Row-boating Journalism
I feel like I missed the boat on journalism. It's my calling, I've realized, but I didn't hear the call when I was deciding what degree to earn. I knew the path I'd originally chosen for myself wasn't the right one, so I dropped out. Several years down the road, after launching a relatively lucrative career in banking, I earned an Associate Degree in Business Administration. I saw it as a universal degree. As it turns out, that's not really how degrees work.
Nowadays, I still work in banking so I don't have the availability to go back to school for journalism. There are a ton of scammy online programs, but I haven't found much for accredited ones, nor any sort of night-school version. I'm working on building a portfolio, which in an ideal world will one day be sufficient enough to supplement the degree I don't have. It feels like row-boating to catch up to a sailing ship on the sea, and then begging a captain to let me aboard because I have experience on a rowboat. But for now, it's the best I can do.
Today, I was perusing the schedule for my state's public media outlets and read some notes about a student news room that contributes to public coverage of things like local politics. I marveled at the experience those kids are getting! My heart screamed "I want that!" to which my head responded "You can't have it." It made me sad, but it also made me yearn. I think yearning is an important part of life, and I'm going to channel it. I'll row this boat to my grave, if I have to. And I'll enjoy doing it, even if I never catch up to the sailboats on the horizon.