It occurred to me (again) recently that I came here due to DEI, answering an ad on JournalismJobs.com that explicitly stated “women and minorities encouraged to apply.” I’m just as embarrassed to admit that today as I was back then.
Which is to say, I’m not. Even a little.
I mean, it’s been more than 22 years since I UHauled in from Macon, Georgia, a chubby-cheeked, recent Medill grad who’d spent just enough time covering sports down in Braves — or was it more like Dawgs? — Country to know that I was undoubtedly “of the North,” like a wild direwolf destined to find my Winterfell. The Bucks County Courier Times sports editor picked my resume and “clips” over what he said were over a hundred other hopefuls, making me the latest non-white-male reporter to “diversify” the staff at phillyburbs.com.
I was (am) a strong writer with a unique style who knew her shit and embraced covering the local sports scene as much, if not more than the pros. I deserved that job and did it well, rolling with every punch the company threw at us as the newspaper industry began its death rattle, until Gatehouse Media came along and knocked the whole operation flat on the canvas.
Yes, since settling in suburban Bucks County in the fall of 2002 — with a brief stint as a bona fide Philadelphia resident in ’04-’05 — I have done a bunch of regrettable shit “off the field” in my immaturity and addictions. Still, I’ve always felt pretty good about the way I served this community, first as a writer/videographer…
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Jen Wielgus Journalism 