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Is doing what everyone thought you would do enough reason to stay w/this?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by BYH, Jul 11, 2009.

  1. lono

    lono Active Member

    Beej:

    The late great Hunter S. Thompson once wrote:

    "Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuck-offs and misfits — a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage."

    Those words are truer than ever now in these godawful times.

    But you, unlike a lot of people in this f-ed up biz, are One Of Us, one of The Chosen, The Afflicted, The Disturbed.

    This isn't a job for you, it's who you are.

    You couldn't have the chops that you do as a writer without that being true.

    You bleed similes and metaphors, indirect clauses and relative objects.

    The only question is, do you write for a living or get a "job" and write on the side to stay sane and entertained.

    That's up to you, my man.

    But one way or another, I don't ever see you giving it up altogether.

    My $.02.
     
  2. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    Thank God nobody had any expectations for me after I turned 16. Because I'm sure living up to them!
     
  3. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    BYH, There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body.

    Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.
     
  4. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Just when I was trying to get over this ... thanks ... thanks a freaking bunch, BYH.

    ;D

    I've tried making other things in my life a much bigger priority than journalism - and have failed miserably at all of them. Dunno if my current employer thinks I'm worth much, am certain my family doesn't value me much and have recently interviewed for a part-time gig in ... wait for it ... a newsroom. Why? Because I miss it. Because that's where I felt some sense of self-worth ... just writing that phrase disgusts me but I'm not sure running away from it is any part of an answer.

    Anything wrong with a little honesty?

    BYH brought up the HS parallel. I ended up working a football game at my alma mater the weekend of my 10th reunion. I certainly wasn't popular, wasn't at all well known ... other than for playing a "female" instrument during my years in the band. But I was stunned at how many people knew what I was doing. That's not why I got into it, of course, but I guess we had more readers than I thought. (And at least I found out some of those folks were still friends when a guy at a restaurant in town during a reunion gathering threatened to kill me at the buffet.)

    I've tried to tell my friends that life and family are much more important than profession. But is the lack of will I display in going in for an interview for a part-time newsroom spot make me a horrid hypocrite? Should I even touch this spot if I'm offered (it won't interfere with the steady-pay-and-benefits gig I currently hold).

    I'm fully aware this part-time gig probably won't last since print publication is imploding faster than pet rocks and Crocs. But perhaps it would allow for some closure.

    As to whether I move on or not, Stay Tuned ...
     
  5. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    I gave up on daily print journalism - I equate it to walking the plank rather than riding the sinking ship to the bottom of the lake - but I'll never give up on writing. It's what I do, it's what I'm good at and I will continue to find ways to make a living at it.
     
  6. ArnoldBabar

    ArnoldBabar Active Member

    As you know, I'm kind of in the same boat. When I was unceremoniously removed from the profession, I felt like I was supposed to have this moment of, "Thank god, now I can finally pursue my dream of ....." But I can't complete that sentence. I was already doing the only thing I ever felt that way about.
     
  7. The Monarch

    The Monarch New Member

    Don't give up BYH. If your laid off like countless others, so be it, your skill at writing can land you a job elsewhere. For guys like ArnoldBabar, I feel for you. I'm in the same boat, doing the only thing I love and wanted to do, though I've been lucky enough not to be forced out ... yet. Sorry, I'm not jumping ship, and I'm certainly not going to jump ship from this business and flaunt it on a site for, oh, I don't know, Sports Journalists.
     
  8. Double J

    Double J Active Member

    You know what, Arnold? Now you can finally pursue your dream of telling stories that YOU want to tell rather than being given the shittiest stories from the bottom of the barrel by unimaginative and useless assignment editors.

    That's freedom for me, and I'm gonna make it pay the bills as well. :)
     
  9. The Monarch

    The Monarch New Member

    Well said, Double J. Very well said.
     
  10. Gutter

    Gutter Well-Known Member

    Wait ... so those who have been forced out of the newspaper industry for whatever reason, or left on their own accord to better themselves and/or their families, are "flaunting" it by sharing their transition stories?
     
  11. The Monarch

    The Monarch New Member

    No, no. Gutter. There are some on here that call people "idiots" for not getting out of the business and what not. Well, if some of us are chastised and idiots for not getting out, what does it make those people who still rack up 1-billion posts on a site for the career they left?

    If you would have quoted my full message, you would have seen "If your laid off like countless others, so be it, your skill at writing can land you a job elsewhere. For guys like ArnoldBabar, I feel for you. I'm in the same boat, doing the only thing I love and wanted to do, though I've been lucky enough not to be forced out ... yet."
     
  12. Gutter

    Gutter Well-Known Member


    There was no need for me to quote *you're* full message ... I was addressing the last sentence.

    Thank you for clarifying.
     
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