Rosemary Goudreau

She's masterful, she's poetic and she's unemployed.
Rosemary Goudreau, a writer who made the transition from a reporter to a member of the Tampa Tribune's Editorial Board was fired about two months ago.
When she shared the news, I imagine I was more unearthed by her circumstance than she seemed to be at the present time.

It wouldn't have been so hard to swallow had Goudreau been some run-of-the-mill, clinical reporter but if her writing was anything like the words that leaped off of her tongue with a combination of warmth and authority, it nearly frightened me to pieces.

Considering the fact that I'd be graduating in a few months, I had coaxed myself into believing that drive and talent would help me find and keep a job, but the harsh reality was that the news industry wasn't immune to the blow that the economy had suffered and my peers and I have been reminded about this troubling fact over and over again.

Thankfully, Goudreau is not worried about her predicament at all.

"Not a lot of people are good writers that can make a point," she said.

When she said this, she reminded us that there will always be a need for writers to do what we do best: Effectively communicate a message. To do so, Goudreau gave us a few of her weapons in writing that assured her she would always have a place in her industry.

Finding a story is a lot like science, you have a hypothesis and you test it out to see if it sticks and share your discovery. She warns us that there is no "I" in editorials. She prefers to use the 2nd person, personalizing her stories with phrases like "You know...", making a point to talk to readers rather then at them, and advises us to write in short concise sentences, because they pack a powerful punch.

But most importantly, she told us to write about something that matters. As she listened to our ideas about our second editorial piece, she challenged us with questions that were basically saying, why should someone care? The objective of our writing shouldn't merely be to share interesting tidbits. The goal of a medium as Goudreau so elegantly worded it, is to illuminate issues to a community. A great editorial has something to say, and can have the power to influence the reader's behavior.

As the managing editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Goudreau led a city wide initiative to address racial tensions in her city. Her passion and words spurred an effort involving over 2,000 people getting off of their seats and out of their comfort zones to address the issue in the hearts of their communities, schools, churches and homes.


Though my writing is no where near the proficiency of Goudreau's prose, knowing the power of writing gives me peace of mind. I'm not saying all my fears have vanished, but I know there will always be a need for words to impact, influence and inspire.