Most of us heard that question a number of times during our youth. My answer was that I wanted to be a sports reporter that covered the New York Yankees. Actually, I wanted to be the center fielder for the New York Yankees. At the time, Mickey Rivers was the center fielder and I figured that I was at least as good as him. But, alas, no baseball scouts ever came to see the Roundup Miners play baseball, so I was left for the next best thing...sports reporter.
That's why I wrote sports for our hometown newspaper when I was in high school. That's why I went to the University of Montana to study journalism. I even studied Russian as a foreign language when I was in college so that I could cover the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. You remember that Olympics don't you? That's the one that the United States didn't participate in because President Carter boycotted it to protest the USSR invasion of Afghanistan.
So what's a young grad with a journalism degree to do? Well, the Yankees hadn't come calling so my first job out of college was as a reporter in Beach, North Dakota. I was a general assignment reporter and covered everything from writing wedding announcements to covering an oil field explosion. After six months, I had had enough of Beach and I think Beach had had enough of me. We agreed to part amicably.
However, I stayed with newspapers for another couple of years until I made the swap to public relations in 1983, moving from the newspaper in Baker, Montana, to Mid-Rivers Telephone Cooperative in Glendive, Montana. From there, I moved to Mandan in 1985 with my new bride and a new job with MDU. I had another job transition in 2001, and actually worked for six months as the education reporter for the Bismarck Tribune before going to work for my present employer, the Lignite Energy Council.
So for 27 or so years, I've been in public relations. I never did get to write sports or cover the New York Yankees as I had wanted to...but my point of this blog and my question remains..."What did you want to do when you were growing up?"
Recipe - Aunt May's Famous Wheatcakes
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Now Playing - Forever Young by Alphaville RECIPE: MAY PARKER'S FAMOUS
WHEATCAKES Originally made by my pal Pete's Aunt May, these wheatcakes are
a great...
10 years ago
1 comment:
I grew up watching "Black Sheep Squadron" and playing video games. What I most wanted to be was a jet pilot for the Air Force. I spent most weekends of my early teens feeding quarters into the machines at the arcade. After spending all that hard earned allowance money I thought I could make a decent living as a video game programmer.
I never achieved either of those goals, but I have worked in the technology field my whole career. I will also cherish the 5 years I spent with the Civil Air Patrol. I never got a pilot's license, but I spent a lot of time in and around airplanes and the pilots were gracious enough to let me "take the stick" on several occasions. Of course, I still enjoy video games when I'm blessed with a few moments of leisure time.
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