Have you ever had one of those moments while you’re in the middle of studying for finals when you suddenly catch yourself wondering what it is you’re really doing with your life? You wonder if you’re actually going to do something with the degree you’re working your butt off for, whether or not those student loans will have been worth it, and if you’ll ever actually use what you spent all those nights studying? I hate those moments. They can make you feel so lost and worst of all, they can leave you desperate for some inspiration, motivation, and affirmation that you’re on the right track.
When I’m feeling that way, I decide to become re-inspired. I often look towards people in my desired field of work who have made it and are living happy and complete lives. I observe them, take notes from them (mentally, of course), and learn from them. I never thought, until I got to UO, that my own college professor could be one of those people, but the Journalism School has a staff of very talented instructors who’ve been around the block, and some of them, like Professor Janet Eastman, have even been around the world.
(Photo: In Burma)
During her college years at California State Fullerton, Eastman worked as an editor for Maui Magazine, which won a Maggie magazine award, and literally the day after she graduated with a B.A., she was offered a job at Orange Coast, a California consumer monthly magazine. Eastman went on to work as both an editor and a reporter for The Los Angeles Times. Sounds like Wonder Woman, right?
To put this in perspective, she was also my instructor for Reporting 1, which teaches its students journalist basics. After our first class meeting, I went home, looked up Eastman’s online portfolio and was psyched to learn that she has accomplished so many things during her career as a journalist. It was inspiring to be taking a class from a woman who has shaped her career to be something young female collegiettes can look up to. We live in a world where a lot of industries are dominated by men, and it has taken a long time for women to prove that they can step up to the plate and “deliver the goods” just as well. After picking Eastman’s brain for a little over an hour, I felt more inspired than ever and eager to jump on my laptop and start writing.
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It’s hard to believe that the journalist who once met master chef Julia Child started college as a computer science major, but a couple of realizations made her change her mind. “I like people and wanted to work with them,” she says. “I always wrote stories and journalists are pretty left-brained and more creative.”
Her comfortability interacting with different cultures and people is probably what has brought her to her success level. During her time as a journalist, Eastman has met influential people, traveled the world, and had exciting adventures all by way of living her own life philosophy: “Say yes to everything.” For The Los Angeles Times Travel section, Eastman was paid to be a travel writer for four months (keeping a blog of everything she did) and travel the world. One of those places was Rio, where she interviewed Oscar Niemeyer, the architect who actually designed Brasília (the capital city of Brazil).
(Photo: With Brasília architect Oscar Niemeyer)
Her passport now three-quarters full, Eastman’s first stamp was a trip to Italy in 1979. When asked which country was her favorite, she said Spain and France, but was quick to say “there’s something in each country.” Like a true professor, she wouldn’t hint at which country did not rank high up on her list, but she did note that it’s “somewhere everyone loves.” (Any guesses, collegiettes?) So what does a travel writer think people can take away from visiting other countries? “You learn everything about a culture, the food, the way they live,” she says, “because you’re going from one experience to another. It’s all the same people but in a different culture.”
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Of course, no journalist starts off quite this successfully and has quite this many adventures right off the podium; we all have our ups and downs. Eastman had to work hard to get to where she is today, and face the music when one editor’s advice was to “sweet talk” a source for information. But it’s all taught Eastman something invaluable. “I had an editor who said, ‘You can’t write about life unless you have one.’ You can’t just live your life remotely,” Eastman says. “You have to jump in it and experience it.”
Eastman’s adventurous and risk-taking attitude has paved the way to her most exciting opportunities; opportunities a lot of people only dream about. For example, Eastman was actually present at the Burning Man event – once a year, tens of thousands of people gather in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada for a week-long ritual burning of a large wooden effigy. They create Black Rock City, a temporary ‘metropolis,’ if you will, where many participants celebrate radical self-expression.
(Photo: At the Burning Man Event in Nevada)
Normally, one might think a person this exciting would be very out there and expressive in person, but Eastman kept her composure during classes and only occasionally would she share what she was working on in Ashland, her home for now and where she commuted from Tuesdays and Thursdays to teach class at UO. It really says something about a professor when they will drive three hours to your campus two days a week just to teach a group of no more than maybe 30 students something they could more or less learn from a textbook. However, the thing about Eastman is that she brought life to what she taught, and that is a rare find in a professor. Think of all the math drones you have had in your entire academic life. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up and actually look forward to going to class?
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Eastman acknowledged that a lot of female students experience senioritis even when they aren’t actually seniors in college and they also face a lot of struggles men don’t. Her advice? “It seems to me that men always have more confidence than women” she says. “Women have to realize how great they are and listen more to the praise than the criticism. Always know that you did really well. Praise yourself for the hard work you did; don’t be so critical.” Words of wisdom for us females who are naturally competitive.
(Photo: See what you can accompish with a little hard work?)
Through her interviews with influential people all over the world, there was one very special quote spoken to Eastman that can ring true for everyone, and that was during a dinner with Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse at Zov restaurant in Orange County. “We talked about food and she noticed I didn’t finish all my courses… when I told her that I was pacing myself through the multiple courses, she told me to live life “with gusto!”
So, my colliegettes, are you feeling inspired yet?