C'est Finis

I have done the deed: I have quit my job. I turned in my two weeks notice this morning. My stomach was doing great gymnastic feats before I told my boss, expecting something horrible to happen. Nothing besides questions, really. Quitting my job feels decadent during a recession, but it is time to go. I was hired at my family business, and I am really excited about that. It's a new field, but it's one that plays to my strengths and one that I am interested in pursuing long-term.


It has been a good experience overall. A few of my stories got picked up by policy wonks and traditional media, and today I broke a story. I am especially sorry to leave my office mate; we have become very good friends these past five months, and I will miss seeing her everyday in the Batcave. I am also sorry to miss the next state legislative session, because I was really looking forward to reporting on that and getting to know the reps, senators and their aides.


This announcement may be a surprise to some of you, especially considering I love writing. I'm not going to stop; I honestly do not think I would know how to stop writing. I'm getting published more too, which is encouraging. I'll miss the rush of daily articles and the excitement of journalism, but I'm not going to miss this job.


Winnie the Pooh said, "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." I thought of that quote last week when my landlord stopped by to show my apartment and he asked where I was moving.


"Home," I said. "I like this apartment and I like my actual job as a reporter, but there are other factors involved."


"Good for you," he said in his thick Irish accent. "Too many people say, stick it out, it will only get better. I say, bullshit. Get out and do something else. Too many people don't get out. Too many people don't live. I admire your willingness to leave."


I have to admit, I was a little surprised by him saying that. Maybe because that was the first time I had met him (his wife showed the apartment to me originally), but it probed me into thinking more about life and the choices that go with it. I liked his directness. We still live in a free country and if we're unhappy with our lives, it's up to ourselves to make it better, be it by improving relationships with others, changing careers, or looking at the sky instead of the ground.


The poem of the week is therefore "Bravado" by Robert Frost:


Have I not walked without an upward look
Of caution under stars that very well
Might not have missed me when they shot and fell?
It was a risk I had to take--and took.


And a second poem, for good measure:


"Invictus" by William Ernest Henley


Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.


In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.


Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.


It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


Let the new adventure begin!

Like painted kites, those days and nights/ They went flying by

Julie's Top 5 favorite things about work this week:

5. The Batcave, obviously.
--It has a big windows and I share my office with the only other reporter in the office, Laura, who takes care of the technology aspects of the job and likes to makes fun of me. Then again, everyone in the office mocks each other, so rest assure that I dish it out just as much as I take it. Pictures of our funny little office to come.

4. When Laura and I "borrowed" Tim the intern and had him help us, i.e. served as a practice prop before our interviews with members of the legislature (which is pretty awesome meeting and talking to them; I'll post my favorites when we start to get the videos up). Also, the nickname MB and Emmy came up with for him: Tim-tern!

3. Making friends, specifically with
-- the homeless man whom I buy "Street Speech: The Voice from the Streets of Columbus" from every week. The paper is hopelessly Left and the writing is okay, but it supports a good, capitalistic cause and chatting with him gives me perspective and ideas.
--the House Minority Leader! I passed him on the street on Tuesday walking back from mass and when he saw me, he smiled big and waved at me. I, of course, happily returned the sentiment. He loves Hillsdale and Russell Kirk too.

2. Calling sources and milking information and pull quotes out of them. The result is freakin' sweet articles.

1. the black 5.0 Bic ballpoint pen I write/ jot/ fiddle with while thinking and/ or reading.
--I used to not care about the kind of pen I used since my mom gets tons of pens, etc. from drug reps and pharmaceutical companies (she's a cancer nurse specialist), but since writing with this pen... I've been ruined.

Dislikes: incompetent people (in the public and private sector), sources who take their dandy time to get back to me and having to be in the office early in the morning after working late into the night.

Such is the life of a journalist! Currently working on an article about 3 million dollars the Stark County Treasurer embezzled, as revealed today by the state auditor's office. Today at mass a couple got blessed for being married for 55 years and they held hands going up to the alter. It was so cute. My parents will celebrate their 25th at the end of the month; I can't wait for them to double that. Going home tonight for my little sister's Shakespeare production and big party on Saturday for my brother, parents and me.

Oh, and where did June go?