If you're the parent of a journalism student, it's all going to be OK.
Students in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism often learn that there is no such thing as a safe assumption, and that it is dangerous to generalize. Editors at The Post often preach the same.
Knowing that, I still feel it is safe to assume a lot of us student journalists — Postie or otherwise — need to call our parents more often to reassure them that we're not dead, just busy.
At least that's what my dad has told me. He'll inevitably share this column on Facebook and use it as a reference point when I neglect to call him for the umpteenth time this weekend. Hi, Dad.
This Moms Weekend, Posties reunited with their families will likely be asked whether they're getting enough sleep, if they're eating healthy and if they're having fun. Journalism students will be asked if they're positive of their career choice (because wouldn't they rather just move back home to be close to Mom and Dad?) and if they'd rather do something less tasking.
Those questions remind us that we're loved and worried for, though we might express otherwise at the time of interrogation. There's nothing we can do to make a mother or father cease asking, no matter how many times we answer with our collectively rehearsed statement: "I'm fine."
That answer won't suffice. Both parents and students will engage in some eye-rolling.
Because that's no way to spend Moms Weekend, allow me to answer some of the questions my parents frequently ask. Hopefully they'll comfort some visiting mothers.
1. How are you liking (insert name of chosen student publication here)?
Well, like any other job, we love it some days and hate it others. We're lucky to love it more often than not — it's a hard career choice to understand. Being a journalist is both exhausting and thrilling, and doing so for a student publication can multiply the weight of either attribute.
2. Are you getting any sleep?
Why, do we look tired? Are you saying we look bad? Sorry, we don't mean to be so defensive. Yes, we're getting sleep, just maybe not our full eight hours. To be honest, that's true across all majors.
3. How's the internship/job hunt going?
We are all screaming internally at that question. Most of us are still looking, but we'll be employed some day. It's competitive out in the real world.
4. Don't you want to study something more reliable?
No. We're going to get a job, promise. Studying journalism is worth the worry, but it's hard to explain.
5. Are you seeing anyone?
Ha ha!
6. Are you at least having fun?
It may be hard to believe, but we're having the time of our lives. We're meeting people that are just like us, and many that couldn't be more opposite. We're learning what a real newsroom feels and looks like, and we're becoming familiar with our byline. It's a lot like seeing your name in lights, if those lights were in Times New Roman and really hard to see without your glasses on. We may stay up late, but sometimes it's just to talk. We're working like crazy, but it's often because we love what we're doing. We're going to be OK, but don't forget to keep asking. We still need someone to remind us that we're supposed to be enjoying ourselves.
Emma Ockerman is a junior studying journalism and editor-in-chief of The Post. What do your parents ask you? Email her at eo300813@ohio.edu or tweet her @eockerman.
