Friday, December 14, 2007

Take the girl...

There is definite truth to the old saying... you can take the girl out of the newsroom but you can't take the newsroom out of the girl. Recent events have once again held that up.

It's been nearly a year and a half now since I left the news business. I'm in my second year of teaching. Yet, my antennae still twitch when I notice something newsworthy, at least potentially. I immediately start thinking of how quickly a news crew could make it to the scene, how many should be sent, can I get video or still pictures now without waiting for the crew, etc.

For example, when driving home and I see swat teams with really big guns swarming a local farm house (turned out to be a training exercise), or it starts snowing at the beginning of what's predicted to be a major snow storm, or I see cars that have slid off the road during an ice storm. It doesn't take much.

The thing is, since I'm no longer an official member of the media when I do see these things and call the local TV stations I'm often brushed off as another crazy viewer who's seeing things. It's only when I get ahold of someone I once worked with that I'm treated like a reasonably sane person.

I doubt the folks on the other end of the phone ever realize I know exactly what they're thinking of me as they fob me off with an, "I'll be sure to pass that on" or "We'll check into that". But see, I used to use those same lines on folks who would call in about seeing UFOs or political conspiracies, etc. So, I recognize when it's being done to me.

Highly frustrating. I can see now, why so many journalists who leave the business eventually do return. Not that I have any such plans. I'm committed to teaching. But, it's easy to see why others do.

Nimitz' Lady