wherein all of the pieces of my life miraculously fit together...

I was doing a little research online (who knows what variety), and I stumbled upon a webpage called the Japan Media Review. Lo and behold, I had stumbled upon the answer to my life's quest for meaning -- an online journal dedicated to examining the practice of journalism in Japan! I mean really, what else does a girl with a double major in Media Studies and Asian Studies who is currently located in Tokyo really expect to do with her life?

Okay, just kidding, I never really intended to combine my majors into one tangible project, and the site is less than revolutionary. Still, the coincidence was more than enough to pique my interest. But wait. It gets better.

I discovered that the project was run through the Annenberg School of Communication at USC (my journalism alma mater of sorts, I like to think), and the Editor in Chief was none other than my former journalism teacher! Before I could shout "God bless Tommmy Trojan!" with glee, I fired off an email to Professor Pryor, informing him of my location in Japan, the culmination of my studies in this field, and my interest in helping propagate the project.

He wrote back almost immediately, reminiscing fondly about our days covering the 2000 Democratic National Convention together (ok, he probably doesn't really remember me, but he still refers to me as a "veteran reporter from that summer"), and mentioned that he had forwarded my email on to the students who now run the site.

Yeah, the story had a great build-up huh? But that's the end of it. No one ever responded after that, and Pryor is no longer the editor of the site. Too bad. Oh well.

In other news, I deeply regret ever posting my cartoon characters onto cafepress.com (the merchandise section of my website), because people often misinterpret it as an actual business. My Japanese relatives went a little crazy when they saw it, and told all their friends I was the shachyo of a "Lori brand" clothing company, and then made me draw pictures of them. This is bad news, I think it needs to stop.

Sometimes I feel my entire life has been a fraud. Was I ever really a journalist? An artist? A writer? A photographer? We already know I'm not really Japanese. Oh well, we will see how far I can slide along. In my postmodern view of myself, these representations of reality can withstand more than this. I think I'll just let them be.


[edit: The editor of JMR has since gotten back to me, and I am now writing for the site...that is, if I could think of the right story to write...]