Finnegan's Awake

Posted by MeganFinnegan at 8/25/2009 1:21 PM EDT

This week, I started at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism. As one professor put it, I am now a reporter going through a graduate program. "Student," while technically the correct term, feels too much like college and not serious enough. So I'm wearing a name tag and learning video editing software and journalistic ethics and how to stretch student loan dollars as far as possible. I'm no longer a part-time writer or freelancer; I'm a reporter in training. Today the thought occurred to me, what does it mean to be a Catholic journalist?

There is a certain category of writers who could be classified as "ex-Catholics" - those raised in the faith but who no longer practice it. Then there are writers who are Catholic first - those who write mainly religious books or for Catholic publications. My goal is to finagle myself somewhere between these two categories.

Posted by MeganFinnegan at 8/9/2009 1:53 PM EDT

MY fellow blogger Father Tim receently posted a piece on whether we should consider Facebook the Satan of the Internet. The good Father's conclusion is a thoughtful "no" - in other words, don't blame the medium.

The Modern Love column in this Sunday's New York Times is about a woman tempted to invade her birthmother's world via Facebook when the face-to-face doors have shut. She ultimately decides that she can't be a part of her mother's cyberlife unless she is invited into her actual life.