Coming home

When I left my job at the local newspaper - I figured that was it. Never again I would carry a pen and reporter notebook or wear a press badge around my neck. This thought was accompanied with some amount of sadness but I figured it was time to move on. So I left my reporting career to gather dust in the past. That is, until recently when an opportunity arouse to drag it out of the mothballs.

I am not complaining about my current job - it's a good one and probably pays me much more than I deserve. But ordering black and blue pens or scanning documents to make pdfs does not hold the same thrill as leaving a late night meeting and having the story that will be in the next day's paper form in your mind. It is not as exciting as experiencing that awe during an interview when a stranger is willing to reveal a piece of their life so it can be shared with others.

The career field has its high points but it most certainly has low ones, too. I firmly believe that journalism is not for sissies. But there is one reporter who, besides great talent, possesses true grit and enormous courage. Proof that Carol is a great reporter is already well known but she showed just how much guts she has when she started her news website, Los Alamos Daily Post.

She displayed even more bravery when she allowed me, a former journalist who was told twice she was not up to snuff, to write content for her site.

Until then I really did not think I would report again. After two failed tries at this gig, it seemed the universe was telling me something. But I love writing so much that I ignored all the signs, all the omens and messages and raced back into it. My first interview in months was for a historical society lecture. I sat in the small office on a Friday afternoon, scribbling away on an old reporter's notebook as the historical society director answered my questions. It felt so natural. It felt like coming home.