Knuckling up for the new year
December 30, 2007
Things move fast at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The first semester went by in a blur. Like some distorted bender upon which you find yourself trolling the late night cracks in the sidewalks, boarding the wrong subway and getting into a fist fight just blocks from home (an experience I’d rather not repeat), the first semester comes out of nowhere, hits hard, and leaves just as fast.
Yet, unlike that unfortunate run in with the Five Fingers of Death (or of Fat Lip, as was the case) the first semester at Columbia was undeniably enjoyable. Apart form the rush of assignments on deadline, the pressure of adhering to the ubiquitous style of the Associated Press, and the competition to get into highly coveted classes in the spring semester, such as Judith Crist’s Personal and Professional Style, or the journalism of religion class which visit Ireland this year as part of their workload, there was a sense of pure fun.
We are journalists. It is our job to go out into the world and watch it roll by, at unprecedented speeds, with glorious and terrifying stories to behold. The most powerful idea i took from my professors, in particular my professor for the centerpiece course: Reporting and Writing I, was: “this is fun.” Journalism is a good time, and the better one does it, the better a time can be had.
So it is in this spirit that I take up the new year. After a long, not-entirely-sober respite involving a flight to San Diego, well-drinks, close encounters of the strange kind, and a not-too-awful round of golf, I am ready to return to Columbia for the spring semester.
My courses are as follows: book Writing, Narrative Writing, the Columbia News Service, which is a real news wire feeding over 400 publications nationwide, and the continuing Master’s Project.
In the coming weeks, I’ll update as to the progress of that project, as well as the goings-on in my new classes. But for now, vacation continues. At least for a little while.
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