Years of studying journalism, and more importantly, movies, had prepared me for this moment. This was it β the big scoop, the career-defining conversation that leads to movies and podcasts and fame. Surely, I had earned this. After all, I was a year-old recent college graduate who had started my internship writing sports at The Jersey Journal less than a week ago.
It all made sense. Did any of that turn out to be true? Not even a little. I was young, but I was in love β¦ with a vibrant, weird, beautiful and endlessly entertaining county and its sports teams. What I got out of my years at The Journal was never the stuff of fantasies β it was better, it was real. The many, many wonderful memories of working in the trenches with my fellow journalists, making sure we delivered a newspaper by the end of the night, are where I grew from young adult to actual adult.
I learned how to be a professional, how to stay calm under fire, and how to ignore a scary, ticking clock and deliver the goods with a deadline looming. I am stronger, wiser, and much, much greater than I could have ever been on my own. Thank you, my friends. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.
