Me, I feel I've grown TREMENDOUSLY from April 2013 to April 2014. And UGA's Health and Medical Journalism track has fostered much of that transformation.
Now, to be perfectly honest, bunches of factors have shaped me into this more confident, less lonely, and overall happier me. Getting out of the house was the biggest one. After I graduated from Mercer University in May '12, I moved back to the country with my parents, thinking that I'd pick up English again at grad school in a year and find a job in the interim. Wrong and wrong. None of the dozens of internships or job applications I applied to panned out. In February I read an article about the uselessness of a liberal arts education that drove me to tears. The lack of job bred loneliness, the loneliness bred worthlessness. That cracked open this void in me that would spontaneously yawn open and swallow me, and I couldn't do anything but sink to the floor and bawl.
Music-writing - a precursor to medical journalism, really - also helped. Music in general helped a TON. By finding music, I found worlds outside of my own. By reviewing albums and singles, I could focus my writing toward very concrete subjects, and do some small service by spreading the good word. And when more people read those reviews, I met more folks.
Health and medical journalism, now that I think about, was the most logical next step. I mean, what I lacked so badly - especially months out of Mercer - was a purpose, and a very specialized set of skills that would work toward that purpose. In an English program, you learn some very broad skills - reading critically, interpreting what is and isn't on the page, organizing and writing an argument, and research research research. (I frequented the library so much that I not only had a favorite table, but also a favorite aisle of books. Which, FYI, was the aisle with all the Bauhaus books.) As a budding music critic, I at least picked up more unique techniques, and certainly gained the all-important experience of working with an editor and his deadlines. But to what end would that lead? And, most crucially, WHO CARED?!
Studying journalism sounded like the answer. The notion of health and medical journalism didn't sound quite right, but Pat Thomas promised more writing, and more writing sounded good.
But I've gleaned so much more from this program. For one, I've gained the confidence and know-how to talk and jump in on medical issues, which I certainly lacked before. What's more, I've built up the gusto to ask total strangers bunches of questions. I love that talking to people is part of the job - gathering and weighing perspectives, trying to boil stuff down into a package that people can USE.
The ability to pitch and publish stories is also massively exciting. Or no, scratch that - the very POSSIBILITY of publishing, the granted access to platforms, is THRILLING. I cannot describe what a major paradigm shift this is for me. This enhances the value of my writing by tenfold. And that's all I wanted from the get-go - to learn a talent that has value. For me and others.
Perhaps the conclusion I'm leading to is - writing about health has improved my health. No doubt. With English I felt stuck, uninspired, and useless. Journalism has rebooted all my rusty creative cogs back into motion, and now churning double-time.
The next two posts will delve into more specific stuff. Up next - let me tell ya 'bout the art of interviewing, and what a total journo hack like me has learned thus far.