26/01/2021
If you haven’t liked my page and want to keep up with my articles... please like and share!
I plan to start adding all my columns to the page 🙂
For anyone who is just now following my page, I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself and share with you 'my story.'--why i became a journalist!
Here is an article I wrote several years ago :)
In general conversation, most of the time, I am often asked if I had always wanted to be a journalist. Some wonder if I spent my childhood scooping out the big story, writing in a personalized journal and dreaming up ways to entertain the community with my writing.
However, to be quite honest, from the time I was in second grade, my dream job was actually to be an elementary school teacher. I would spend my free time, instead of playing house like all the other kids my age, playing “school.”
I would pretend to be the teacher and instruct my three younger sisters, giving them homework, making up tests, and then grading them on their work. I guess I had such a great time as a child “playing school” that I had convinced myself at a young age that a teacher was exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. Sure, I had spent some of my time writing creative stories for my grandmother, but it never really dawned on me at that point that a writer is what I wanted to be. Elementary Education was the career I had set my heart on at a very young age.
I had even chosen to go to The University of North Alabama based mainly on the factor that it had one of the best education schools in the state. Life, though, has a way of taking our plans and changing them when we least expect it. When I was a junior in college and had already completed several of my “major” courses, I realized teaching was not for me. I wish I could say it was at that exact moment I realized I wanted to change my major to journalism. But it wasn’t. Actually, once again, I switched majors. This time, though, it was to social work and I was thinking, “a social worker was exactly what I wanted to be because it would allow me to make a difference in others lives.”
But after a few months, I soon realized social work was also not for me. To be perfectly honest, I was confused and not sure of the career path I wanted to take. It wasn’t until after a spent a summer in Baltimore, Maryland, as a summer missionary with the Baptist Campus Ministries that I begin to see the path God had in store for my life.
My summer mission’s partner, Martha, and I were staying with two elderly women, who had more of an impact on my life than I would have ever imagined at the beginning of the summer. The mother and daughter, who had led amazing lives, had intriguing stories to share with everyone who crossed their paths. I would find myself staying up way past my bedtime just to listen to their stories, fascinated with what each woman had to share, and eagerly awaiting the moment I could share their stories with others. I remember wanting to run back to my room just to write in my journal or send a letter home to my friends and family to let them know what I had learned.
My friends and family, especially my mother, enjoyed hearing the stories and encouraged to put my pen to work and turn them into stories for everyone to enjoy. “You have such a knack with people and words maybe you need to go into journalism.”
So, it wasn’t long after I followed my mom’s advice, I found myself enrolled in several journalism classes at UNA and writing for the local newspaper. My first actual published article was on my baby sister, Jackie Rose’s AAU basketball team, coached by dad, John Townsend, and my uncle Robert Richard, and was published in the Cullman Times. Ironically, it was while I was still in college and at least a year before that I landed a job at the same newspaper. Since most of my childhood was spent in Arab, with the exception of having lived in Pullman, Washington, for a few years, while my dad completed his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, I had thought I might try to get a job at the Arab Tribune, a bi-weekly newspaper, to help get my foot in the door.
But due to the persistence of my father, who has always encouraged me to go the extra mile in everything I do, I interviewed with the Cullman Times and landed a job just two weeks after a graduated. I remember the editor at the time, emailing me back after I had already contacted him several times and saying that “timing is the essence, it seems.” Of course, he was right. It had just worked out that another reporter had left and he wanted to make some changes in the newsroom, moving me into lifestyles and Jimmy Sims, who had currently had that role into the crime beat. I must say I was a little overwhelmed at first, having always admired Mr. Sims writing, and wasn’t sure I could do it. But thanks to his wonderful encouragement, I soon found myself enjoying feature writing as I took a very raw talent and developed it into something more.
I didn’t realize it at this time, but now I do, that my job at the Cullman Times was a stepping stone in the right direction—leading me straight to the Cullman County Commission on Aging. If I had not worked there, and helped produce the quarterly Senior Living Section during the nearly 2 years I worked there, I would have never met Frankie Glynn Dimmock and impressed upon her my love for writing and seniors. It was through our working relationship, nearly 9 years ago, that she thought of contacting me about applying for her position when she retired.
It was amazing how it all worked out. I had always enjoyed working with the seniors and even made a very good friend, Billie Butts, while I worked here 9 years ago, who impressed upon me the importance of cherishing every moment of life. She never ceased to amaze me with her energy, whether it was line-dancing, doing yoga, or venturing out on trips to Mystery Train Rides in Lebanon, Tennessee. Every time I was around this amazing lady, she would put a smile on my face and make me laugh. I was saddened when I learned of her death a couple of years ago, but immediately realized I was blessed to have known her. I can honestly say that I am definitely a better person because of her. .
When I left the Cullman Times and went to work at the Fort Payne Times Journal, I begin to journey on further into a field of journalism I had never imagined—covering the crime and county government beat. Honestly, I never had enough faith in my own reporting skills that I could do it. But Mrs. Billie never doubted me. She told me that as long as I kept the confidence in myself that I could do anything I set my mind too.
No, it wasn’t an easy job. However, I learned a lot about politics, both at the local and state levels, and eventually found myself working there for nearly 6 years. I left there in Sept. of 2008 to pursue another dream of mine—to work for a magazine publication. I landed a job with a publishing company in Chattanooga, Tenn. It was a great place to work but I soon realized that an 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 writing job, dealing with all my interviews over the phone, was just not for me. I didn’t really have any interaction with people outside in the community and I didn’t function well in that environment. Yes, I was discouraged when it didn’t work out , but once again, realized that sometimes life takes us around in a full circle to put exactly where we need to be.
If anyone had asked me 2 years ago, if I would have ended up back in Cullman, I would have argued until I was blue in the face that wasn’t going to happen. I loved being in the Chattanooga area and imagined I would either be there or in Fort Payne forever. However, as a single woman, in my early thirties, and very close to my family, I realize that coming back close to home was the step in the right direction for me. My grandfather, John Joseph Townsend, of Fairview, died in August. I was glad I had a job closer to home where I could be there to visit him in the hospital just before he died. I learned that things do work out for the best.
Also, after working at the Commission on Aging building for almost four months, I realize I am where I need to be. I love working with seniors, hearing their stories, and sharing them with the public. Every senior has so much to share and what some people don’t realize is that we have so much to learn from their past experiences. It is always rewarding to be able to take their pictures and see the smile just one click of the camera puts on their faces.
As I continue to work here, I hope to continue to provide the seniors with a newspaper they can enjoy as well as a website that allow them immediate access. Yes, working with seniors, has already proven to be a rewarding job and will only continue to be just that.
😄
