a little advice

i overheard a snipped of advice passed between a professor and a medical student that i felt i could take to heart, too. the student was young, obviously very highly motivated and driven. she was explaining how she wanted to do all these things, study abroad, complete med school, finish some research, etc etc. the professor took her by the arm and sat her down.
"now, what is your goal?" he asked.
"i want to be a neurosurgeon," she responded without pause.
"no no, what is your goal?"
she stared at him blankly.
shaking his head, he said, "you want to happy when you're 65. _that_ is your goal."

i think this might be the key to life- to obtain and keep that kind of perspective.

them's crazy folk

a member of indy media spoke to us in class today about the role of "anarchist" journalism. i'm still puzzling over that word - it wasn't something he could really put his finger on either. something like anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, anti-government. but just a quick glance through the site proves that's not the case, clearly. not anti-goverment- in fact, indy media rages against the _lack_ of government regulations in many areas - environmental protection and social justice, for starters.

i would like to suggest "grassroots" journalism as an alternative. by the people, for the people. no corporate media. i'm impressed. there is clearly a role for such an organization. when an event happens, a protest, demonstration, these people are on the street, taking pictures, taking videos, recording people's voices. journalists at big-time papers get stories from the site. our professor, a star ap press reporter, confronted a mayor at a demonstration that denied allegations of police brutality with images clearly showing the opposite.

the indy media guy that spoke to us made no bones about it - the content is not edited for content or checked for accuracy. in away, that's cool. it's completely raw, unshaped. in another way, that's not so cool. it's pretty easy to fake something. hopefully no one is getting their news only from that organization or they are likely to have a very skewed perspective of the world. the content is pretty self editing- it's way left, and not a lot in between.

he threw around some orwellian phrases as well which i wish i could remember or had written down. let's just say i raised my eyebrow a few times. he kept trying to recruit us, too. while i see the value in what he and those like him do and apreciate it, i envision for myself a different role in journalism entirely.

things to do

here's my new agenda. it's filled with nice things. things that make me happy. things to look forward to in the near future.

1. first and foremost, kissing Ryan
2. horseback riding lessons
3. kung-fu classes
4. yoga classes with Jane
5. finishing my book, rewriting, then pitching it.
6. getting involved in video productions
7. working on the cheesediaries (i know, it looks like i've abandoned the site, but i haven't. it's just percolating!)

apologies...

dear faithful readers,

i'm sorry your comments haven't shown up- i guess i turned on some function and i had to moderate comments before they would show up. i was rather sad when i thought no one was commenting, and now i realize, you were all there, all along. i'm so glad to have you.

and now, on with the posts!

the saddest thiing to me about school is that i haven't wanted to cook, i'm usually too busy or too tired. ryan has been wonderful, taking extra care to make food for us. his creations are wonderful, tasty, innovative, and i love having him cook all the time. but cooking is also a way for me to demonstrate my love and to express my creativity, and the thing is, i really miss it. everytime i try to cook, though, i lack ideas.i've begun to rely on recipes, something i've seldom done in the past. i've begun to hate going to the stores without a list while before, i used to wander down the isles, picking whatever caught my fancy and putting menus together on the spot.

read read read, write write write, faster faster faster!!

those are the words the director of my journalism program passed on to us as the key to success in the field. i've only now come to understand the truth of it.

reading- you've got to keep up with what's going on in the world and you have to be on the look out for potential story ideas. if you're a freelancer, you've got to find out what publications are out there, what's been published already, what has room for a story for you to pitch.

writing- this goes without saying. in jobs, there's just a million stories to crank out. in freelancing, you're paid by the word, so the faster you type them, the more money you make. (the average ap reporter can type 100 words a minute).

making it fast- there's not enough time to do everything, but so much to do. so you really have to do everything as efficiently and as quickly as you can.

i keep waffling between freelance, featurey stuff and daily journalism. there's more room for style and creativity in feature articles, but there's a certain joy and empowerment that comes from knowing your beat, knowing your community.

friendships

i often wonder what i'm doing wrong with friendships. friends seem to fade so quickly from my life. i've never had that many, and the ones i do have i have a hard time keeping. i've considered the self-fullfilling prophecy phenomenon, that is, that i think they'll lose interest so then sooner or later, they do. but it makes me sad. i don't want to keep feeling as if i have to try try try all the time. when do i get comfortable with people? when do i know i'll have a friend for life? is such a think even possible?

since i've started school i feel as if i've lost a lot of friends. part of it is lifestyle differences- many of them are undergoing major changes in their life, and certainly school has taken up a lot of my time. but i always took it for granted then when i was done with school i could just pick up with them and resume where we left off. now, i'm not so sure. they've moved on, stopped including me in their lives, stopped taking an interest in mine. and it leaves me to wonder, what did we ever have, if it is lost so quickly?