| This reminds me of a a friend of mine who is a reproter for a
local newspaper (see my posting below that also involves
said friend). The story about how he got into journalism is one
of the funniest career stories I've ever heard.
In college he was an Art major with the intention of going into
graphic design. After college he found himself living in
a small town where his wife was doing graduate studies. He
worked in a factory and his art career was going nowhere.
Hoping to pick up a little graphic design work, he stopped by
the local newspaper to drop off his resume. He didn't
have a lot of hope, expecting that he would hand the
receptionist his resume, get a polite response, and leave. To
his surprise she glanced at the resume, said enthusiastically
"wait right here", and rushed into the back.
At this point it needs to be noted that buried in the resume was
an item that read "Wrote for college newspaper". He
describes that work as having consisted of writing "four short,
horrible movie reviews" so that he could get free movie
tickets. Nevertheless, it was sorta professional type work and
he put it on the resume. That's the item the receptionist saw.
Well, the head editor came out a minute later and said on the
spot "I can give you a freelance assignment to write about
the town meeting next week". He wrote the piece, and another,
and another, and eventually became the paper's top
reporter. Ten years later he's an established and popular
reporter here where I live.
An interesting addendum to the story. After he had turned in
several freelance assignments, the editor recognized that
he did have talent but he didn't have experience or training.
She gave him a Journalism 101 textbook and told him to
read it. That textbook is still his only formal journalism
training. | 
