As far as journalism goes, my previous opinion stands. I still think that this job can be an adventure. I still think that working in this field will bring many different types of opportunities, not let me do “the one thing I was trained to do.” I still think that a respectable degree is what separates honest credibility from citizen blogging. And I still like being a sarcastic idiot.
However, after taking this course, my eyes have been opened to other areas concerning journalism.
It has always been my natural instinct to shy away from the political scene. My gut always tells me to change the channel. I’ve never held a picket sign. I don’t watch debates. Bumper stickers make me want to hit things with my Suzuki Grand Vitara.
I did vote in the 2009 national election because I like Obama’s charisma and personality and am strongly opposed to Amendment Two. I also voted in the 2009 presidential election because I wanted to do all that I could to make sure that Sarah Palin would not have a snowball’s chance in Hell to ever run the United States of America. Plus, you get a cool “I Voted” sticker.
Writing the paper on the St. Petersburg mayoral election was really hard for me. I thought it would be easy, because I did not follow the campaigns at all. I had a clear, unbiased agenda with zero background knowledge on either candidate. It took me more than six hours to write.
I don’t understand politics or the issues at hand. No matter which candidate is speaking, the words sound the same to me. I think they are meant to sound that way. To me, politics is voting for the personality that you hate the least.
I ended up getting an A on the assignment, but it was not easy or enjoyable. I did find out something new about myself: I will never write for a political beat.
Another thing that I learned about journalism is that you can make an article a little subjective as long as the news is still there. This was very helpful to me. In Writing for the Mass Media, every sentence had to be completely objective. This is hard for me because I do not like producing work that is automatically summarized to sound like every other person’s work. There is no room for creativity. Without the ability to add a unique spin to a worthwhile piece of writing, what is the point? Seriously.
I had a lot of fun with my beat stories. Choosing my own topics within my beat and writing in my own tone was really cool. It was almost relieving, because I finally realized that I would have fun doing this as a real career. It also gave me an excuse to be active and talk to people, which I normally would not do.
Another thing that I enjoyed about this class, were my classmates. I really like how most of us have the same classes together, such as Beginning Reporting. I’ve taken Writing for the Mass Media, Visual Communications and Photojournalism with some of the same students and they are all awesome people to accompany me on my beginning journalism adventures.
No journalism class is complete without Brian Walsh, sitting in the back corner, killing professors and students with his omnipresent stream of wit and sarcasm. No class is complete without Tiffany Farnum sitting quietly in the corner, occasionally laughing at Walsh. Where would a class be without Nikki Ezelle’s “in your face” attitude and side conversations between Angela Moneck and Kelsie McClain. I can’t forget Katie Pentedemos, Melissa Harford and that crazy Filipowicz. Colby Cole is also an important piece to the puzzle; where would Walsh and I be without someone to tease in class?
Then... there is me. I’m an observer.
I can only imagine what kind of people I will meet in this field in years to come, as I watch the friends I have now become successful, published writers.
I’m looking forward to it.
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