Newspaper job allows one to meet people, try things

Sean Kennedy

Sean Kennedy

Why did I decide to accept the job as Lifestyles editor for the Collegian? I have asked myself that question every day since this job started.

It certainly wasn’t for the money, but nobody goes into the newspaper industry to become rich.

I’d like to think that I got this job because I am so much more talented than everyone else in the whole world, but then reality sets in and I realize that it’s probably just because I’m creative, not because I’m the smartest person on campus, which I realized after my first economics test.

In high school I tried to be as creative as possible to stand out from the rest of the people in my class, though sometimes I was less than successful. I once tried to make a stuffed dinosaur for a school project. It turned into an oddly misshapen figure that I have since hidden from the eyes of man.

If not for my creativity, I would probably have completely devoted myself to the study of some fascinating subject, like mathematics, and become an accountant, punching an adding machine until my hands locked into a permanent typing position.

Luckily for me, I love writing, which is the thing that attracted me most to the newspaper business. What other industry can you go into and meet new people every day, write about your experiences and then get sued when people do not like what you have to say?

Still, I really like meeting new people, though my old roommates might disagree on that point.

And that’s the greatest thing about working for the Lifestyles sections. Not only do you get to meet new people, but you also get to do things that other people might not do and share the experience.

As my mentor this summer told me, the experience is the reason that people in the newspaper business do things because that is what you can write about.

Of course, this woman crash landed in a hot air balloon in Oklahoma, so she’s got experiences to share.

I’m still looking for some of my own.

Sean Kennedy is the Collegian’s Lifestyles editor. Write to him at [email protected].