Can you believe they pay me for this?

When I walked in, I was actually really nervous. The shirt I was wearing felt like it had shrunk and the newsroom seemed incredibly arid for a November day. Then from across the room, a young Asian kid, about 6 inches shorter than I approaches me (Apparently he noticed the obvious deer in the headlights).

It turns out I had just been introduced to the Viewpoint Editor of Technician. Unassuming and genial, Paul and I took a seat and he told me that of course I could write for the Technician. He didn't want a writing sample or proof of English literacy, but he did want my signature on an I-9 and W-4.

I mentally stepped back and was like... what? They want to pay me.. Me.. a Mechanical Engineer, who is just figuring out the distinct difference between 'to' 'two' and 'too'.

That day I resisted and said I would rather work on a Volunteer basis.

As Christmas break came and went I realized that my bank account total was looking rather pathetic. Sheepishly, I approached Jane -- the new Viewpoint editor -- and asked her if I could possibly be paid.

Apparently, as before, all I needed was to fill out a few forms and voila! I was now being paid by to produce content for my College newspaper.

We should make a few things clear first.. Technician is an independent newspaper in the sense that our budget does not come from the University but comes from advertising dollars. We collect so much advertising money that we can not only afford to be printed by the News & Observer (Raleigh's newspaper), but actually pay our staff. Something I felt not as bad about buying into when I realized just how much time it takes me to write my weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, column.

It doesn't change the fact that I would do the job for free. But it did cause me to think of something my journalism professor once told me in his office.

"When I was young, and they told me they would pay me to write. My specialty became anything they wanted a story on. I would do correspondence, I would write about just about anything my editor wanted, because he would pay me to do it."

While I am not really regulated at all, and as a Senior Staff Columnist now, I can write about anything I want. I love the point he made. They want to pay me to write? Me?