WHO IS SHE?

I read too much. • I listen to NPR, and the only TV I see on a regular basis is CNN headline news. • I used to fight with my dad to be the first to read all the sections of the local newspaper — except sports. • When I was little I wanted to be an artist. • I'm one of seven kids. • I'm a reporter at a newspaper. • I don't just think the Internet is the future, I think it's now.

• I began teaching myself HTML at age 10. • As a young girl I would leave our table at restaurants and walk up to strangers to say hello. • I picked journalism as a major expecting to fail. • My dream jobs are producing content for the NYTimes.com and writing for WIRED magazine. • I love what I do.
Go Ahead.....

For much of my young life I was the anti-journalist. I struggled with spelling and punctuation. My knowledge of grammar was limited to tidbits of “Conjunction Junction” and “Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here,” basically what I could remember of School House Rock from sixth grade. I also couldn’t have called to order a pizza without an anxiety attack, let alone call a stranger and ask questions he or she would prefer not to answer.
The truth is, I’ve come a long way in a short time.

Journalism as a career didn’t cross my mind until the 11th grade, when my government teacher, after reading my essay about the state of the American education system, told me he thought I’d “make one hell of a journalist.” I shrugged it off at the time. But then, as I began to seriously consider my college and career options, it came back to me.

As a student my strengths had always been science and math. I was extremely interested in technology, especially the Web, but the idea of spending all day tethered to a computer held little appeal for me. I wanted to help people in a more direct way, and journalism was about the people.

At first I told no one. I accepted the science awards, aced AP calculus and quietly sent off my college applications with journalism circled as my major. My parents had always told me they’d support me in anything.

But when I told them I wanted to be a reporter, my father stormed off and told me to talk to my uncle, a journalism graduate currently employed as a waiter. My mother gave a wan smile and basically said she wanted me to be happy. A writer hadn’t been the plan for their smartest kid, the one who should have gone on to medical or law school.

Although I’m positive I would have made an amazing scientist or computer programmer, I don’t regret the decision I made to choose journalism. At the time, I fully expected to fail in the program, to change my major a few times and to succumb to the inevitable and go into science. But I didn’t. Instead, I found something I was intensely passionate about. I also learned that I could have the best of both worlds. I could cover topics such as technology or incorporate my Web background into the campus magazines as the Webmaster.

My inquisitive nature, which made me so good at science, and my unwillingness to give up on a problem, which helped me shine in math, have both worked in my favor as a journalist. I still love a good problem, and I still see things every day and wonder why. But now, I have the tools and courage to find out why and to help others solve their problems, too.

About MerandaWrites.com

I talk fast. And that makes it difficult when you introduce yourself and people misunderstand you. I say, “Meranda.” They hear Brenda, Amanda, Sandra, Briana, or any other concotion of a female name that is multiple syllables and ends in a. I always correct them, “No, Meranda. As in the Miranda Rights.”

That’s where the title for this Web site came from. Meranda may be my name, but writing and reporting is what I live for. I thought it was a clever pun, and after conferring with a few friends who reassured me it wasn’t too over the top, I registered the domain and got to work. This site will house my resume and work, journalistic mostly, and a blog where I’ll write about whatever strikes me on that given day.