[NinjaPoodle]

Originally Posted by PhotoBug

You wrote this post three months ago. What have you been up to since then? Have you graduated with your BFA?

Nope, haven't graduated with my BFA, yet.

Long story but the short of it is $$$$.

Because of my federal student loans, I cant work full time (they are in forbearance) so I do work part time when I can. I'm taking j-classes at the local Jr. College. I've been lucky to receive some aid to pay for classes. At the end of next semester, I'm looking to receive 2 journalism certificates and another A.A. but this one in Journalism. In the mean time, I'm applying to scholarships and building up my J-resume (if you're interested, I can send you my Linkedin). I have 24 units left in my BFA program and am hoping I can save and get enough scholarship $$$ to pay for it.

Since I was last on GC three years ago, so the forum software tells me (I've been back, just haven't logged in), I went to J-school. I attended online because I didn't want to relocate due to having my primary care doctor and all my specialists for lupus set up. It's just a huge hassle to move. Anyway, I was doing really well in my digital journalism MA program and holding a 3.5 GPA and, literally, halfway through the program I had to stop. It was Christmas and bitter cold here, and I thought my asthma was acting up and so I went to the ER to get a breathing treatment. It wasn't my asthma; I had 3 pulmonary embolisms; so of course, I did a medical withdrawal from my classes.

During my recovery, I decided not to return to the program because during that time media organizations were hemorrhaging money, and in response they were letting journalists and photojournos go left and right. Then, the Dept. of Labor put out a jobs outlook for journalism in the negative double digits! That sealed it for me. I knew journalism already didn't pay a lot of money and I was okay with that, but then the added mass layoffs, hiring freezes, and jobs outlook from the DOL were just too much.

So, when I recovered and my doctor gave me a clean bill of health, I jumped back in undergrad for 1.5 academic years to get computer science and math prerequisites and applied to grad school for my MS in Computer Science. Online, of course. I got in and that's what I'm pursuing now, except that I'm sitting out the quarter that just started because I broke my ankle and tore some ligaments in it, and pretty much had to have my ankle surgically reconstructed. I'm in a rehab facility now. Doggone prednisone probably made my bones easier to break, but hey... stuff happens.

Sending good vibes your way and wishing you the best of health!

Do you have a resume website/portfolio? I don't have the resume website, although I could do one in no time. I don't have a photojournalism portfolio either, but that wouldn't take too much time to put up, either, because I have a web hosting account with plenty of space and the skills to do it. I do, however, have a Flickr account of some of my favorite photographs. They're a mix of genres, the only criterion was that they be a favorite of mine. Do you have anything like that? Do you want to exchange links?

Have you thought about launching an online publication?

LOL! Yes to everything but the online publication. I am jotting ideas for book ideas though.

I'll IM you. Thanks for asking!

I'm glad you found another avenue to pursue outside of journalism. Yeah, the money sucks but I love it and would never consider getting out of it. I'm keeping my options open in terms of location an type of work, hence grad school.