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I was once at a work-related gathering focused on “social justice” with hyper-educated people. I sat and listened intently, but at the end of each day I had no idea why we were there, what the goals were, what I was supposed to be learning, etc.
This happened for 3 days. On the final day, I had lunch with a queer Latina whose job it was to take notes at the gathering. She was from Compton & I was from Downey & once we bonded over that, we confided in each other that we had no fucking idea what anyone was talking about.
We discussed how out of place we felt and how we were the least educated people there and how you shouldn’t need a PhD to understand conversations directly impacting your community. This all happened a long time ago-maybe more than a year ago, but I think about it often.
We all have our lanes of work, we all have our ways of moving through the world. But that experience really solidified how important it felt to me to keep talking like I do and cursing like I do and reporting like I do.
It’s not just that I don’t know another way (because I truly don’t know another way), but it’s also deeply important to me that the kind of folks I grew up with, the people in my family, the people I’m in community with know what the fuck I’m talking about.
I’m thinking about this tonight because I am reflecting on some talks I had last week with young people studying to be journalists and they had questions about whether I was concerned that I’m seen as “unprofessional” or crossing professional lines. I don’t have there concerns.
I used to, but I don’t anymore and that’s a good place to be. I’m particularly interested in connecting with young people who want to be journalists but don’t know if they can survive in what can absolutely feel like a confining industry rife with respectability bullshit.
It doesn’t have to be that way! There are other ways to operate in this industry. The pinnacle isn’t getting to the NYT; it’s making this industry work for you and doing reporting that matters to you. It’s possible! I promise.
