For once it didn't come in the wave of depressing, pessimistic bad news. A special presentation by veteran journalism John Diaz of the San Francisco Chronicle surprisingly wasn't another way of saying I chose the wrong field or that I shouldn't give up being the next Kurt Cobain. There's hope! Okay, not to get to ahead of myself, but there was some very encouraging advice. I'd like to think of myself as a very opinionated person. Anyone would tell you I'm practically opinion oriented and not remotely afraid to show it. And a little direction coming from Diaz how to succinctly, concisely, and convincingly do this on paper was better than any Walter Cronkite wannabe telling me that the internet ruined journalism, our generation's a real piece of work or that rock and roll ended when John Lennon died.
Diaz had answers and many of them. He gave specific words of wisdom and didn't pause to things nicely. Well, he did have one warning.
"Never raise your own personal consumer issue," Diaz laid it down flat early on but then reminded us that we should "expose a little about yourself."
Diaz's important things to consider weren't obvious and probably overlooked at times by writers with some burning, fiery emotion that just has to reach out to a naive, torn, or simply confused society.
THE TOPIC, WHO'S WRITING THE PIECE, A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE... and most importantly, DETAIL.
"Even though you are going to use your own experience, you still need to report," Diaz reminded our class. He's right. It's never easy, but sometimes maybe different.
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