Just Keep Shooting--and Writing

In basketball, it’s often said that if a player’s shot isn’t falling, the player needs to “just keep shooting.” I’ll never play a second of professional basketball, but this week at SJI has taught me the meaning of that phrase more than any NBA Finals game could. As an aspiring journalist, I want every piece of my work to be worthy of a Pulitzer. When I look at an article printed with a mistake or omission, I become angry with myself. David Squires, urban affairs columnist for the Daily Press, told our class today that we shouldn’t do that. Instead of basketball, Squires used a baseball analogy, saying that “sometimes you have hits and misses but you have to keep swinging through the slumps.” I’d love to work for a daily newspaper someday. That would mean that, even if I have a not-so-great article, I could redeem myself the very next day. That thought makes the pressures of deadline writing less scary.