About Me...
If there's one thing I really dislike, it's those questionnaires asking for a list of hobbies or favorite things. There are so many activities we become involved in over the course of our lives it seems unfair to expect someone to crank out an arbitrary list on demand.
But having suffered through many of those requests while filling out profiles, applications, and evaluations, I've noticed more often than not, our lists of hobbies and activities aren't really all that arbitrary. Those clever survey-makers know the lists of what we do and where we spend our energies are great indicators of who we are as individuals.
My list usually looks a little something like this:
spending time with family ~ reading ~ watching tv ~ laughing with friends ~
shopping with my mom ~ playing trivia ~ going to plays ~ writing ~ salsa dancing ~ volunteering ~ listening to jazz ~ taking pictures ~ babysitting ~ talking on the phone/sending texts ~ people-watching ~ visiting museums /galleries ~ playing volleyball ~ taking long drives to new places
This list is always in flux, of course, but there are three common threads that have always connected the things I enjoy.
- interacting with people
- collecting information
- telling a great story
So I guess after a B.A. in English literature and an M.A. in poetry, I inevitably realized my love affair with words was going to leave me unfulfilled unless I had someone to share the words with. That's where journalism came in!
Journalism has made it possible for me to make a career out of being myself and doing the things that come naturally ...so all those demerits I got for talking out of turn in kindergarten should have been a clue about my budding press conference skills! (My mother, of course. claims she knew all along that I'd end up reporting one day.)
So let's just say, this is what happens when a girl from a small midwestern town with a great vocabulary and a voracious curiosity decides to make a career out of doing the three things she loves the most.
~ Austyn