An Interesting Experience

I had a interesting and wonderful experience on Monday. Readers of "World Magazine" will be familar with Joel Belz who writes the editor's column each week. For those of you not familar with WORLD - it is a news magazine with the fourth-largest circulation in America. It is the Christian counterpart to TIME and NEWSWEEK. I have read it in the past and since I have started pursuing journalism I have often thought that I would be interested in writing for WORLD in the future. While I was still in Kenya I discovered that the WORLD offices are in Asheville, NC. This was great news for me since we are spending four weeks in Highlands, NC, a hour drive from Asheville. In response to an email I wrote asking if I could visit, Mr. Belz offered to give a bit of his time to meet with me and advise me concerning a future career in journalism. After wondering if our schedule would make space for this meeting, it finally worked out on Monday.
The forty-five minutes I spent with Mr. Belz taught me more than the two books I've read on journalism and the two lessons I've read from London School of Journalism. After showing genuine interest in my life and future, he imparted many small tidbits of practical wisdom. Everything from what to major in at college, things to continally learn about, what types of articles to present to a future employer and what kinda of journalist he would hire on the spot. And these were just a few of the things we talked about.
I will greatly value the advice I received and put it into practice as soon as I can.