It seems the life of Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City is full of eternal brunches, iconic name-brand outfits, endless nights out, and thousands of new pairs of Jimmy Choos. And while her life itself is nothing short of exciting, it’s nothing compared to mine.
As the editor-in-chief of The University Star, Texas State University’s school newspaper, I’d like to believe that Carrie and I have something in common as busy and passionate writers. Although similarities do spark between us – like both loving a good gossip sesh with friends and stuffing our faces with takeout while writing to meet a deadline – Carrie’s version of a writer is heavily romanticized for a viewer’s enjoyment, and well, my job is not.
When it comes to our differences, after watching several episodes of Sex and the City, I can confidently say that Carrie’s and my differences lie in five different categories: finding story ideas, writing once a week, overdue stories, and the balance of work and leisure.
Finding Story Ideas
Throughout the series, Carrie works as a freelance sex columnist for The New York Star and later in the series as a writer for Vogue. For me, watching Sex and the City becomes frustrating when it comes to story ideas. It seems Carrie takes two steps out of her apartment and magically has the next big story for her column. If only it were that easy.
Finding a story that is relatable and newsworthy – all while being timely and impactful – is not as easy as Carrie makes it out to be. As a journalist, I am constantly searching for story ideas: walking around with my headphones on my shoulders listening to others’ conversations, staring at the updated bulletin boards at local coffee shops, and death scrolling on social media to find the next story worthy of being written.
The Star has the unique ability to reach more than one audience: Texas State students, faculty and staff, and the citizens of San Marcos. We utilize our unique audience to hyper-localize our coverage. While this narrows down the stories we can write at The Star, it also limits our freedom compared to Carrie who can write about sex in the entirety of New York City.
Writing A Once A Week
Carrie writes a column once a week for The New York Star. For most journalists and columnists, articles are written daily or weekly.
Although The University Star is a weekly paper, we put out content daily, posting three to five stories to our website a day – not including breaking news and briefs that may occur that day. As a student journalist, I have written up to three stories a week.
Overdue Stories/Columns
Carrie is consistently known for turning her columns in after her deadline. At The Star, an overdue story can mean the life or death of the paper, literally. A late story can change the trajectory of our printed issue and lessen the trust of our overall audience.
Turning in a column late to her editor doesn’t seem like a huge deal to Carrie, especially since it happens frequently throughout the series. As a reporter, if I were to turn in a story late, there would be consequences and I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I am in today. Carrie’s neglect of deadlines is unrealistic and would probably not pass in the real world.
Balance of Work And Leisure
As a freelance writer, Carrie has the freedom to work from wherever she likes. Often her “research” for her columns involves going to a new bar and flirting with men to give the best advice on the topic of her column. When not conducting research, Carrie is with one of her boyfriends, usually Big or Aiden, or out with her friends.
For The University Star, I am required to work 18 hours, not including production day on Mondays (a day long event where we design our weekly newspaper) and on top of classes. Most of my free time is spent completing school work or other extracurricular activities besides The Star.
At the end of the day, Carrie’s life as a columnist is romanticized to make the series more enjoyable for viewers. As much as I would love to walk around campus effortlessly dressed to the nines, realistically, I am a sleep-deprived student journalist and I love what I do.