Why I Write

As a journalism student at New York University, I was frequently told that my writing style was just "not right" for print. I wrote about sensory experiences, first-person narratives that explored news-worthy issues as best as I could: through my own eyes, through my own words. To me, it seemed natural to include myself in my articles; I wanted the reader to see me not as a detached writer, but instead as a witness to everything I was typing. I felt readers deserved that credibility.

In an effort to get me to grasp what the problem was, a professor of mine whom I greatly admired channeled the one source she knew I could internalize: musical theatre. On the top of one assignment, she wrote in bold letters, "Sing IN, Louise," her clever alteration on the words that signal Mama Rose's entrance in the musical Gypsy. It was her way of telling me that I should not be the central figure in the story.

But the philosophy I have always subscribed to as a writer comes from another song from Gypsy: "Let Me Entertain You."

So here I am, having just finished my second year of law school, having lost my outlet as a writer. I want to recapture that sense of story-telling that I once felt as an undergraduate. I want to play with words again, and I want to do this as that eyewitness I always sought to be.

I have started this blog (and the obligatory Twitter account, at  http://www.twitter.com/joshuaza) as a forum for me to write about the things that I care about: sports, pop culture, literature, the law, and global political events. Rather than view each of these things in isolation, however, I have always been much more fascinated with how they interrelate and how each works to help individuals define themselves. I will use this blog to discuss the social ramifications of developments within these fields, to solicit ideas about policy, and to unabashedly disclose my biases. And hopefully each post will contain the sense of humor that I consider to be a personal trademark.

I will spend this summer as an intern at a New York City law firm, and while I accept that it will consume a bulk of my time, I hope to use this space also as a list of hard-learned fables, a cautionary tale providing due warning to other young lawyers. Learn from my mistakes, my friends.

And though I promise not to rely so heavily on showtunes--at least not Gypsy, for Pete's sake--in the future ("You Gotta Get a Gimmick"?), I close this first post with a gentle promise: Let me entertain you, and we'll have a real good time.