What did I sign up for?
I go to battle everyday, armed with my trusty papermate blue pen (pen is mightier than the sword, my friends!) and reporter's notebook to meet eye to eye with mayors, council members and other local government officials only to be chewed out, criticized and judged on my stories. And only to repeat this cycle the following day. Sometimes working late nights, weekends, 12-hour shifts, you get my drift...
These picture-perfect towns that I report for are more of a handful (and by handful I mean pocketful) than what I've bargained for. I guess that's the difference between these towns vs. Jersey City. They actually care. They actually read what I write! It's incredible.
Let me give you all an example, I'm attending a council meeting for this town (what else is new...all I do is cover meeting after meeting these days) and residents actually show up with our paper tucked under their arms and post-it notes and highlighted scribbles on my stories, only to raise it up before the governing body where they proceed to throw me under the bus. I'll be honest, those situations are pretty awkward.
There I am, sitting with my head down knowing full well what's to come next. They SLAM! my story down on the table in front of the mayor and council and proceed to coerce them for answers about my story. "Is this true?" "Why is this the first time we've heard of this?" etc. And then only to have the governing body call me out and deny what I wrote. Meanwhile, I'm still doodling on my notepad - not sure if I should pretend to be invisible or stand up and announce my presence.
But come Monday, I shall be reminded of why I did sign up for this gig. Why one riveting, adrenaline-pumping story can cancel out all those other miniscule side stories and long hours. This is one of the biggest court cases I will work on to date in my young, journalistic career (besides the indictment of former Secaucus mayor Dennis Elwell and his cronies): Tenafly man arrested for triple murder. Looks like I'll have to brush up on my Korean skills before then...
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"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." .:Marcel Proust:.
3 comments:
That's awesome! It sounds like you're making a real impact out there. I'm glad to hear that your career is really taking off, especially given the rather depressing state that your entire industry as a whole is in. Keep up the good work, and keep those goombas on their toes!
Ah, yes. The inevitable way of our industry...tis sad but tis life! Thanks for reading! Hope all is well with you! :)
Your stories move and touch and eliciting strong emotional responses are the glory of all writers. Keep penning them articles. Your body of work will move mountains.
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