When you are in your twenties and you live in NYC life is good. Though you really don’t have or make much money you manage to visit some wild art galleries, catch Broadway shows and a few concerts at MSG, eat at amazing restaurants with your friends and see free movie screenings.
Sometimes in between happy hours (at a place with outside seating that makes you feel like sitting on a nasty sidewalk off 3rd Ave is doing an outdoor activity) and Pinkberry, you find yourself eating a peanut butter sandwich for dinner on a paper plate, with chocolate soy milk and a banana. This is usually because you live alone.
While savoring your kind-of-nutritious-yet-not- a-real-meal dinner you are usually in the midst of another activity, despite the fact that it is almost 10:30pm. If you are still in college/grad school this can range from research papers to the Pope visiting the synagogue next to your school tomorrow and you don’t have anyone covering the event to finding semi-cheap restaurants in the Hamptons for a story you are freelancing. In my case, I was freaking out because the Pope was in town, The Envoy wasn’t on it and I hadn’t even gone through all my emails yet.
OK let’s rewind–I wasn’t just freaking out because of the Pope issue. I was in one of those mind-whirlwinds, where you get caught up in your own world that you deem to be too chaotic and too pressure-filled so you have a mini panic attack just thinking about all the stuff you didn’t finish (and didn’t blog about).
Recap of important events/happenings/semi-epiphanies:
Saturday, April 12: Undergraduate Journalism Workshop at CUNY J-School.
- Met other editors from CUNY student papers, discussed problems, formed relationships.
- Introduced myself to J-School faculty that I keep seeing at these various events, formed relationships.
- Learned (yay!) and had some of j-ethics questions answered. Also found out about an interesting law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which does not hold a site/institution accountable for a third party action (i.e. someone leaving offensive comments on this blog and me not editing/deleting them).
- Also learned a wee bit about audio.
- Didn’t understand why more students were not there (though for a nice Saturday there was a decent amount) and had another semi-epiphany during the editing workshop when I was overly excited to be coming up with ideas for headlines and again realized this is what I love to do.
Sunday, April 13: Multiple Sclerosis Walk
- Volunteered with coworkers at NewtoNYC.org. (will insert picture later)
- Saw many young people doing the walk for others with MS and for themselves.
- Thought about my mom (who has MS) and felt glad that I was there and helping out, though sad I hadn’t done it before and upset that the media doesn’t give much attention to the MS walk like it does to the AIDS walk and Breast Cancer walks, also upset about the lack of coverage by the media given to MS in general.
Monday, April 14: James Aronson Awards Ceremony at Hunter College
- Won the James Aronson Award for Undergraduate Journalism, along with my partner and EIC Joe Ireland from The Envoy.
- Met editors at The Nation and writers from other publications (and obviously formed relationships). President Raab (of Hunter) introduced me to said editors and congratulated us on the award. The ceremony is a much larger event than an undergrad award bit–it celebrates Social Justice Journalism. Click the link to learn more.
- Felt important because students, faculty and people I hadn’t met were congratulating me and asking to the see a copy of The Envoy. I even got a plaque and spoke at the podium when I got the award. I am very proud of the paper and of Joe and I.
Wednesday, April 16: Senior Salute at Hunter
- Registered with the Alumni Association and Career Bank.
- Ordered my cap & gown.
- Felt old because my college life is ending and now when I hear commercials advertising NYU, CUNY, etc. etc. I am already passed that (until graduate J-School?).
Also on Wednesday, April 16: Set up interview with twenty-something career book author.
- Got the book to review in the mail–felt good knowing I was going to get the word out to the Hunter community about a career book that might inspire them to put down the Wii remote.
Thursday, April 17: One of my best pals turns 22 and I have an informational meeting with the EIC of Time Out New York Kids.
- I am reminded that 22 year olds (should?) have jobs.
- I am happy I have now applied to 6 jobs.
- I am sad I have not heard back.
- The EIC of the TONY Kids gives me some useful advice during our informational meeting. The most important (I think): Don’t get discouraged.
Friday, April 18: CUNY Job Fair at the Javits Center
- I do not go to the above fair because there is no one I want to speak with (unless I wanted to go with my eight-year-old dream job of being an FBI agent–thank you X-Files).
- I do hear back from one of my job prospects–I have my first real interview this Wednesday the 23rd!
- Pope is visiting NYC for the weekend and stopping on the Upper East side to make an historic trip to a synagogue, right next to Hunter.
Now, let’s bring it back to me being in the middle of freaking out on Friday the 18th. {flashback} Then something happened that snatched me right out of my mind-whirlwind and into reality/adulthood.
My best friend calls (not the one who just had a birthday) and she sounds a little out of it. Though she was not crying or expressing anything that would let me know what was on her mind, I knew. Her mom passed earlier in the week and although we weren’t talking about it, hearing her so out of it snapped me out of my work trance.
I started thinking about the wake, when all our friends where there talking about work, giving their condolences and thinking about their own family life. We’re not old but we are “growing up.” We are dealing with death, jobs, insurance and life in general. I don’t know what it was about that particular moment–but I was proud of her for dealing with it so well and little less sad that our childhood chapter is closing. I know this reads as if Fred Savage is speaking over a closing scene of The Wonder Years, but its true–we are living and learning and throughout all the craziness, it feels great to have each other.
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