In The Beginning ...

I can't believe I let my friend talk me into taking a class with her. Journalism of all things! Like I want to write for a living, sitting in front of a computer all day. No way.

Sure. I'd like to write a book some day, but eventually I'd have to actually sit down and write it. I'm not sure that's ever going to happen.

Anyway, the professor tells us we have to start an online journal or blog or MySpace account if we don't already have one to write about our topics. Like I want MySpace blog clogged with school assignments. No way. That's why I created this one, incognito-like. Whatever I write for school stays at school, like the Las Vegas thing.

And what topics are we supposed to write about? "Find things to write about. Report on the news. Report on politics. Report on global warming. Report on anything you like, within good taste, because this will be on the Internet, and we want to keep it family friendly. And remember that if you put your names in your online journal or blog, once it's on the Internet anything embarassing you write could come back to haunt you, so there's another reason to keep it G- or PG-Rated." (I can see myself in a job interview five years from now with the interviewer asking me about my blog. "What was it with you and that fur-covered snake thing?" No. I do not want to have to explain anything embarrassing at a job interview. Answering "Why are you unemployed?" is hard enough.)

Report on the news? I wasn't there to see what happened, yet you want me to report on it? Like Jayson Blair did for the NY Times? I'd have to read what others report and then regurgitate it, and there's no guarantee it won't sound like the original author's writing. How about op-ed posts instead? Those I can do. Everyone is always telling me how right I am when I voice my opinion (hence this particular pseudonym). (What? You thought my parents named me Hugh R. Wright? No way. They aren't that cruel. Well, maybe they are. I had to endure sharing a bedroom with my little sister who farts all night long. That's torture.)