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Thursday, May 3, 2007
Lanier MIddle School students gave ME a boost on career day
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I love my job.
And despite what radio provocateurs say about “drive-by” media and liberal bias, the life of a journalist still intrigues.
Especially when it’s a bunch of curious seventh-graders.
On Wednesday, Lanier Middle School held its Career Fair. I was invited to represent the media. I’ve done more than my share of these type events, and this was one of the best — from the questions the students asked right down to the pepper rings offered with our sub sandwiches.
At first, I felt ill-prepared. Some of the career representatives went all out. The Publix representative, an artist/event coordinator, had a vase of flowers and balloons. A doctor displayed a fake human skeleton.
I showed up like I typically do for an assignment. With note pad and pen.
No worries, though.
Like I said, a journalist still carries cache, even when he’s placed next to someone like Brian Gardner, a national scout for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Man, was he a hit with the boys.
But Eliann Rodriquez, a seventh-grader, was on to something.
“You’re a reporter,” she told me, laughing. “Everybody wants to talk to you.”
Well, not everybody, but enough of the 850 or so seventh-graders to make restroom breaks a luxury.
At events like this, there’s typically one question that everyone wants to ask.
“How much do you make?”
Of the 75 or so kids who interviewed me, only two traveled down that road, something I attribute to one of two things. The students were instructed not to. They’re a mighty polite bunch over at Lanier Middle, a Buford campus of nearly 2,500 students.
The best exchanges took place when students ventured off the questionnaire to ask about my job as a columnist. A few wanted to know how many words make up a column (550 or so); who decides what I write (me); how I come up with ideas (by any means necessary); and why I became a writer (I sucked at math).
Some students talked about their desire to enter the profession. Claire Nellums, 13, has a working title for a short story. “Jules.”
“It’s about a girl in school and the stuff she goes through throughout her day,” she told me.
When it was all over, when the last class came and went and the Badie Tour packed up and headed out, I was left with this thought.
It’s a shame what little value society puts on the written word — newspapers, books and magazines. It’s unfortunate that print media professionals have let talking heads and agenda-minded mutants degradate and belittle our craft, the jobs we do and take seriously.
So when I left Lanier Middle, I made a pledge.
I plan to challenge folk I come across who spout that tired argument about the liberal media and its biases, especially in a day and time when conservatives rule talk radio and a certain “news” channel. I won’t sit quiet and let people blast newspapers, call them worthless when you consider what you can get in return for a mere 50 cents.
Yeah. I love my job. Warts and all.
The enthusiasm of the kids at Lanier Middle helped reaffirm that.
• Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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