When I first started my major, just like any other student, I didn’t truly know what to expect. Yes, I had taken the intro classes, but I hadn’t dove into the detailed writing that loomed ahead.
It brought me to playing badminton on a Tuesday afternoon
The assignment was ‘Immersion Day’ to talk to different strangers in an area of Seattle about anything. Yes, anything. I walked up to a group of Seattle University students who seemed experienced in the sport in Cal Anderson Park.
We chatted, challenged each other to a match, and there it went. I soon was talking with these people like we had made plans to meet up here.
I dragged my roommates on four trips to Green Lake Park
For a communication class about the environment, everything was focused on out-of-the-classroom learning. What I’ve learned through the hours I’ve spent debating about this with my parents is that the most learning I’ve done here is outside of the classroom.
I went to Green Lake four times to take photos and to observe. I took my roommates along and it was a great excuse to get us all off our computers and just in life. It’s still some of my favorite memories from fall quarter.
I talk to strangers about their lives
What I’m here to do is find these stories. To dig up something I saw on a poster on campus, to follow up on what I heard someone speaking about the Ave, to talk to a stranger on the bus and ask them what’s going on in their life.
Now I can’t recommend doing all of these things, because one, it’s pretty nerve racking and two, it’s not always safe. But in the right setting it’s caused me to learn so much about who someone is and their community.
I’ve learned to listen
I first thought I would have to be so outgoing, confident, and in-your-face to be a journalist. I now realize it’s a lot more listening. It’s about letting a story unfold in front of you from conversations with other people.
When I did an interview last quarter with a UW student who had a TikTok following, it turned into such a great conversation about so much more.
I got called a red flag
One of the most difficult things about journalism is that there is no correct answer. There’s never truly a right way to write about something. It’s all up to interpretation, which can lead to some heavy ‘constructive’ criticism.
In class the other day, my professor told me I was a ‘red flag’ where I proceeded to hold back tears for not having identified an outlet I wanted to pitch my story to. When everything is built on this model of judgment and not correctness, it can be challenging to receive feedback on pieces, just like with other majors such as English or art.
I’ve had multiple people tell me ‘don’t get kidnapped’
There’s a rumor that all journalists who report abroad simply disappear. While this can be true in higher stakes journalism, if I write for The Seattle Times, hopefully it won’t be.
It’s storytelling
My Uncle Dave loves telling those Thanksgiving Day stories that go on for hours. From this, I’ve learned to appreciate these long tales of my ancestry or even just what Dave ate for lunch yesterday. It inspired me to find a story in everything. In class the other day, my professor said: “Storytelling is the core of journalism.”
It’s true. My job is to tell someone else’s knowledge or experience. There’s a story in EVERYTHING. So the next time someone asks me, “Why are you a journalism major?” I’ll show them this; there’s power in words.