On Wednesday, Jay Curtis — the owner and publisher of the Bell Buckle Echo — called the T-G looking for someone to cover for him today (Thursday) at Shelbyville Rotary Club’s annual Career Day. This is held at Motlow State Community College during the college’s spring break. It brings together sophomores from all three of Bedford County’s public high schools to hear from various speakers about potential careers.

For many years, the T-G had supplied a journalism speaker (and sometimes a speaker on newspaper advertising as well). I’d done it once or twice in the past, but not in quite a few years. This year, Jay — who is, after all, a Rotary Club member — had planned to do journalism himself. But something came up, and so he needed a replacement. My editor didn’t think she could make it herself, so I ended up with the job.

Given my recent vocational frustrations, there is some irony in me talking to fresh-faced teenagers about why they need to consider journalism as a career. But I do believe in the ideals of journalism, and don’t mind talking about them. I talked to two different groups about the qualities needed by a reporter, and about the rewards and frustrations of life in print. I had 19 teens in one group and 12 in the other. They were attentive (mostly) and asked good questions.

Well, most of them were good questions. One had me scratching my head.

“What do you wear when you do an interview?”

I explained that it depended on the interview — I wouldn’t wear the same thing at the Governor’s Mansion that I would wear to interview the Farmer of the Year in his dairy barn.