To the Recent College Graduate who Studied Journalism

I and many other journalism students knew this wasn't going to be easy. Hell, if you went to Temple University almost every class had a "Journalism is doomed and so are you" speech at the end of the semester.

But this is ridiculous. With newspapers and magazines folding everyday, the recently-graduated journalist has to compete with the 15-plus-years-experience journalist for the same job. Who's going to get hired? The former Decibel intern or the former Editor-in-Chief of Metal Maniacs?

Yeah, it sucks. I know that many recent grads are still at the minimum wage paying, bullshit job they had in college (myself included), or they don't have a job at all.

But it can't stay like this forever. The economy has to pick back up eventually. And until it does, try these things while you're waiting for that job that utilizes your career.

1. Learn another language. Journalism is about communicating with your sources, and you never know whose story you're going to tell. With the My ____ Coach games on the Nintendo DS (there's Japanese, Chinese, French, and Spanish), learning a new language is cheap and relatively easy. Sure, they're no Rosetta Stones, but they're a talking dictionary, with over 100 lessons. And there's games. Hai!

2. Start your own zine or blog. Forget what your school said, the Internet is awesome. It makes publishing easy and almost free. A domain name costs 10 bucks, and for those who are less Web savvy, blog accounts are free. Who cares if you're not making much (or any) money? It's a resume builder, and the experience is invaluable. See my zine Tainted Tea or my friends at Damage Control.

3. Pitch, publish, repeat. Neil Gaiman wrote, "Better I should call to people who aren't there than that people who are there should miss us because I didn't say anything." Find publications. If you're really stuck, try the Writer's Market Guide. Or just go to a coffeeshop, bar, or bookstore and see what free publications are there. Write to editors. The worst they can do is say, "No" or ignore you. And you never know who might be reading your blog.

So, with these words recent journalism graduate, I bid you farewell. Keep your head up. And remember, story ideas are everywhere. You just need to know where to look.