costitution. I just saw the short clip over people who went AIG excutives homes. Even though I agree with most of America. These bonuses were retention bonuses. If the company did not want to retain these people then don't pay the bonus. Even though we find it wrong. A contract is still a contract. We have Congressmen and Congresswomen who don't do their job but yet they want to be retained. Is Congress going to take their raise? I think you could bet farm and say they will.

i hear the swine flu is a Propaganda triggered by animal rights activist sponsored and paid for by humane society..Homeland security needs to investigate in mexico, who reported the news..etc...

the Newest FBI # 1 Terrorist was a animal rights activists and one evidence in his car was a check payable to him from hsus...