Once upon a time I was younger and handsome. I wanted to be an actor. I took classes in college, but I never tried out for theatre. After college I became a journalist, the sports editor for a community newspaper. I wasn’t then nor am I now a big sports fan, but it was a foot in the door.
Here is my bio they published shortly after I was hired.
It was an okay job. I wrote pieces about different people in all types of sports. My lack of knowledge only came into play when we covered the high school games. Even then it was more about getting the kids names in the article for their parents and friends to see then the actual coverage of the game. My editor helped me out even sometimes giving me a photographer. Although I did shoot my own pictures as well.
The problem was this was a part time job that was taking up my full time life. We were assigned editorials to write by the editor in chief. I actually enjoyed coming up with these ideas and seeing them in print. I got pretty good at it. Then they decided we shouldn’t have a byline on these, because they were the views of the paper, in particular the editor in chief. They stopped being fun.
The head of the news department in my home city, Whittier, let me cover some news stories with her. She went to college with me and we were good friends. I actually got a front page story. She did the photography and I did the research. And wrote the piece. That was my favorite day seeing my byline on the front page instead of the sports section.
As I said this job was only part time. My dad found me a job at the defense plant where he worked. I got hired as a proof reader and a typist. The job was second shift, so I could still do my writing during the day. Or so I thought. Eventually I quit the newspaper job.
My bug to become an actor resurfaced. There was an ad running on the radio saying the needed fresh talent. I got a girl who worked with me on the night shift to take my picture in the parking lot and I sent it in to Faces International.
I will continue this story in another post….
Life Beyond the Casinos 