Happy Birthday, USA Today

I began this morning like so many Mondays: filing a story (the challenging Portuguese one--a gratifying accomplishment) and searching for more freelance work. At times I feel I am always applying for jobs, but when you're a "things-happen-when-you-least-expect-them" kind of person like I am, it makes sense to always have your eyes open for new opportunities.

With this interest in new opportunities in mind, I am beginning my first Spanish class tomorrow at an extension school in my town. I studied Latin for around 7 years (and believe me that was great fun), but I have an increasing interest in learning a language that is more applicable in everyday life. There is a huge demand today for multilingual journalists and while I may never learn Farsi or Chinese, I hope that learning Spanish will make me a more well-rounded person. Exciting stuff.

In other news... USA Today celebrated its 25th anniversary on Saturday! The New York Times wrote an interesting story on the paper's history that is worth checking out. Times writer Richard Pérez-Peña argues that "USA Today’s graphic approach, its relatively young audience and its habit of encouraging reader feedback presaged some aspects of the Internet." This is a generous claim given the flack USA Today typically garners, but I generally agree with him. Thoughts?

On the topic of feedback, I was thrilled to see that my blogs had a couple of comments! I hope that, over time, even more people will feel comfortable voicing their constructive criticism. I love hearing from other aspiring journalists.

Have a great week, everyone!