Thursday 19 January 2012

Things Margaux says...

And so it begins - my newest attempt at some sort of literary discipline - that is, to maintain a blog.

This new attempt comes as a result of a conversation with my minute, beautiful and mentally powerful roommate, Margaux. One of many late-evening conversations, this one was fuelled with chamomile tea and our own cliche indecision as graduates.

What Margaux pointed out, and what came as somewhat a revelation to me, is that I'd approached the Journalism job-search from the wrong angle. I'd been wondering which medium of journalism I wanted to follow, when in fact, I should have been wondering what I wanted to journal about. I'm not entirely to blame. See, people - whether tutors, parents or friends - always ask the same question: "Do you want to be in print, television or radio?" In the past I'd have come up with some repetitive answer, like: "Well I'm good at broadcast, but I wouldn't mind trying print eventually." In other words, I had no idea. Just like I have no definitive answer for many of the important decisions in my life - like what I'll have for lunch.

Needless to say, I'm probably the most indecisive person I know. Ask me what I'm doing for the next twenty years of my life, or what I want on my toast and I'll probably give you the same answer: "I don't know". What I do know, is what I enjoy, and whatever the area of Journalism I am in - I want to be writing, broadcasting or presenting the things that I, indeed, enjoy.

This would be all so easy if there was something in particular I was passionate about. Some people have their movies, some people have their music, heck - some people have their freaking toe-socks. There are a lot of things I enjoy - wine, food, cooking, books, music, theatre, photography - but nothing I would say I'm passionate about, when it comes to it. Unfortunately with no passion, comes no expertise...so I can only claim to be a typical journalist - a 'jack of all trades, and a master of nothing'. I know a little about everything and a lot about nothing. Nevertheless, I'm quite sure I have fairly good taste, and I enjoy the good things in life. So, this is what you're going to be reading about if you continue to follow this blog: modest culture.