Christiane

I went to a talk by Christiane Amanpour last week at the Kentucky Center. That woman is tough as nails and possibly fearless. Or, probably not, actually. If she were fearless, she probably would have done something stupid in a war zone somewhere and gotten seriously injured or killed. But she could have gone on for another hour or two and I would have stayed to listen. She's just a hair's breadth away from cockiness. She's just supremely confident. And she has a right to be proud of the career she's built; there's really nobody else out there doing what she does anymore. Not only did she pave the way in international journalism, she's outlasted most of the others who got chopped because it's so expensive to sustain. Sadly, she said she worries that the young people who ask her how to break into the business aren't going to get anywhere, even through the tried-and-true methods of starting at the bottom or working for free or hounding everyone until they all know your name. There's nowhere for them to get in. I wonder if she will pick one or two to mentor so that they will be part of her legacy.