The Walter & Josh Shows

One thing I really enjoyed this summer was the array of visiting speakers via the Nieman Center (and the Globe tour, of course). The last two speakers, Walter Ray Watson of NPR and Josh Benton, Director of the Nieman Digital Journal Lab at Harvard, were a contrast in styles.


I once heard that in New York City, people are in such a hurry that if someone takes a while to make a point, they say, "Point? Point?" There are psychological studies of what it means to talk about, say, 20 ideas in five minutes versus one idea. I think it is supposed to reflect part of the IQ of the person. Anyway, Walter took ten minutes to make one point, but in his case, this deliberate nature might be mark of a good editor.

Josh, on the other hand, was making fast points, one after another, in an elegant power point speech (with ageist photos). It was the fast pace of the male young professional.


These observations mean nothing as far as content or professionalism, it's just something I always note. It's a sort of body language through talk. I like Southern accents, because I think so fast and they calm me down.


As for the content of their talks, Walter assured us that radio as a medium will be here for a while. As for newspapers, the prognosis is dimmer (except in Africa, as Claudia commented to me. Yes, don't assume everyone has a computer, Harvard folks!). Josh was implying that the grave is dug, and the public is slowly throwing metaphorical dirt on newspapers. I like newspapers. I like to get the Sunday Globe and flip through it, fold it, rip good stories out for friends and my mother, and put it under the cat's food dish. I mean, you can't put a computer under the cat's food dish. If we don't have newspapers, working class canaries all over the country will be pooping on Blackberries.


I look forward to "committing journalism as a retirement "hobby." I use quotes because I once filled out a computer dating profile by saying, "I don't have 'hobbies'--I have obsessions." I don't need to bring in as much money as before when I retire, which could be in three or four years. But I'd love to generate a bit of paid writing/editing work (someone said to try Craig's list). Also, I can promote my music. I want to keep the blog and opine about Cambridge news and arts and social justice. When I can spend the eight hours I formerly devoted to My Benevolent Plantation, I will have time for all sorts of projects. I hope that I have the courage to sign up at the city cable TV station to learn video to help with community journalism.


My heart goes out to those in the class who pictured themselves like Lois Lane, working side by side with Clark Kent (or perhaps Clark Rockefeller), saving the city via investigative jouralism. But if I had gotten a job in what I majored in, I'd be a professional harpsichordist now. What happened? The world changed in a thousand ways, and things I didn't expect, good and bad, came my way. I tried things I loved that either made no money or that compelled me to work with mean people. My 25 years at Harvard, sitting at a desk and ordering library paste have not been "fulfilling" per se, but they have been a good base of sanity and structure to fly from at times.


Ask a few grown ups what they majored in in college, and I predict there will be a very small percentage that ended up doing what they they pictured when they were in college. If you "row like you're the only one in the boat," don't forget to keep your eyes open for serendipity, fate, or (for "God's plan," if you will. It never ends until you're gone. May you live many lives.