Did you know it takes 30 hours to drive to Fargo? I do.
Last summer, the adventurer in me accepted a copy editing
internship at the Fargo-Moorhead Forum. It’s not really like
the movie; actually, it’s quite nice, and according to the
Los Angeles Times, it’s “hip.” You betcha.
I was excited to go, and the trek was filled with good omens.
Yellowstone was green and beautiful; a humongous sculpture of geese
flying against the setting sun welcomed me into North Dakota, and
somewhere in the middle, a billboard sat in a wheat field with
nothing but the word “SMILE” on it in big, bold
letters.
I guess whoever erected it thought passing drivers might need a
bit of encouragement so as not to go completely insane after seeing
exit after exit with signs that say “No Services” and
driving through 50 miles of one-lane construction behind a local
who insists on going 30 miles per hour.
My directions took me through the industrial part of town and
the shady bars. I found myself wondering how I came to be driving
down a Main Street located 2,000 miles from home.
As a green, naive freshman at UCLA, I decided I needed to
“get involved,” so I gathered up my courage and set out
for The Bruin’s quarterly orientation for prospective
staffers. Somehow I showed up an hour early, just in time for a
mass sorority gathering.
I guess I didn’t look like sorority material, because I
didn’t even get in the door before being informed I was
obviously in the wrong place. As you can imagine, I was somewhat
devastated, but I managed to talk myself into waiting around for
The Bruin meeting. Little did I know that decision would lead me to
Fargo.
Really, it’s the people you meet who make or break any job
or trip, and fortunately, I worked with and learned from many
incredible people at The Forum. And that’s what makes the
Daily Bruin (and Copy, in particular) so great. My fellow editors
made the late nights bearable.
Being in the northern part of the country brought some
once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I rooted for the Oakland
A’s when they played the Minnesota Twins (the A’s won),
shopped at the Great Mall of America in Minneapolis, and fell in
love with Maroon 5 and John Mayer when they played at a concert in
the middle of Minnesota. I wouldn’t trade those experiences
for anything. The (hundreds of) pictures are priceless.
You would think that after writing thousands of headlines for
The Bruin over four years and driving a round trip total of 60
hours to Fargo for an internship, my career in journalism would be
set in stone. But it’s not. Next year I plan to go to grad
school at UC Santa Barbara and get my master’s degree in
environmental science and management.
I think a larger parallel can be made here. Many graduates will
probably find they hate the work they do at some point in life;
according to a study published in March by the Conference Board,
only 50 percent of U.S. workers are satisfied with their jobs. This
statistic is unfortunate because life’s possibilities really
are endless. If you hit a dead end, just do an about-face and
explore a totally different path. Be adventurous; live a little.
Don’t be afraid to take risks, because you never know ““
you may find that Fargo is your kind of town.
-30-
Wheeler is a fourth-year geography/environmental studies
student and a recently retired Daily Bruin copy deputy. For
pictures of Fargo, e-mail her at [email protected].