It’s 11:30 p.m. and I have been watching my new favorite show “Parking Wars” for a few more hours than I planned on. In between commercials, it dawned on me that I haven’t written here in close to a month. I feel pretty guilty about it, because I hate wasted space, especially wasted internet space. If you’re going to take the time to occupy a portion of the web, at least have the decency to update and properly run your blog or site. Yes, I know I’m being a Nazi. So sue me.

I’ve been busier than usual lately, trying my best to climb the faltering vines of the journalism industry. I am regularly contributing to the features section of a newspaper here in Los Angeles, running my own news site and focusing on pitching to magazines and other publications, all the while trying to maintain a full-time editing job. 

Let me tell you, it’s not hard out there for a pimp. It’s hard out there for a writer, ok?

There are times when I want to come here and just write in big block letters: “Los Angeles Times, PLEASE hire me. I can do this. I have the passion. I have the skill. I will not let you down.” But I can’t because  journalism is in dire straits right now. Every time I read the tweets of various editors of publications I admire and would die to write for, like the New York Times or Huffington Post or LA Weekly, I just want to send out an SOS. “Look, I know things aren’t looking good for us reporters at the moment. But I have the chops and I have the ideas and I know the web. I live social media. I can even take my own photos!”

But life isn’t that simple, especially when you throw writing into the mix. I consider myself slightly lucky, because I have a job that allows me to be involved in the industry and I’m getting published in print – that’s shocking in 2009. But I want more. I want so much more. I want to be actively involved in investigative journalism and human rights and social causes. Call me naive, but I still think that journalism has the capacity to change the world.

When I was a college student a few years ago, one of my journalism professors told me that to be a journalist, one must be intrepid.

Intrepid.

Characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude and endurance.

It’s true. People don’t become journalists (at least the ones that don’t go into broadcast) so that they can be rich. They become journalists because they have the same combination of passion and skill that I do. They’re intrepid. They want to change the world. And no matter how many people lose their jobs or how many publications close their doors, I still believe journalism can and will change this world. 

We just need to find a way to pull it back from its boot straps. And we will, it’s the how and when that are still up for debate.