the "real" world:

I do not live in a war zone.  When my president was elected, there were no angry riots, no cries of "fraud" from the losing party.  Ours was a peaceful transition of power.  My parents have not lost their home, and I am not starving or persecuted.  Compared to most of the people in our world right now, my life is on the better side of things.  And yet, I am not without my fears and problems.  While they may not hold as much clout as the globally significant issues - war, poverty, famine - they are still important to me.  Every person is entitled to his or her own little bit of selfish concern, every once in a while.  In my world, for some reason I keep thinking I can separate different parts of my life into tidy little independent sections, with one never having to come into conflict with any other.  Unfortunately for me, I am not one of those people who can separate their selves so easily.  I spill over into different parts of me, and nothing is ever easy.

I am a student.  I am also a recent cancer survivor.  There are a number of irreconcilable differences between the two, but I have learned (the hard way) how to strike something of a balance.  Ah, but the wrench: now I am also a photojournalist.  Unpaid and kind of unemployed but still a photojournalist.  The final twist: I am graduating in less than three months, after which I will no longer be a student.  Among my many remaining "me's," I will still be a cancer survivor, and I will still be a (probably) unemployed photojournalist.  My dilemma can be summed up in two words: Health. Insurance.  The day of my graduation, once I am handed my diploma and throw my cap in the air and cry like crazy because it's Finally over, once the pomp and circumstance fades out and the champagne wears off, I will no longer have health insurance.  And because I could not possibly imagine having studied something practical like economics or political science or even sociology, I will probably not have a job either.

Unfortunately for me and my friends who will have degrees in journalism, the news industry is going through a bit of a sea change right now.  The other journalism students here and I got to go to a National Press Foundation awards dinner last week, and while the food was amazing, the tone of the evening was notedly somber.  The journalists at our table were discussing their friends who had been laid off, and the speakers all included cryptic references to the not-so-great "state of the news media."  Good times.  Even better times trying to find a steady job in this business.  Even best times trying to find a steady Photography job.  With health insurance.  So that's what's up and what's freaking me out.  As previously mentioned, I would really like to pursue this journalism thing, but I really need health insurance right now.  I don't know what is going to happen with journalism; everyone can really only guess and postulate as to where the industry is going.  And as to where I am going?  I gave up on guessing where my life was taking me when I first got sick and realized that plans change.  You just have to roll with it.  And hope something amazing comes your way.  Like a few-billion dollar bailout.

February 10, 2009 - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner speaking at a Senate Banking Committee oversight hearing on the present and future state of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).  Dear Mr. Secretary, how 'bout sending a bit of that cash my way?  I swear I won't spend it on a jet...