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Tales of a Canadian Hitchhiker
In my last post, I expressed my desire to get out in the real world and find real stories. Recently I'd begun to doubt if other journalism students shared my aspirations. Then I met Drew.
When Drew showed up at random on the Grace campus, I assumed he was a prospective student or a friend of a friend. Later I learned that he is a Canadian university student hitchhiking across the U.S. before going back to school in the fall.
Like myself, Drew is majoring in journalism. Makes sense. Journalists write stories, and Drew will have one heckuva story by the time he arrives in California.
Since leaving Toronto, Drew has slept outside and scrounged for food. He's gone a week without a shower and waited eight hours straight to be picked up. He's bummed rides in an ice cream truck and a shiny Lincoln.
People go entire lifetimes and never end up with stories like these. And these are just the ones he told me over popcorn chicken at Arby's.
Later that night, I was talking with my roommate Ryan. "I want to do that someday," I said. "Well," replied Ryan, "You'll never do it if you keep saying 'someday.'"
He's probably right. But I still dream of doing it -- for the sake of the stories.
When Drew showed up at random on the Grace campus, I assumed he was a prospective student or a friend of a friend. Later I learned that he is a Canadian university student hitchhiking across the U.S. before going back to school in the fall.
Like myself, Drew is majoring in journalism. Makes sense. Journalists write stories, and Drew will have one heckuva story by the time he arrives in California.
Since leaving Toronto, Drew has slept outside and scrounged for food. He's gone a week without a shower and waited eight hours straight to be picked up. He's bummed rides in an ice cream truck and a shiny Lincoln.
People go entire lifetimes and never end up with stories like these. And these are just the ones he told me over popcorn chicken at Arby's.
Later that night, I was talking with my roommate Ryan. "I want to do that someday," I said. "Well," replied Ryan, "You'll never do it if you keep saying 'someday.'"
He's probably right. But I still dream of doing it -- for the sake of the stories.
Tags: dreaming, hitchhiking, journalism, stories
Add a Comment
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Comment by Christian Sheckler on May 3, 2008 at 11:58am -
Sherri,
Drew is blogging his journey at turquoisewaves.blogspot.com.
Good stuff. Check it out!
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Comment by Sherri Talley on May 2, 2008 at 3:54pm -
It does sound very much like "Into the Wild", which I thought was great!
Is Drew recording his experiences and if so, through which medium?
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Comment by Christian Sheckler on April 23, 2008 at 7:44pm
- Yeah "Into the Wild" seems to have become a sort of cult classic here at college. It's on my to-watch list. And maybe my summer reading list too.
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Comment by Paul Balcerak on April 23, 2008 at 6:49pm - Sounds like "Into the Wild," which turned out to be a pretty great movie and I'm told a pretty good book.
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