I love journalism. I also love to eat. And travel. And buy books.
And enjoy many other pleasures that require earning a stable income.
In the face of frequent news of newspaper shutdowns or closures, however, it’s hard not to worry.
I worry I won’t be able reconcile my love for journalism with my hope for a stable career that will allow me to live independently, help others and have fun.
Sometimes, I get angry that I devoted time and energy to an industry in its apparent death throes.
But then, I remember how much my life has changed since I started to pursue a career as a reporter.
Journalism took me from the largest island of the Bahamas to the hills of New England and the Treasure Coast of Florida, also known as the Empire of the Ants.
I went crabbing with a musician struggling to support his family on the north coast of Andros Island and interviewed residents of a beachside hamlet hoping to see their town revitalized.
I met camels raised in the hills of New Hampshire and dined on pizza with a Sudanese refugee.
Journalism forced me to seek conversation and intimacy, a frightening task for someone with Asperger’s Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism.
It forced me to fight my skittish inner nature and confront police, town officials and, most intimidating, angry parents.
It introduced me to some of my best friends and mentors.
And despite journalism’s troubling decline and a long and tiresome job search, I still love and am loyal to the profession that helped me mature as a writer and human.
Just not to the exclusion of another career that could make me happy.
So this blog is a chronicle of my journey to find my place in the changing world of journalism, or, failing that, find my place in another fulfilling career.
And it’s an exploration of how my Asperger’s Syndrome changes how I look at the world as a reporter and human being.
But most of all, this blog is going to be fun. The most amusing facet of having the Geek Syndrome is that it makes me obsess about anything that interests me.
That includes books, TV shows, comics, cartoons or music. I use these to learn about and interact with the world, along with my daily interactions with sources, friends and family.
But more on that in another blog post.
I hope you find this blog entertaining and helpful. I know it helps me vent, as did my last blog. More importantly, however, I want this to become a resource for other journalists, autistics or geeks. Feel free to comment, ask questions or propose a way to contribute. I’m excited to see how this blog evolves, and I hope it allows me to keep in contact with old friends and meet new ones.
