Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Day 1,095
So where do we go from here?Simply put, we don't know. (As if you couldn't tell that from our retrospectives.)
We've wrestled with what to do with the blog as we approached our deadline. It's our baby, so we'd love to see it continue, but we're different people now than we were when we first started this journey and we'd have to account for that. For sure, Ten95 as you know it will be taking a hiatus - likely brief, but potentially permanent - while we decide where we want to go with this. And when, or if, we decide to restart Ten95, it will likely be in a very different form than you've come to know it.
Know this: the "Ten95 Experience" has been a great one and that's thanks to you. From day one we got great, insightful and encouraging comments regarding our work and our lives. We had a community to vent our feelings to, and people who looked to our experiences as affirmation that they weren't alone in their struggles. We met young journalists who came to us for advice (which was humbling) and readers - seasoned veterans and rookies - who congratulated us on a project with such a unique perspective.
This experience has been one that we can safely say, made our first three years as journalists good ones and shaped our identities in the industry.
And for that, we thank you.
Sincerely,
The Ten95 Crew
The Ten95 Crew
P.S. -- For those of you who may need a Ten95 fix and will be in the Tampa area for the NABJ convention, 1/2 of the crew will be on a panel entitled "Reinvent Yourself, Not the Wheel"on August 4. And the rest of the crew will likely be hanging out in the audience, if you'd like to say hello.
Labels: convention, for journalism's sake, fun, growing pains, heart, inspiration, journalism, love, milestones, musings, NABJ, the industry, unity
continue...Monday, June 01, 2009
Day 1086
When we started this blog, things were different.Most of us had just graduated from college, were looking for jobs or either just starting them. We were bright eyed bushy tailed journalists ready to take on the world. We had no idea what adventures our lives would hold as we struggled to gain our footing in the journalism industry.
So we decided to document it as it happened.
We've written as we've been hired, promoted and laid off. As we graduated and figured out where to go and what to do with our lives. We've told you about our horrible beats, great bosses and mean readers and listeners. We've shared our successes, our awards, our failures.
There was no way to know when we started out where the world would be today. That we were dangling on the cliff of a recession that continues today. It was unfathomable to think that a handful of newspapers across the country would actually close their doors. That thousands of qualified journalists -- veterans and rookies -- would be laid off from their jobs.
We documented the shift in the industry as it was happening, as we lived it.
One thousand ninety-five days.
On June 10th, the crew here at Ten95 will reach that milestone. A day that seemed like it was always so far off is now literally just days away.
Over the coming week, each of us will write about what it has been like to start a career at a time when the world, our industry and it's future were so uncertain. This blog has given us a vantage point on the changes the recession have had on the industry that is unique only to us. And we'll do our best to give an honest look at what the view has been from here.
We hope you enjoy it.
Labels: for journalism's sake, growing pains, heart, industry analysis, inspiration, journalism, milestones
continue...Wednesday, April 08, 2009
It's been a long time...
...and I've really only got two (uh, three) words for you:I am scared...
...for real this time.
(Okay, maybe seven words.)
Next month I turn 24. I'll be completely out of school. And, most importantly, I'll be moving to Baltimore, MD for a three month internship with the Associated Press.
From there I'd like to eventually move to New York City...live the rest of my 20s and some of my 30s in the Big Apple.
With the economy in shingles (not to mention the news business), I feel I'm taking a rather large gamble by making such a drastic move. I'm a California-boy, through and through. I've never lived anywhere but here. Adjusting to a new environment won't be a problem for me, but the thought of leaving this all behind both excites and scares me.
I'm thinking the nerves are normal. But my gut tells me that moving out of state with little in savings, no functioning vehicle and no "home base" (yet), and especially right now, is more than a little bit risky.
I happened to be on the bus today talking to a colleague about my concerns. A stranger, who admitted she'd been ear hustling our conversation the entire time, offered this advice*:
(*paraphrased) "Move to New York. If that's your dream, just do it. Things will work themselves out, especially if you have the drive. You don't want to look back on life and wonder what could have been."
Amen, sister.
I'm confident that I'll do well almost anywhere I go. There is, however, a part of me that feels like I'd be letting myself down if I didn't charge full steam ahead with a plan that I've had since my junior year in high school. That plan? Move to NYC, get a journalism job, write and produce my little heart out, go wild (date), and eventually pen a few books.
I'm ready. (I've got to be.) But is that enough?
Labels: growing pains, inspiration, the industry
continue...