Like any other expectant parent, I often ponder what my daughter is going to be like as she grows up: What hobbies will she embrace? Will she like sports? Will she want to take dance lessons? Will she be a picky eater? What color will her eyes be? Will she look like me or Jason? Will she be a creative person like myself or a number cruncher history buff like my husband? What might she want to do when she grows up? Will she go to college, join the military or back pack across Europe after high school?
Naturally I am hoping for a perfect blend of my husband and I, someone who gets math and science but loves music and art, who will be a good listener as well as comfortable carrying on a conversation with anyone, someone who is open minded and adventurous but knows not to cross the line.
Of course, I know she’ll make mistakes, hopefully she’ll learn from them and own up to them. And hopefully I’ll be the kind of parent who helps her with that and reinforces the idea that life is about learning all the time and the important thing is to take responsibility for your mistakes while not making them over and over again.
My aspirations for her are only that she has a happy, healthy life and that she finds something she loves and does it. I’m a firm believer in education and we’re preparing for her to go to college someday — my mother in law said at my shower that with parents like us she’ll surely go to college but I know anything can happen — but if something else comes along that takes her in a different direction then I’ll support her in that endeavor.
I’m not sure what my mom’s aspirations were for me when she was at this stage of her pregnancy (about to pop…but I ended up arriving two weeks late!) but I don’t know that she would’ve ever guessed I’d end up where I am now.
Journalism has suited me so well. I was first drawn to it as a freshman in high school when at the end of the year the Soothsayer was looking for reporters and editors for the next school year.
Writing has been essentially one of my defining identity traits since I was 11 years old. As a freshman in high school I wanted desperately to find a way to make a living at writing. My mom is a high school drop out, though she did get her GED, and my super smart sister who should’ve gone to college got talked out of finished her high school diploma when my mom figured she’d be better off working full time to help pay the bills.
So, at 14 years old, I was a little freaked out about where I’d end up in life if I didn’t pick a path and soon.
I applied for the newspaper and somehow ended up as sports editor as a sophomore, default, really since there were no upperclassmen who wanted to do the job.
Initially, I was terrible. I had no clue what I was doing, no clue how to write an article, no idea how to lay out pages. It was challenging. And I loved it. As a 15 year old 10th grader I decided this would be my career.
Eventually I landed at Gonzaga University where I declared a journalism major. I got to work as a sports clerk at the Spokesman-Review my second year at Gonzaga. I did some writing for the campus newspaper. I still had a lot to learn.
After my second year at Gonzaga my plans went all wonky. I had planned to take a year off but Jason’s school plans changed and after two years apart I decided to stay near him. I transferred to the University of Washington. While at UW I got a job as a news clerk at the Eastside Journal.
Jason and I got married shortly before graduation. He decided to finish school at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and it so happened that one of the assistant city editors knew someone who worked at Greenspun Media Group which owned a daily, the Las Vegas Sun. That contact told me to get in touch with Warren Johnston, city editor at the Sun, who quickly realized during a phone conversation I wasn’t qualified for any of his open beat positions. But, they could use a warm body and I was going to move there anyway, so they decided to hire me as an intern.
At 22 years old I was a newlywed living in Vegas with a shiny new journalism degree, a handful of clips, and living 1,600 miles from home. It took me about 30 minutes to realize that despite what I previously believed I didn’t have a freaking clue what I was doing.
I spent nine months as an intern at the Sun under the excellent tutelage of assistant city editor Jean Norman. While my degree and other newspaper experience was a good start, I really learned how to be a reporter working for Jean. Like my initial foray into journalism as a teenager, this was hard stuff, but it was a much more daunting challenge.
But, I stuck with it, and I realized I’m not so bad at this newspaper stuff. After my internship finished I landed across the street at what was a twice weekly at the time, the Henderson Home News, covering sports and news. My ambition had always been to cover sports for a magazine or a newspaper so after working on the city desk for nine months at the Sun I was glad to cover sports again.
For a whole slew of other reasons the 18 months I spent at the Home News was also challenging. But, I learned a lot there, and frankly I perfected the critical work ethic of cranking out as much copy as humanly possible something that has essentially kept me employed all this time.
When Jason finished school, we moved home in December 2002. It was a relief. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes six months before he finished his degree. I was horribly home sick. I even missed the rain.
One of the editors with HBC Publishing, the family-owned company that put out the Henderson Home News and Boulder City News, had actually worked up here for a time for Denis Law. Denis, now the mayor of Renton, originally started the Reporter newspapers. He was publisher for a few months before he left the company to pursue his political career.
John Santana was the editor and he had heard about a position opening up here, a new one, in fact. The Kent, Renton and Auburn Reporter newspapers were going to hire a sports and business writer. After two months of unemployment (a much needed rest after the dues paying I did in Vegas for two and a half years) I landed with the Reporter newspapers.
Another two and a half years later, I helped start the Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, and I am the only member of the original staff who remains.
It’s amazing how far I’ve come since I first fell in love with journalism at 15.
But, I tell you what, if my daughter loses her mind and wants to follow in my footsteps I’ll intervene. Journalists are too neurotic — you either are that way to start with or you become that way after too much exposure to the job and the other crazies in the business. If nothing else, I want my little girl to be as well-adjusted as possible, and that just won’t happen in this gig.
Now, she doesn’t have to have White House aspirations, just something that makes her happy.
I can’t wait to see what she decides to do with her life … as long as it’s not being a reporter.
Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. It should be interesting, to say the least.