These news I must confess are full of grief

III King Henry VI, IV.iv

Much discussion of news and the media industry these days seems to be accompanied by various degrees of pessimism and cynicism. Read discussion boards, forums, and particularly comment sections underneath news stories on any news outlet website, and you'll generally find individuals complaining about how terrible the world appears through the lens of modern journalism.

Amusingly enough, after two years of long, late, and low-paying hours in a newsroom and then two years off, lambasting the state of the industry, I find myself edging back into it. Albeit by way of a happier avenue. Now in my third week at Kansas City's major newspaper, The Kansas City Star, I work nights in the sports department copy editing articles about not murder and mayhem, but feats of athletic prowess. And I get to think up witty headlines such as "Sorry, Iowa, you aren't being punk'd."

The comforting thing about returning to long and late hours and little pay is that, this time around, I'm working on the section that most people say they skip the news for.

Even better, I'm working for the newspaper that gave Ernest Hemingway his start and that incited such poetic masterpieces as competitor newspaper Kansas City Times editor Eugene Field's in the 1880s:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little Star
Bright and gossipy you are;
We can daily hear you speak
For a paltry dime a week."