Disclaimer: This post isn't going to be about ethics.
It was a real pleasure to meet Peter Elkind the other day. He was way more humble and down-to-earth than I thought he would be. In fact, I found him to be kind of awkward -- but in a good way. I like awkward. It's real.
Anyway, I got to hear him talk in my business journalism class about what it was like reporting on some of those big, sticky stories like the BP oil spill and Enron, and listening to him really solidified a feeling for me -- that this is what I want to do with my life. I mean, this is it. I'm pretty sure I could do this every day for the rest of my life. I at least want to find out.
He just sounded so sure when he was talking about those stories -- about the people he confronted, the questions he asked, the words he wrote and wrote and wrote. He sounded like he didn't think he had any other choice, that this is just the way you do things. And that certainty was comforting because I guess I can relate.
I graduate in just 20 days with a bachelor of arts degree in news-editorial journalism and philosophy, and I think I am ready. I think I'm ready to learn from the Peter Elkinds of the world, to walk in their footsteps until I can cut my own path through that forest. I think I'm ready to give it a shot.
So, here's to Peter Elkind. He really brightened up my day, week, life. He's one of those salt-of-the-earth journalists, and I hope that one day I can be a little bit more like him.
Thank you, Peter.
No comments:
Post a Comment