They say journalism is a dying industry, sure- lack of funds, distrust of the media, the list goes on. Remove these factors, and I would argue that journalism can never die because the heart of good journalism lies in people. People, connection, human nature; those things aren’t going anywhere. So, I stay and I pursue because people are the reason I chose to go down this (often bleak-looking) path.
Growing up in a small farm town in Northern Colorado, where everyone knew everyone, you can imagine the options of extracurricular activities were slim. Unfortunately for me, everything I excelled at and loved was not what was going to propel me into small-town high school popularity, not by a mile. Let me explain:
I was (am) terrible at sports; couldn’t kick a ball straight, run without having an asthma attack, or make a single volleyball serve over the net in eighth grade C team tryouts. I mean, I was god awful. Ballet class bored me, cheerleading coaches made me cry, and I hated the way chlorine stained my blonde hair green after swim meets.
While everyone else was making junior varsity, or joining club teams, I was the odd one out. And when the high school football team is so important that the whole town shows out for Friday night lights, and the local paper covers every time the girl’s basketball team makes it to state, this quite literally seemed like the end of the world. I wanted people to know I too was good at something, that something just wasn’t sports.
When I was little and people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always, undoubtedly, “famous”. Obviously, as I’ve gotten older my answer to that question has changed a bit. Don’t worry, you won’t see me trying my hand at insta-influencing or making up dances on TikTok anytime soon.
As far as I was concerned, I wanted to be just like Hannah Montana and Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift back when she used to play on the free stage at the rodeos I attended as a kid. I got my affinity for music from my dad, a Texas native born and bred who could hear any song and play it no sheet music needed. He tried to get my older brother to take interest (which ultimately failed) so I was the default option. Luckily, I became obsessed.
The first time I ever stepped onto stage for a guitar “gig” if you can even call it that, I was six. I vividly remember my mom let me wear a tiny bit of eyeliner and some lip gloss just like the real pop stars, and I was convinced this was it.
Full disclosure, I was completely tone deaf, but with many years of practice I came into myself and really found my voice. Through high school and college I even had the opportunity to open up for artists I’d heard on the radio, sing the national anthem at veterans events, audition for American Idol, and sing at my local old-folks home any time they would have me. Music was a universal language I could speak to people, no matter their circumstance. Finally, I was good and something, and people knew it.
My love for connecting with people through music and being on stage bled into other areas of my life; I had my fair share of roles in school plays and musicals, and competed in pageants as another outlet to chase the high of being in front of an audience. I loved the feeling of bright lights searing my eyes as I looked into the crowd, hearing the bustle of people reacting to your acting or singing or performing, and looking out and seeing hundreds or thousands of eyes staring right back at you. More than anything, I loved the feeling that I was connecting… communicating with people in a way that I never thought possible.
When I began my collegiate career, I knew whatever I chose to do, I had to replicate that feeling and that high. That’s where journalism came in.
Working in broadcast journalism quite literally could not fit my personality any better. I get all the feelings I always got on stage. The lights, the audience, the spark of confidence I got from being on the spot, under pressure. All of the superficial things line up with the addiction I have to high stress, performance based environments.
But, what I love the most about journalism, what keeps me pushing forward even though my professors tell me “get out now” and my reporter friends say “leave while you’re ahead” is the fact that I will get to wake up every single day and do what I love most; connect with people. Maybe I was bad at sports, or algebra, or physics, but I always got people. Journalism exists because of human connection, human nature, all of the things that make up humanity as a whole. So, I choose to believe that as long as we are around, and as long and people keep being human, I will get to keep pursuing my biggest passion.
