Revel, Oh young man, in thy youth

Daddy's turn to post...

First, a dispatch from Titus and his second day at school:

-He got a "yogurt" tag for lunch, which was very exciting
-He made more friends, but didn't play on the monkey bars at recess. He did go on the slide and played tag.
-His teacher read "The Gingerbread Man"
-Daddy managed to successfully pick him up from school

Now, a funny story from work:

I was chatting with some kids at Ravenwood Elementary School for a first-day-of-school story. One of the young men at the front of a line waiting to leave said "You're a reporter? Are you famous?"

I muttered somethings about being with a small weekly and I doubt that anyone knows who I am. He wasn't really listening. Before I could finish, he said "You must be rich!"

Anyone who knows anything about the newspaper business finds this very amusing. The truth is that a first year kindergarten teacher makes significantly more than I or most journalists make. That's as it should be. Their job is harder.

In fact, I interviewed a kindergarten teacher who has been at the same school for about six years. It was the end of the first day and she was clearly blasted. It turns out, though, that she was headed to a local Olive Garden for a five-hour shift as a server. I couldn't hide my surprise, thinking that she's got to be making something in the low- to mid-$30K.

"Why?" I asked.

"For the money," she said.

Huh.

I guess there's some sort of glamour with my job. The very nice lady at the bank who helped us the other day commented about how cool it was.

Cool? Maybe.

Lucrative? Not so much.

What I will say is that the people who work at my newspaper, myself included, really are passionate and idealistic in a very cliche way. Journalists are regularly rated at the bottom of the popularity list, along with politicians and lawyers. That's a bit unfair. At least they're getting some loot while they're being reviled. Most of us are just trying to shed some light on public affairs and recognize people who do good things and occasionally help catch the bad people with hands in the cookie jar. And no, we don't always get it right.

I'll leave you with this thought: think about the places in the world that don't have freedom of the press and ask yourself if those are places you'd like to live.

So yes, I do truly love my job and feel that it is important and contributes to society in some microcosmic way. It's not so bad being part of a profession that can also claim both Superman and Spiderman.

Now that's cool.