by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The central mistake of my life is probably that someone did not sit me down, at about 15, and tell me I would never be a journalist. Had someone — preferably a male figure in my life — done that, then, maybe, I wouldn’t have wasted my 20s thinking I could be a daily newspaper reporter.
Me (background) during my crazier days in Seoul.
It has taken me decades to realize that being a good journalist isn’t really that hard, it’s just difficult for me. I am thinking about this because of the review of the Jayson Blair imbroglio I’m reading in the book “The Times” about the modern history of The New York Times.
The way Blair is described at times hits a little bit too close to home, but for the fact that I’ve never done cocaine and I’m honest to a fault — I would never just make shit up in a newspaper article, especially one I knew would be in The New York Times.
Other than that, yikes. I feel seen.
Anyway, there has to be a statute of limitations on alternative universes. I’ve had the life that I’ve had and hopefully — hopefully — I will somehow manage to write a breakout hit novel.
