A post to start things off...
Starting an online presence is a daunting prospect.
My father always says that he's a 20th century man trapped in the 21st century. Though I can use a mobile phone, I feel only a step behind my father in some ways.
Part of this is that I'm in a rapidly changing landscape for academia. Good or bad, getting an advanced degree didn't make me the 19th century playboy that I imagined that it would. This is not to say that it's not a fulfilling career, or something that I don't like doing. It does mean that part of it is embracing the use of technology (which I'm relatively good at) and putting myself out there on a technological platform.
I suspect part of my resistance to doing so is that a good part of my job is going over records other people have left out there and judging them for it. And so here I am, about to do the same.
In this spirit, the following is a bit I turned into a local paper that was searching for a reporter. It's been edited a bit, but it's as good of a mission statement about what I'm doing at the moment as any:
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My name is Nick Harrington. In the past I’ve published as NK Harrington. I was raised in Newport, moved to Portland in the 1990s, and then moved to Ireland when I was done with college. In Ireland I got my master’s degree and PhD in history. I currently teach history at Washington State University Vancouver.
I got into academia because I wanted to write. Instead, like about 80% of professors, I only work halftime and spend an additional thirty hours a week doing building maintanance. Generally it’s fulfilling work, but when I saw a job was open for a writer I had to jump on it. I want to research and I want to write. It’s not only what I’ve been formally trained to do, but it’s what I teach. Academia has gone through a lot of hard changes in the last decade and I’m not sure I like where it’s heading. So I will feel right at home in the field of print journalism.
I have no doubt that you will find plenty of applicants that are very well qualified in the field of reporting news. I probably taught some of them how to write. This is my pitch as to why of all the applicants you have, a very engaged, experienced, and active Irish historian should be your news reporter.
As far as hard news goes, I’ll spare you the glories of my high school journalism career and skip to the present. A historian does a lot of what a reporter does. We critically examine the world, we look at sources and what angle these sources are built upon, and we report what we find. For hard news, of course, a reporter is going to be a little less navel-gazy than the historian. The process is similar though. It’s going through public records, it’s trying to find the angle that a colleague hasn’t found yet, it’s working connections and experts to try and find what you need. It’s pulling your hair from your head when you can’t remember where you read something that’s later vitally important, it’s sometimes wondering why you chose to spend your life following paper-trails and rumors, and it’s the realization that you love doing it.
I have included two history pieces with the email...As also proof that I’ll be on JSTOR when the issue gets pushed through, which is not only exciting, but yet another reason that you should hire me.
The second is a piece about the Irish Famine. I’m polishing it up still, but it’s a rare piece that will make some kind of sense to someone that doesn’t know a lot about Irish history. If you want to see finished pieces about 19th century moderate paramilitary nationalism in Ireland, I’d be happy to send you some of that work.
I do hope you’ve enjoyed reading the finest cover letter known to humankind. I’m sure you’re asking yourself now how you could possibly get into a situation where you’re basking in my presence. It’s easy: just offer me a job so that I can come in and charm the hell out of everyone. Then when you hire me we can all ride into the sunset and never have another worry again.