Cataloguing

So today I sit here before you. A few days from receiving that M.A. and somehow I’m still unsure on how to pursue this course of life in journalism. A month from now I will be beginning American University’s boot camp—and pursuing their 1 year MA program in Communications with a concentration in Journalism and Public Affairs. And to be honest? All I’ve ever wanted was to write, and as much as I adore journalism—and I do, I am incredibly passionate about it. I’m not sure if it matters to me much whether I cover politics in Brussels, Washington, D.C. or if I cover stories for the arts and life style section. Maybe I’m too ambitious. I’m not sure that the MA I gained here will ever come to any practical use. But what I do know is that it has given me incredible knowledge on a topic that most people in the U.S. don’t have, and that has given me confidence in myself in the world of politics. I was a political science major, but I never had the confidence to speak up in class because I never felt that I possessed the adequate knowledge to do so without sounding stupid. But here I am today, and I would gladly sit and debate about the EU.

So my career aspirations—let me try to keep it simple. I will continue to pursue this route in journalism and public affairs that I have been on the past few years. But given the chance, if I can figure out how, perhaps if I get a mentor through American University’s mentorship program, I would like to figure out how to simply be a writer. I want a column in a newspaper; it doesn’t even have to be a major newspaper. Just a publication—an outlet for me to write about every day things, about love, and on the side, time to speak and interview characters I never would have been able to know. I want to know the stories of others, and I want to write about them. And I want others to hear my stories. That’s my career aspiration—whether realistic or not, I’m not sure. And I honestly have no concrete process for getting there, for succeeding. But I do know, that my life is evidence of the truth that anything is possible. It’s just about how badly you want it, and what you’re willing to give up for it. And on this note, I will make it. Or at least, I will be happy.