Note: This interview with a stranger comes from an exercise I did as part of the Transom Online Workshop.
"I was practically abandoned by my parents. I moved from foster home, had no food to eat. I through all kinds of stuff: 24 hour McDonalds, eating cotton balls dipped in water."
"I was practically abandoned by my parents. I moved from foster home, had no food to eat. I through all kinds of stuff: 24 hour McDonalds, eating cotton balls dipped in water."
"I was adopted into a really kind family. Then I went to UCLA and majored in International Relations and Economics. I didn’t even study journalism, but they gave me a job offer where the contract that didn’t end. I didn’t rely on anybody.
"You can seize chances by taking certain level of risks.
"My goal was to find a job with constant income and comfort. I’m a journalist at a news agency. It’s sometimes really challenging. I began with big ideals: telling truth, holding people accountable, breaking barriers between class, race, people, those kinds of notions.
"But then there’s the restrictions and censorship everywhere. People care more about what’s happening to Kim Kardashian than what’s happening in the Middle East. It’s a business. But I’m still pursuing those ideas. I’m surviving, getting that security, but hopefully making a little bit of a difference.
"You see all kinds of things. Earthquakes, armed conflict, dead bodies. You gotta know that life is short. Now we’re talking. Next thing, who knows what could happen.
"Fear is a source of empathy. Those experiences where you experience the cold and difference in life make you appreciate the kindness in people. The smiles on the street, or from a server, or from this conversation. I’m glad we’re having this conversation.
"I became a journalist because I think the world is really beautiful, and I want to prove it to people. It’s also really fucked up. That’s why you have to appreciate the beauty."