Dispatches
For many years I believed I’d be an international journalist. Reporting on wars. And famines. And refugees. And orphans. I was sure I had what it would take. I am sure I have what it would take. I love walking on the edge. When there’s an earthquake. Or tsunami. I want to go. And see. The pull is unmistakable and strong.I am reading Anderson Cooper’s Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival. It feels familiar to me. My response is visceral. I haven’t been to Somalia or Bosnia or Iraq, but the airports are no different from those I frequent. Going to the genocide museum in Rwanda as he did on a vacation makes sense to me. I recently did the same thing on a day off.
There are snippets of this book that I’m mentally putting in my pockets. Worn, folded pages from my life. These are mine. They are his words, but pieces of myself. Experiences I’ve had. Things I’ve seen. And I want to keep them close to me.
posted by Lucia @ 10:37 PM
8 Comments:
Tell us, we want to know. Please.
There aren't many journalists today I have respect for, but I do think Anderson Cooper is one of the good guys.
Yes, I am with meno - we would love to hear the stories! Maybe you should write your own book at some point?
Oooo.. I may have to check that book out. Like you, I always dreamed of being an international journalist. I feel the pull too.
I read that book a few weeks ago. Loved it! Anderson Cooper, as Thomas said, is one of the few American journalists I respect.
Would like to hear more about where you felt he spoke for you. :)
Peace,
~Chani
Thank you for reminding me you are not a journalist—sometimes I forget because you are so good a reporting where you have been and what you have seen.
This is why I love books.
They may be written by someone else, but they feel like "yours" forever.
Some stories feel like they belong to us even though we did not actually live them. That is the power of language.
I went to college to study photojournalism. I was quite good at it and loved nothing more to get into a situation with my camera. It's a bigger shield than one thinks.
I had a problem, though: I was engaged and I could never see myself leaving my family to traipse around the world trying not to get my head blown off.
My resolve to get a real job was tripled when a good friend of mine from college wound up being on the wrong end of a mortar shell in Croatia in 1991. The shield isn't always big enough and now the belligerents are targeting journalists.
I enjoy my life, but I'll have ot pick up Cooper's book. I live the old life vicariously.
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