The journalism rant.

Okay, so because I can't fall asleep for whatever crazy reason and because I said I would, here it is...the journalism rant.

So about a post or two ago, I mentioned that my boss asked me, "Why journalism?"

The simple answer is because I have no idea what else I would do. But, again, because I am not all that sleepy, here is the more complicated answer.

I've wanted to a be a journalist for years and years and years - and I'm not kidding. My mom likes to tell the story of when I was little and would sit at a makeshift desk (AKA a box) and pretend I was an anchor telling her the news. It usually consisted of "blah-blah-blah" because to the three-year-old mind, that is what the people are saying on television.

For about a month, I wanted to be a ballerina, until my clumsiness made itself known. I also wanted to be a veterinarian at one point, but I'm allergic to a billion types of fur, so that dream was not meant to be. It always came back to journalism, though I didn't know what that word was yet. It was simply "writing."

I was 8 when I tried to make my first newspaper. Kids News. Aren't I original? That failed because I couldn't make enough copies of the newspaper/newsletter, and my staff was my fellow third-graders who honestly didn't give a damn.

In middle school during 7th grade, I somehow became a newspaper editor. And I think we put out maybe...three issues? Something like that. I had to use some crappy Microsoft program to make the paper, which was like a newsletter with a whole bunch of mistakes in it. Then when I was supposed to take the elective again, the counselors screwed up my schedule and put me Spanish.

And Spanish led to LVA, which gave me the forensics (speech and debate for those of you who don't know) class before it gave me the journalism class. And I had crazy, crazy Medcalf as a journalism advisor, who inspired me to write more and forced me to take stylebook quizzes and fed me bagels.

Throughout high school, I went on a total of four high school journalism convention trips around the country, a number of workshops, became involved with CLASS! Magazine and R-Jeneration...yes, I had no life. But I still remember the first time I saw my byline in each of the publications I was printed in. I was ecstatic. I still get that feeling.

And you'd think after three years of that, I'd be done with it and ready to move on, as so many other people before me had done. But no, I was determined to study journalism in college. All of the colleges I applied to had acclaimed journalism programs/schools. And in the end, I ended up at UNR.

I'm sure you know how it goes from there...starting out at the Nevada Sagebrush as a writer and designer and later on becoming an assistant news editor and staying on for the next year (and most likely, the years after that too). I've been through two "official" journalism classes, and I love it. And now I'm interning at the News, and it's been two days, and that newsroom already feels familiar to me.

If given the choice (and I guess I do have a choice, because it's college and you can change your mind as often as you want), I could give up journalism and do something else with my life.

But honestly? My backup plan, if I fail at being a journalist for whatever reason, is to become a crazy high school journalism advisor who teaches English because she has to, just like Med, and maybe inspire a kid or two to venture out into the field.

So, long story short, why I am/want to be a journalist...

Because I write.

Because I like to learn and watch things as they happen.

Because I like to let people know what's going on.

Because I like to think I can make a difference.

Because it's who I am.