WSG 20 Journalism Lisa Pierpont

wsg 20 Lisa Pierpont

Cough. Cough cough cough. COUGH. Sneeze. Wheeze. Sneeze. Wheeze. Spit. Snuffle. Sniff. I have a cold. 

I’d be irate if I weren’t so exhausted from coughing and wheezing. A cold! I haven’t been sick since, well, I don’t know. I’ve lost track of what damn month we are in.  Ever feel that way lately? Is it a Covid hangover or just Fall? 

Fall is busy this year and as much as things are not normal they are a million times more functional than a year ago. There are some upsides to (semi) post Covid times. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like being able to Zoom some meetings instead of attending in person. But I sure like being able to go out to eat and I have a number of paper invitations to actual in person events on the mail table. I’m out of practice being busy and I’m not even that busy. 

My kids are busy. Two are in college and one is in highschool. In fact, I had all mine home for a few nights this week which was pretty darned exciting. Actually, it was exciting to be excited to have them all home! It rolled all sorts of things into one. 

First: kids coming home introduced new people into the household which livens things up. 

Second: I found I really had missed them. 

Third: It’s not like when they were all in high school and before and we’d have to parent the hell out of them. 

It’s easy lifting! They’re home for some comfort and we’re glad to provide it. We aren’t ticked off at their plans to run all over the place because that’s what they’re doing when they aren’t here so there’s no point in getting in a flap about it. Frankly, they are glad to have their laundry done and some warm meals and creature comforts with some quiet and sleep. And we are thrilled to provide it. I like this part of parenting! 

One of the things that parents complain about is the mess that comes with the offspring when they are home. I agree. When we were all home during Covd and all using the kitchen and laundry and bathrooms it was eeww.  But those were extenuating circumstances. Months and months of eew. This new type of visit is short and sweet and not that messy. It felt like, and I hate to even put this in writing, but it felt like they have grown up some and become thoughtful. The kitchen didn’t look like the dumpster behind Stop and Shop. The bathrooms don’t resemble a Shell station in Newark. We had meals at a table at the same time. I think we all actually enjoyed each other's company! Or. Maybe it was just my cold and I was hallucinating. 

Update: Just for those who are still recovering from my underwear confessions, you'll be glad to know that I have invested in a “days of the week bundle”  from Uwila Warriors! I won't post any photos but rest assured I now am properly kitted out under it all.

This week please welcome Maven Lisa Pierpont! I have known Lisa for many years but totally lost touch when our kids' lives and careers made us all super busy. Yet another MAJOR fun part of empty nesting and/or living life is the freedom to reconnect! Lisa has had an enviable career in journalism. For those of you around Boston you may remember her on Chronicle, a nightly newsmagazine on WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate. She left Chronicle after 15 years with their blessing to start an online periodical called Boldfacers which ran for 8 years with great success. A graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Lisa also contributes/ed to various publications, including DailyCandy.com, Boston Common Magazine, the Boston Globe ("Ask the Sartorialist" columnist), Improper Bostonian ("Best of Boston" style awards), Boston Magazine ("Ask the Fashionologist" and "Best of Boston" style awards) and continues to freelance produce for Chronicle.

Just before Covid Lisa decided it was time for some experimenting and she gave herself permission to leave her job. Below she discusses her experience with a self curated sabbatical. Currently, Lisa is an adjunct professor in Emerson's Department of Journalism, a contributing editor for Boston Magazine, and an all around wonderful person.

Maven of the Week: Lisa Pierpont

Lisa Pierpont

For the first time in your career you left a job without going to a new one. You gave yourself permission to experiment. You like a tidy schedule so you created a “recipe” of sorts to organize your time. Tell me more about your “curated experiment.” 

I designed my own sabbatical. I wrote up a massive list of things I’ve always wanted to learn...from shooting a gun to learning how to DJ. Then, I organized a schedule which went something like this: Monday/public service day, Tuesday/creative day, Wednesday/athletic or physical day, and Thursday/Spiritual day. Fridays were for getting my teeth cleaned or something LOL. I wrote poetry, visited art exhibits, tried tai chi, checked out weird meditation stuff...it was awesome.  

The pandemic hit soon after, so I did not do this as long as I had planned, but I always know I can go back to it when I have down time. Of all the things I dabbled in, I really got into painting watercolors. I stink but I don't care. It’s all about putting on cool music (the playlist from Big Little Lies was a fave), setting up an easel outdoors, splattering paint on a blank canvas...and letting the shapes and colors express themselves. And, I guess, myself.

Many of us are experiencing different levels of empty nest. How are you finding the experience so far?

Hell. A bit of a who-am-I crisis, which is weird because I have always had a career. But I loved being a mom, and looked forward to coming home after work every single day and spending time with my girls. I never tired of that. It’s a huge void in my life. I’ve talked to a bunch of friends about how to handle this horrible feeling of emptiness and they all just say, keep busy and it will get better. I have to say, that seems so...so incomplete. I mean, is that it? Keep busy? Then, I try to remember that I had an entire happy life before I had kids. So I’m trying to feel that again.

As someone who is a professor of broadcast journalism at Emerson, writing a true crime novel, and was just recently hired to head up Boston Magazine’s Lifestyle section, I for one would like to know what you read in the way of journalism. Do you get any hard copies of anything?

I subscribe to the New York Times and Boston Globe. I used to get hard copies, but found that I never really got through all of it, and felt really guilty about offing a tree. I read a ton online from a huge amount of news outlets...from CNN to the NY Post to Washington Post to the Wall Street Journal...constantly. 

You started in journalism before the internet was a common concept. What are your feelings about the profession these days? 

I am passionate about journalism and its purpose. The industry continues to suffer from the lack of a viable business model since the internet came along. I am very concerned about the future of journalism. Journalists are in this field not because of the money (this was never a lucrative career) but from a calling to report the news and share it with the public. 

The thing is, and it is a really big thing...the money is not there anymore. Advertisers are not buying advertisements. What kept the lights on and paid the journalism staff is a point of freak-out concern for media company owners every day. There’s no answer right now. What that means is that foreign bureaus have disappeared, fact checking departments are under-staffed...I mean, if the media were a medical institution, it would be an emergency triage situation every single day. That’s what keeps me up at night. 

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was 13, a local newspaper reporter came to speak to my eighth grade class about her job. It was as though lightning struck me on the spot. I instantly knew I wanted to be a journalist. So boom, I co-started the high school newspaper, worked as a “stringer” at a local newspaper and landed a job at a TV station two weeks after graduating from college. My other friends were traveling around Europe that summer but I couldn’t wait to start my career. 

What are you excited about now? 

I am an empty nester, and although I miss my girls desperately, I am excited to travel. Anywhere. Anytime. I’m also keeping busy with work: teaching a broadcast journalism class at Emerson College, producing the lifestyle section at Boston Magazine and writing a true crime book. It’s a really nice balance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still groping through the fog here, trying to figure out who I am without my children at home. I have a recurring dream of losing my wallet and phone...which I think suggests an identity crisis? I don’t know. 

What books are on your bedside table?

I always have a bizarro stack of random reading material next to my bed. I’m an avid reader of the New Yorker, so there’s that. Right now, I’m reading Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within (a graduate school classmate of mine ghostwrites for him. I was intrigued.), The Inner Life of Animals by Peter Wohlleben, Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout, and rereading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

What do you do to relax?

I take a lot of naps.

What category/subject  would you add to the Guide?

How to create a meaningful life and relationships 

A Recipe You Wont Hate: Fall Bean Soup

I made this one up but, it’s good! If you like soup.

Ingredients:

1 lb Bag of mixed beans from soup aisle, rinse and place in 10 cups of water, bring to a boil. Simmer for 40 mins. keep simmering….

Add:

2 inches of ginger root peeled, chopped

2 bay leaves, and some dashes of other dried herbs like thyme, oregano, basil

3 sliced carrots, fist full of sliced mushrooms, some sliced swiss chard, anything else you want to throw in

Most important ingredient: Jar of “Better Than Bouillon” in beef, chicken or veggie. All are amazing and make anything taste great. Be careful not to over-do it.

Simmer until it tastes yum.

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That’s all for this week. Please send any comments or suggestions anytime….always great to hear from you.

Kim

My Office