A Day of Significance
August 15.
This date is of special significance to Profunksticated. It was on this day 27 years ago the Big State Supported School in the South conferred upon my person the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
To reach that destination required me to travel a long winding road that started with a trip to the Philadelphia International Airport in 1974. You see, it was there that the family and I saw my little sister off on her first plane flight to visit relatives down South. Fascinating me was seeing all those Eastern Airlines (they went defunct in the 1980s) Boeing 727s parked on the concourse. The aircraft bore the words “Whisperjet.”
Which was false advertising. There was nothing quiet about the 727, which sounded like thunder on takeoff. But at the time, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to become an airline pilot.
So I did research. I looked at photos of planes. I gobbled up airline magazine ads. I would look in the sky and instantly identify the make and model of any given jetliner as it passed over our southern Jersey home on approach to Philly.
I learned at the time most commercial pilots learned to fly in the military. So when the Air Force recruiters came to my high school during my sophomore year, I asked how one could become a pilot.
“You have to become an officer.”
“How do you become an officer?”
“You have to have a four-year college degree.”
That settled it. I would go to college. For the first time, I had a real goal. I never viewed myself as college material. I had been drifting along as a disinterested 10th grader who regularly fell asleep in class, drooled on desks and had lousy grades. Now I had a purpose. I was going to buckle down, make up for lost time, get my grades up and get accepted into someone’s college.
And not just any college. It had to be one with an Air Force ROTC detachment, the completion of which would earn me a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force at the same time I receive my degree.
I was accepted to the Big State Supported School in the South. I matriculated in the fall of 1977. I joined the Air Force ROTC detachment. At first the upper class ROTC officers intimidated the crap out of me during those weekly field drills. But I adjusted to ROTC culture and made up my mind I was joining the Air Force when I graduated.
By the middle of my sophomore year, however, I was out. Kicked out. I admitted to using marijuana, and the military doesn’t look kindly upon drug users among their ranks. I was 18 and truly believed I’d get points for honesty. Nope. There’s a back story about how I managed to commit that life-changing blunder. I’ll cover that in a future post. I probably wouldn’t have become a pilot because an Air Force-paid exam showed the sight in my right eye was less than 20/20.
With a military career dashed on the jagged shoals of my naiveté, I had to focus on something else. That something else became journalism, which I also dreamed of doing long before the aviation bug bit.
I did the broadcast track at first, trying radio. But it wasn’t challenging enough. I’d heard the news-editorial track was more difficult, so I went there. It was challenging all right. So challenging that I had to repeat both reporting and copyediting courses. This also meant I had to take a couple of summer sessions to finish out my requirements, hence the August commencement.
I worked for the school newspaper and even got a summer gig with a paper in Florida in 1980, between my junior and senior years. After I received the degree, well, I did newspapers full time, along with drugs and alcohol, for the next 15 or so years.
August 15 marks another anniversary. It was a year ago today that the dude I call Profunksticated launched this blog, this mix of diary, rants, raves, commentary, introspection and old-school black culture. My heartfelt thanks goes out to all of you, commenters and lurkers, who’ve supported this blog and by extension, Profunksticated. May God bless all of you.
Wow.. I am always impressed at how people knew what they wanted to be and went after it… your enthusiasm and passion about piloting is wow… a friend I graduated undergrad with, knew when she first flew to the US at the age of 10 she wanted to fly, we both graduated with BA (Law) and I pursued postgraduate when she spent 2 years in training to be pilot, we both turned 29 and she has been flying for 6 years.
While I on the other hand, just landed here… I wanted to be a nurse and a social worker, but realised a medical doctor is better than nursing… my matric grades weren’t good to get into medical school… now I am here… thank god, I can’t stand needle and the side of blood.
While u knew before the air force bug u wanted to be a journalist, wow… I wish I knew what I wanted and followed it.
Well, I have only been a reader of your blog recently…and have enjoyed it, happy 1 yr anniversary
Thanks, Shazza, for reading. the journalism thing was due to seeing this brother on the air in Philadelphia doing local news in the early 1970s and I subconsciously wanted to be like him. Later, though, newspaper journalism became something of an ego boost for me, seeing as I viewed as something of a nerd growing up. But I also talked about being an author when I was a kid. But in between, the piloting thing looked like it would be plain fun. That I’m not a pilot today is probably a good thing given the sad shape of the US airline industry.
Comment by Shazza — August 15, 2008 @ 5:45 am
a journalist huh - wow
Yeah, Dawg, I worked for several newspapers around the country between 1982 and 1998. I was OK, but looking back I could have done a lot better. I was young and dumb and really didn’t know how privileged I was to be in the positions I was in. And some of that was due to my myriad vices.
But now I’m out of the newsroom and have been in corporate marketing (proposal development) since 2000. It’s not nearly as much fun as reporting, but you know the cliche’ - it payz da billz.
Thanks for reading.
Comment by rawdawgbuffalo — August 15, 2008 @ 8:25 am
HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks, A!!!!!!!
Comment by A — August 15, 2008 @ 10:22 am
Congratulation on the anniversary. Time flies when your havin’ fun. I grinned about the “honesty” part in the military. I learned early in my military career that you NEVER volunteer (information, time, labor). Never. You always end up rueing the day.
I’ll reply to your question about NM in the comments shortly as I have not other way to reply.
Yeah I found out the hard way you don’t volunteer information. But why is volunteering discouraged in military vs. the private sector, where those who volunteer for stuff get promoted? BTW I saw your photo album, very nice.Look forward to reading your answer on NM. Thanks.
Comment by TravelDiva — August 20, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
Yeah, I’m late, but sincere. Happy blogaversary, Profunksticated!
Thanks much, Glory!!!
Comment by glory — August 25, 2008 @ 4:36 pm