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Being honored is awesome, but not why we write
By adriana_acosta in To venus and back
June 14, 2011

I received news Bay City ISD will be honoring all local media this coming Monday at the school district's board meeting. This is part of the Media Honor Roll and when the lady called to tell me the news, the first thing on my mind was to go cover the meeting. Silly for me to think that, but I can’t help it, my mind is always on reporter mode.

When she asked if I would be able to attend, I asked her, and I am paraphrasing here, “Honoring the media? As in, me?” I am sure she laughed at how confused I was about the conversation, but I couldn’t help it.

The next thing I did after we hung up was to run (ok maybe hop, my knee is still bad) to the back of the building and start looking through old issues of the Advocate. Sometimes I like to go to the back room and look through old copies of the Matagorda Advocate. I like that I can see what the people before me did with the paper and what ideas they had. Anyway, I remember seeing a photo printed of the local media honored a few years ago. So off I went to look for it.

I know it sounds silly now. But I personally have never been honored for being media.

After we hung up, I felt a little emotional, happy. I had a smile on my face from ear to ear.

But then I remembered the words of my college adviser.

I recently made contact with him. He was also the adviser for the university newspaper, and he was also a co-worker of mine. Aside from being a professor, he was a part-time sports reporter for the newspaper I worked for when I lived in South Texas.

Last week he was honored as the 2011 Putt Powell Sports writer of the year by the Texas High School Coaches Association. So I sent him an email to congratulate him for the great news and he wrote back with the following, “Every now and then we get recognized for what we do. Not the reason we do it, but it don’t hurt none, either.”

And he was right. I don’t do this job for the recognition or the attention.

There are times when I spend hours driving around trying to find information, interviewing people on the phone and then spend hours writing an article. Although I do love writing, sometimes I don’t have too much fun doing it. Especially when it’s a topic I am not familiar with. But the end result, seeing your words in print, is the most satisfying feeling one can ever have. Up until you notice a typo or a misspelled word or a reader calls to let you know. Hey, it happens.

My professor taught me how to be a journalist and taught me that it’s all about the writing. He was the one who taught me that I must continue studying my craft everyday and keep on my toes. He was the one who taught me to be curious about the things around me and to ask questions.

Writing has always been my dream and I will always be there to cover other people’s honors, awards and news. Some of it may be happy, some of it sad and some of it not so pleasant.

This might sound silly to some, but even though we don’t (at least me) don’t look for or ask for the attention, being recognize is not the reason we do it, but it don’t hurt none, either.