Cool Zebras

I attended college with the intent to graduate and work in the mass communications field. My concentration was public relations, but the majority of my courses were journalistic courses. The class that was the toughest on all of the students in the program was the journalistic skills class.

The class was required for all mass comm majors, whether your concentration was in journalism or pr. There were strict guidelines for stories. Spelling a proper name wrong would give you an automatic zero for your efforts, no second chances. You can believe that I checked and re-checked every word in those assignments. Wal-Mart. Yep.

I've often thought that I have chosen strange things over the years. I am not an outgoing person. Journalism and pr require a certain amount of assertiveness that I really do not possess naturally.

However, in college I did what was necessary to pass the class. I went to the city council meetings and got quotes from people in attendance and I told them that I was writing a story for my college class.

I finished first in rank for that class. I AM a writer, regardless of my status as published on paper or on blog only. What I write here? These are my words, still my property even though my canvas is this public space.

Kelly at Don Mills Diva recently had her words lifted from her blog, and while her words were credited to her, they were misrepresented. The article implied that she had given the reporter an interview when in fact she had not.

I'm here to say that bloggers are just as legitimately writers as any paper-published writers. If you don't believe that's true then you haven't been reading the right blogs. Check out the Zebra Roll. There is a group of writers.


Because our words are not printed on paper, we are no less writers.