Guest Lecture By Dave Rhea

Dave Rhea, the multimedia editor at the Journal Record, spoke before my blogging class the other day. I really enjoyed his visit. Though I'm not sure how much I learned about blogging while he was here, there's a lot he said that I could apply to my own journalism career. Rhea arrived at his job in a very different way. He followed a path in music before re-entering the business of journalism. Though I have about 1% as much musical talent as I'm sure he does, it reminds me that I don't have to be directly focused on where I'm going in my life all the time, nor can I necessarily predict where I'll be in ten years, five years, one year or even one week.

Another thing Rhea brought up was the necessity of failure, or rather the opportunity we have as people to learn from our mistakes. Thomas Edison is often quoted as saying, "I have not failed 1,000 times.  I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb." In Rhea's words, you'll never find a safer driver than one who recently was in a wreck. Don't be afraid to be wrong or you'll never know how to be right. Experiment. Be innovative. That's the future of the industry. Who's going to save journalism, the grey-haired editor behind the big desk who barely knows Word or the bright young visionary who embraces the new technology and isn't afraid to take that chance.