Reflections on a Road Not Quite Taken

One of my other resolutions for 2010 is to add at least one more byline (more, I hope) to the short list over there on the right (see "Elsewhere by Jody").

I have a few ideas—it's just a matter of time, focus, discipline, and determination.

Then I read stories like this and feel fortunate that my byline-seeking is for personal satisfaction—if it were my livelihood (as I had intended when I headed off to J-school), I'm not sure how I'd be faring.

Of course, journalism isn't the only field that's undergoing unprecedented upheaval. In fact, it's hard to name a profession or industry that isn't.

Certainly lawyers are discovering that job security is becoming a mythical concept—and outsourcing isn't just for blue-collar workers anymore.

And as Zach can tell you, the acting world—particularly in LA—is unrecognizable from a couple of years ago. With movie stars and foreign actors taking refuge on TV, everyone else (character actors and up-and-comers alike) is getting squeezed.

Technology, globalization, and the worldwide economic crisis have wrought so much collective havoc that it's hard to take a breath and take stock. Even the idea of stepping back is a bit scary when it feels like you have to work twice as hard for half as much—if that.

It seems like almost everything—and everyone—is being commodified these days. It's not just journalism, I know. I guess I'm glad that I went to J-school on the eve of the cataclysm, when it still seemed possible to make a difference and a living.