“Journalism is the first draft of history”

I was very excited for our morning session today. We were treated to a question and answer session with journalist Nancy Ramsey. While, we began by analyzing the new coverage of the Jessica Lynch and how the events that made her a national hero were covered in the national press, we quickly moved on to the fascinating story of Nancy’s experiences in journalism. She fell into journalism on accident, she said. Nancy is currently on the web journalism team of ABC.com and a freelance journalist at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Sports Illustrated. She also has experience on the Today Show, ABC and the New Yorker.

I thought her presentation was incredibly fascinated, especially because I have been toying with the idea of becoming an education reporter. She shared a lot about her experiences in the field, discussing the fast paced nature of a 24 hour news cycle and validity of majoring in journalism vs. a liberal arts degree. Life as a journalist is never static.

Tonight, we went out for sushi with Brian Farkas, a Vassar alum. I must say, I thought he made Vassar sound even more amazing than it already did – a difficult task, in my opinion. He was incredibly enthusiastic about his alma mater recounting stories of his triple majored roommate, praising his accessible professors and the community feel of a school Vassar’s size (2,000 students).

Today was a fantastic day. I heard from two people about a career I am considering and a college that I really love.

Tomorrow, our rough draft of our paper is due and we will have a presentation about presidential campaigns.