Even while I was in college people told me that journalism's future was bleak. There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding it as I started taking my major classes and truly embracing the craft. There were major papers shutting down and talk of how giant corporations like Yahoo! and Google were ruining newspapers. And perhaps, in a way, that is true.
I don't think I fully realized what this meant for me. Sure maybe I would never make $100,000/yr., but surely as a degreed journalist I would land a job that paid the bills and the larger sums wouldn't matter because I'd be doing what I love. But perhaps I underestimated just how much things were changing. Perhaps I should have expected more complications along my career path due to the job I ultimately chose to pursue. Sometimes I wonder how much of my trouble in getting a job is me, how much is the economy and how much is journalism itself.
I spoke with a potential employer yesterday and he said something that made me think. He works for a magazine in AZ that has been around for a couple of years now and they interview some pretty cool people like Blink 182, Brett Michaels and Linkin Park - to name a few. And as he acknowledged the potential downfall of newspapers he pointed out the still very prominent need/want for magazines - because they serve a different purpose. He said, in so many words, that people could now get their news almost anywhere, but magazines offered something different - something that couldn't be looked up on Yahoo! and Google.
In a way this gave me hope. There are so many forms of journalism out there I could embrace any of them. And right now I would like to pursue working with magazines because they offer something different. In fact, I was originally going to declare a focus in magazine writing but ended up getting my degree in just journalism - encompassing all facets of the craft.
The more I search and research the more I learn that there are so many places my degree could take me. I can be a writer without writing hard news stories about local crime and city council meetings (though I am not counting this out completely because I do still have a passion for writing and reporting the news) but expanding my horizons and allowing myself different opportunities and variety is a gift I should have given myself a while ago. Or perhaps I did without being totally aware of it.
Since my minor career breakdown and my brief stint wanting to be a lawyer I have rediscovered my passion, perhaps in part from rereading my cover letter I send to employers, and I've realized I'm too young to give up on my dream. And really, perhaps people are never too old to give up on their dreams. Even if one day I am forced to get a job that pays the bills, even outside of the realm of writing and journalism, I hope I still love journalism and writing enough to continue to do it even if only on the side.
After reading one of my latest posts my sister in law pointed out how she changed her major to one that may offer her less security in her future but that she had a true passion for. I can't think of a better reason to go to school for something than to pursue your passions.
And so I leave you with this, one of my favorites.
"Passion is passion. It's the excitement between the tedious spaces, and it doesn't matter where it's directed...It can be coins or sports or politics or horses or music or faith...the saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all." - Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)
Until Next Time,
Nora
No comments:
Post a Comment