This is the 500th post on this blog during 2009.
...and I'll have to confess, blogging this year has especially been a challenge. I write my posts during a full-time job search, constantly mindful of the fact that potential employers may (and likely will) read them. At the same time, the journalist in me grates at editing my copy for those reasons. Lennox the editorial writer/columnist/commentator is likewise hesitant to pull back even an inch because of those concerns. If readers of this blog can't trust me to report what I know to be true, to denounce what I know to be false, and to take principled stands on issues, then what the hell is any of this worth? I'm sure the answer for some is "not much". 
I'm willing to bet that if you were to read all 500 posts, you'll find something to anger almost any potential employer. Candidates and political parties of all stripes will find comments to dislike. Public and Private Broadcasters and newspapers too will find critiques not to their liking. Potential advertisers haven't been ignored, nor have state and federal government agencies. But that's really no different than all of the stories I aired over the decades in print or on-air. I would ask all of them to consider that my service to this blog is exactly what you'll get if you hire me.
The rules are fairly simple: Be honest. Don't try to protect friends or hurt enemies, or visa-verse. And above all, avoid conflicts of interest. And because of that last consideration, I have found it impossible to blog while walking on could-be would-be employer eggshells. I'm certainly not perfect, as I'm sure commentators to this posting will concur. But I do try my best. And no, not all of the posts here are serious political commentary, anymore than every story and word in a newspaper. There has to be some levity, even in unemployment. 
Quit blogging? I could, for sure. But during my career I have spent my day gathering information from public and private sources, finally disgorging that data, hopefully in readable or understandable form, in a newscast or column or talk show. It's more than a habit with me. It's my life. And this blog has allowed me to have an ongoing receptacle for the day's output. I need it. It keeps me relatively sane while I decide what I want Tim Lennox to be when he grows up.
I'm willing to bet that if you were to read all 500 posts, you'll find something to anger almost any potential employer. Candidates and political parties of all stripes will find comments to dislike. Public and Private Broadcasters and newspapers too will find critiques not to their liking. Potential advertisers haven't been ignored, nor have state and federal government agencies. But that's really no different than all of the stories I aired over the decades in print or on-air. I would ask all of them to consider that my service to this blog is exactly what you'll get if you hire me.
The rules are fairly simple: Be honest. Don't try to protect friends or hurt enemies, or visa-verse. And above all, avoid conflicts of interest. And because of that last consideration, I have found it impossible to blog while walking on could-be would-be employer eggshells. I'm certainly not perfect, as I'm sure commentators to this posting will concur. But I do try my best. And no, not all of the posts here are serious political commentary, anymore than every story and word in a newspaper. There has to be some levity, even in unemployment.
Quit blogging? I could, for sure. But during my career I have spent my day gathering information from public and private sources, finally disgorging that data, hopefully in readable or understandable form, in a newscast or column or talk show. It's more than a habit with me. It's my life. And this blog has allowed me to have an ongoing receptacle for the day's output. I need it. It keeps me relatively sane while I decide what I want Tim Lennox to be when he grows up. [ADDENDUM: Lots of employment councillors warn job seekers to be careful what they post on Facebook and Twitter etc, because potential employers will Google them. But also remember to check the "Live-View" photos of the place you live. While there's nothing you can do to change the existing pictures, if somebody parked a clunker in front of your house the day the camera-equipped truck drove through, you might be able to bring it up in an interview in a joking way to make sure they know it wasn't your clunker.]
Don't you dare give up blogging, Tim! You're one of the best.
ReplyDeleteAny teaching jobs out there for you? I would think that you'd be an excellent teacher.
In true Alabama fashion (well, it DID happen here!), quoting Admiral David Farragut in the Battle of Mobile Bay (yes, I know he was a Union man, but he was )...
ReplyDelete"Damn the Torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"