Recently I came across an editorial that I wrote for The MetroWest Daily News, the newspaper that I interned at in high school and freelanced for during winter breaks in college.
Reading the editorial, which I wrote in July 2006, the summer before senior year, made me laugh. It’s clear that I was overly optimistic about the fate of newspapers and that I was determined to change the way people thought about them. (Hey, I didn’t get voted “Most Optimistic” and “Most Likely to Change the World” in high school for nothing!)
I know that it’s not realistic to think that I can save newspapers. I still consider them a part of my daily routine and would like to see them survive. I don’t, though, think that “newspapers are the wave of the future for aspiring journalists” as I wrote in the piece.
In retrospect, I think my argument was more so that there will always be a need for news: “In a an ever-changing field that continues to become more competitive,” I wrote, “there lies a glimmer of hope for young journalists, who can rest assured that the thrill of writing and reporting will never get old.”
Different parts of the editorial make me laugh, such as the fact that the headline, “Tenore: Wave of the Future,” makes it seem as though I’m the wave of the future. Other parts, such as the unnecessary cliches, make me cringe: “Most journalists are used to living life in the fast lane.” And then there is a typo in the kicker: “In a an ever-changing field that continues to become more competitive, there lies a glimmer of hope for young journalists, who can rest assured that the thrill of writing and reporting will never get old.”
Re-reading your old work is such a good way to see how you’ve grown — as a person, a self-editor and a writer. Thankfully, I’ve grown up a little since writing the wave of the future editorial.
Word on the Street 