Brian Doyle |
Here comes February lurching into view like a heron on steroids, which means that Applications Will Soon Be Due for Student Media Positions, and the cold hard fact between us here like a toad pie is that you have not even considered trying for a job at the funky radio station, the lovely yearbook, or the admirable student newspaper, have you?
No, I didn’t think so. But you should.
Yes – you.
But my social life…
Ah, come on, your social life could actually use some jazzing, and you know it. Why not shoot for a gig at the radio station? Last I looked there were untold numbers of students happily working there, students who dug music and laughter and dancing and swapping stories. Are they not your people, those students? Wouldn’t it be a kick to be in a shaggy tribe that has its own house on campus, how rare is that phrase?
Man, my academic load…
Ah, come on, you know and I know that you are doing pretty well here, better than you secretly expected, and now you are moving into your major courses, which you’ll like even better than the core, and you’ll be more engaged and excited by those classes, and the work will fly by, and you’ll be doing exactly what with those extra couple of hours a day? Wouldn’t it be a kick to camp out in Saint Mary’s, chaffing your fellow Beacon staffers, arguing about what stories are the best, imaging new angles, talking to the many dozens of brilliant souls who staff this place, winning state awards, happily typing glorious inky and photographic and design accomplishments on your resume?
I don’t need the money….
Yes, you do. Ask your dad.
I don’t have the time…
Yes, you do. Look at yourself right now, in those ratty pajamas, watching that “Burn Notice” episode for the ninth time. Good Lord, man, get out of your room. And pick that towel off the floor before you go.
I have no experience…
Yes, you do. You collect stories. You share stories. You trade stories. You remember stories. You are stories. Your family, friends, pursuits, thrills, adventures, ambitions, dreams – all stories. Why not put that curiosity and hunger for stories to work, on, say, the yearbook staff? Wouldn’t it be cool to try to catch the joys and shivers of a year on The Bluff in stories and photographs and paintings for the Log? And get paid for it? Wouldn’t it be a kick to call home and say dad, guess what, I cut some cash off the tuition bill by being a storycatcher! Wouldn’t that make the old man moan happily into his mustache? And speaking as an old man with a mustache, isn’t getting a call like that from the child you love more than anything kind of the point?
So – find the job supplement in this issue. Pick a job. Apply for it. Get it. Call your dad. And pick up that towel.
Brian Doyle is the editor of Portland Magazine. He can be reached at bdoyle@up.edu.
