I wanted to study two things when I first came back from the Peace Corps: journalism and emergency medicine. Two months after getting back to Oregon, I found myself at Portland Community College enrolled in an emergency medical technician class. I had taken a few first aid courses and had anxiously enrolled. The instructor talked authoritatively and passionately about the great responsibility and honor that is involved in being an EMT. It's a tough job, the pay is low, but it saves lives and it's a practical skill. (sound familiar?)
I loved it, but I felt myself stepping back. Something deep inside me told me I was in the wrong place. I chatted later that night with my friend Dilanga, a paramedic from L.A. who has spent the past several years building up emergency response systems in Asia. I told him I desperately wanted to learn those skills, but that my heart was telling me to go study journalism. He said I had to listen to that voice. Emergency medicine would always be there; I could learn it later. That Friday, I withdrew from the course, packed my bags for New York City and started the long process of applying to graduate schools in journalism.
I also kept wondering why in the world I wanted to study those two things. My mom even commented: how are those two disciplines related? I couldn't say. I just knew I wanted to learn more about both.
The writers in this week's reading introduce journalists as first responders. I'd never thought of it before. Two and a half years later, I finally realize there is some overlap. Of course, I realize the job skills are quite different from each other, but the overarching principles are stunningly similar.
Assessment skills, quick thinking, piecing together information, evaluating risks, arriving first. A journalist and an EMT must do these things in order to be effective. It's a parallel I've never thought about before.
It's going to be really helpful to frame my work as a first responder. My whole life I have taken it for granted that in an emergency situation, the media show up. Bloodhounds, they've been called. Our news values have mixed into a strange reality of breaking news. There's the public's need and right to know, our collective fascination with trauma and violence and the pressure to break the story first.
Somehow the public never considered that watching all of this tragedy unravel might be taking a toll on the journalists, too. I have to admit I never considered the possibility that it might be hard either. Then I was assigned a life story. Death sits eerily nearby during those calls. It's close and undeniable. It's part of what makes us human and also part of what makes those life stories important.
I think talking about trauma in any field is necessary, but often neglected. Even though I attended only one session, my EMT instructor took the time to talk about self-care during that first session. It's a high burnout job and the work can be overwhelming, he warned us. Indeed. I didn't know it at the time, but his advice would also apply to me — a different type of first responder.
I loved it, but I felt myself stepping back. Something deep inside me told me I was in the wrong place. I chatted later that night with my friend Dilanga, a paramedic from L.A. who has spent the past several years building up emergency response systems in Asia. I told him I desperately wanted to learn those skills, but that my heart was telling me to go study journalism. He said I had to listen to that voice. Emergency medicine would always be there; I could learn it later. That Friday, I withdrew from the course, packed my bags for New York City and started the long process of applying to graduate schools in journalism.
I also kept wondering why in the world I wanted to study those two things. My mom even commented: how are those two disciplines related? I couldn't say. I just knew I wanted to learn more about both.
The writers in this week's reading introduce journalists as first responders. I'd never thought of it before. Two and a half years later, I finally realize there is some overlap. Of course, I realize the job skills are quite different from each other, but the overarching principles are stunningly similar.
Assessment skills, quick thinking, piecing together information, evaluating risks, arriving first. A journalist and an EMT must do these things in order to be effective. It's a parallel I've never thought about before.
It's going to be really helpful to frame my work as a first responder. My whole life I have taken it for granted that in an emergency situation, the media show up. Bloodhounds, they've been called. Our news values have mixed into a strange reality of breaking news. There's the public's need and right to know, our collective fascination with trauma and violence and the pressure to break the story first.
Somehow the public never considered that watching all of this tragedy unravel might be taking a toll on the journalists, too. I have to admit I never considered the possibility that it might be hard either. Then I was assigned a life story. Death sits eerily nearby during those calls. It's close and undeniable. It's part of what makes us human and also part of what makes those life stories important.
I think talking about trauma in any field is necessary, but often neglected. Even though I attended only one session, my EMT instructor took the time to talk about self-care during that first session. It's a high burnout job and the work can be overwhelming, he warned us. Indeed. I didn't know it at the time, but his advice would also apply to me — a different type of first responder.
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