What I Learned From Amy Goodman

Reflections on careers, democracy, and the real story

Some people leave you thinking about what they accomplished.

Others leave you thinking about how they accomplished it.

That was my takeaway after watching Steal This Story, Please, the documentary about journalist, activist, and Democracy Now! co-founder Amy Goodman.

If you stood behind her in a coffee shop line, you might never know who she was. She’s unassuming. Honest. Grounded. Earnest. Deeply committed to doing good work while sharing the spotlight with those around her. By nature, she’s inquisitive—far more interested in hearing your story than telling her own.

The documentary follows some of the most dangerous reporting of her career. She’s been arrested, held at gunpoint, threatened, dismissed, and sent into places most of us would never willingly go. Watching her work, it becomes clear that journalism, for Amy Goodman, isn’t simply a profession. It’s a way of seeing the world.

A commitment to showing up when it’s difficult, when it’s unpopular, and when it’s anything but convenient.

I couldn’t stop wondering about her nervous system.

How do you keep showing up when you don’t know the outcome? When you don’t know if you’ll be safe? When the unknowns consistently outnumber the knowns?

I don’t think the answer is fearlessness.

I think it’s conviction.

Read the full article at From Drift To Direction

Me with Amy Goodman with a signed poster of her documentary Steal This Story, Please!