News at 5

The Olympics are coming to Chicago, I read that on the scrolling marque outside of the ABC 7 studio downtown. But that's not the part I want to focus on. I want to focus on later, when I was walking back to the L.

I passed by the studio again and realized they were doing a live broadcast. I joined the throng of people peering inside and thought about how I had wanted that to be my life. Didn't I get accepted into college as a broadcasting mass comm major? Somewhere along the way I realized I didn't want to spend my life talking to or working behind cameras.

And yet, there they were. I was mixed in with people on the sidewalk and they were on tv. I thought, as I had walked away, that no one would know what I could have been, regarding broadcasting that is. Then I realized that newscasters aren't really household names anyway. You gotta be the Katie Courics of this world to get nationwide recognition.

So maybe my path of urban ministry means a lot more. Besides, anyone who thinks one enters the broadcasting scene and immediately ends up on Chicago's ABC 7 news is only kidding his or herself. In the media world you start small and you start where no one else longs to be- early, early mornings and late, late nights. But soon you move up. Maybe you can become the next Diane Sawyer, but probably not. I'm guessing most newscasters make most of their life impact on those closest to them. So maybe they're not all that different from me.

Oh yea, across the street Diana Ross performed tonight- pretty cool.