Northwest Tech
At the convention hall last night it was nice being amongst journalists again, my ol’ blood brethren. I studied journalism at the Unviersity of Florida and so it reminds me of those days, in which I chose a major for its own sake so I could hurry up and move to LA, and to a life as an actor. But those days at the school sparked my writing which hasn’t stopped since, though I am still a student at it. I hope to always be. A student in everything. Never stop learning.
Anyways that was no doubt my mindset last night hanging out with a hundred or so writers from Car & Driver and Motortrend and other publications cross the country. Automotive journalists, let’s call them that, are different from other journalists in that they don’t have the same intensity that I admire in writers and that many might associate with journalists who work for the Times, or with beat reporters or political insiders, or with those who write epic features like the great Rick Bragg.
No, these journalists don’t seem to care that much at all about cars or drivers, or motors and their trends. Their sole focus on this trip probably doesn’t go well beyond the sheer thrill in test driving one of these boys through the mountains of Oregon.
Then again, they may ultimately be here for free food and drink, and for the chance to kick it with ol’ colleagues in a nice hotel muttering their resentment in not getting to take home the Sony tablets that we’re handing out to them. Their accessibility and organization is my primary responsibility and the main reason I’m out here for this event, given my experience working in LA, repairing smartphones and laptops and tablets.
‘Ah well I got an iPad anyways,’ says one disappointed reporter, a beefy and pink-faced fella from Motortrend.
‘Yea,’ adds another. ‘The iPad is way better and just faster overall.’
But I hold nothing against them. It’s true that iPads are actually better. Everybody knows that. And maybe they just want to do more tonight than write about the new Ford Taurus, I don’t know.
Ren Michael 