Confessions of a Failed Journalist

It’s tough to fail at something if you’ve never really tried to succeed, at yet, I’ve failed at becoming a journalist.

For most of my life I’ve been interested in both sports and writing, so it only makes sense that two would eventually collide into an interest in sports journalism. Reading the Montreal Gazette as a 7-year-old gave me an early start, and, just days after starting high school, I was this close to getting a job as its beat reporter with an actual, reputable, weekly newspaper (the job went to someone two years my senior). I eventually got a job working freelance with that same paper a few years later.

In 11th grade, I was rejected as an editor for my high school’s newspaper due to my low grades in English class the previous year (despite being one of the few people to contribute relatively often to the paper). A few years later, after entering University halfway through the academic year, I applied to switch my major from Political Science to Journalism. I finally overcame my academic struggles, and I was going to finally get on the right track to the career I wanted so badly.

Nope. Cue the ominous music as we journey back to May 2010…

“Dear Jamie, The Undergraduate Admissions Committee has made its selections for the undergraduate Journalism program for the academic year 2010-2011. Although you were not among those selected… we have placed you on our waiting list.”

Of course, I was devastated. In a fit of rage (well not rage, but something similar), I replied to the email, ending it sarcastically by saying “thank you all the same for taking the time to look at my application, but please remove me from the Waiting List, as I have decided to go another direction academically.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but that was a major event in my budding journalism career. Major, because it essentially ended it. Despite some continued attempts, the dream was all but over. After flirting briefly with the idea of graduating with Bachelor of Commerce degree in Marketing, I settled on this BA in Poli Sci, and I don’t regret the decision.

Still, the thought of what might’ve been remains real. Two of my colleagues, and indeed, my friends, took their aspirations in journalism and did more with them than I ever could’ve hoped for, each seemingly doing as well as someone their age could possibly do in their respective fields (entertainment and sports). They know who they are, and I’m extremely happy for them. Their talent and drive got them there. Maybe I had (have?) the talent, but the drive just didn’t last. Maybe I tried, but not hard enough.

And so, rather than researching for a potential story or away at some event, I’m sitting here at my laptop writing for some undetermined audience. Not that I’m bitter, no matter how much it sounds like it. I’m happy with the decisions I’ve made in life, and with the path my life has taken.

…Wow. This sounds way too depressing, my apologies. Rather than edit it into something more cheerful, I’m just going to leave it there, for the purposes of full disclosure. Onto the rest of the introduction!

What you are reading now is the first post of my new blog, Prince Jellyfish.

 ”Prince Jellyfish” is the name of the first ever novel written by the late, great, Hunter S. Thompson. It was never published and little is known about it other than it being an “autobiographical novel about a boy from Louisville, going to the big city and struggling against the dunces to make his way”¹.

But this blog is not that novel. And Senator, I’m no Hunter S. Thompson. So why take steal borrow the title to name this blog?

To be honest, I have absolutely no idea. As someone who’s wanted to be a writer (in some capacity) for most of my life, Dr. Gonzo has been one of my major influences. Not for infamous drug habit of course, but for his skill in writing and sheer badassery. When looking for a creative name for this new blog, I thought I’d honour Thompson by taking stealing adopting “Prince Jellyfish” as my own.

So how will this blog differ from my past failed attempts? Well I’ll start by getting much more personal. Rather than trying in vain to be some sort of online newspaper with hints of personality, I will focus on my personal thoughts regarding what’s going on in our world, or whatever else has been on my mind. In making this blog more personable, I hope to connect with you, fellow readers, on a different level. I hope that whatever I write provokes must discussion in the comment section of the post, and I look forward to interacting with you.

James Gewurz is a one-time aspiring journalist who is interested in many things (sports, politics, film, music, tech, trivia, and more) and very much enjoys writing about those things. In just a few short months he’ll be a University graduate (Concordia, Political Science). He’s 23-years-old and yet is still not fully ready to enter into that level of adulthood.

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