Stop the presses!

No, the First Amendment is not dead -- and neither am I.

This was affirmed as I listened to old-timers on Friday, surrounded by young, passionate reporters like myself. Before coming to Nashville I thought that I was on the verge of burning out as a reporter, that the harsh realities of newspaper economics and the daily grind had worn away the boundless enthusiasm I had for the principles enshrined in the First Amendment. I found myself lamenting what I had presumed was the slow but inevitable and painful demise of a career that had barely begun.

But the combination of the old and the new, of the storied struggles of our reporter forefathers (and mothers) and the modern hopes and fears of a younger generation, has allowed me to realize that I have not changed and my faith in the First Amendment has not wavered. I am a good reporter, and what I do does matter to my community. Journalism isn't dead; newspapers are alive and changing and the First Amendment shelters us all.

I am a good reporter. I repeat it not out of arrogance but as a simple reminder to myself. What's more, I am surrounded by other reporters who are just as or more talented than I. I must do my part and serve my community, not with mediocrity, but with the full wealth of who I am and what I have to offer.

So that is what I learned today -- something I knew but had forgotten in the lonely fog of the San Francisco Bay.