It's just TV, folks. Take it easy.

Some of Heather's jokes are duds, but all in all, she's pretty funny and a good read. And remember: she's writing about a topic that, at the end of the day, really isn't worth a hill of beans. She's here to entertain us about entertainment, and more often than not, she succeeds.

If you want to get worked up about something, try global warming.

...is nothing more than a retarded David Brooks.

You want to be a writer. But what do you want to write about?

I research and write for a living, at a regular, 9-to-5, government job, so I have security, a pension, health care, paid vacation, union benefits, the works. The downside is that I'm not getting rich doing it, but I make enough, and I'm writing about something I love--old buildings. Who'd a thunk the government needed people to do that? Turns out it does.

I didn't go into college thinking, "I want to be a writer." But I did a lot of writing there, discovered I was decent at it, and graduated with a liberal arts degree which put me on the path to nothing specific but gave me a sense of what I was interested in. I spent the next four years writing for a trade magazine, which wasn't really what I wanted to do, but it was regular, kept me sharp, and gave me a chance to figure out what it was that I really liked and wanted to devote my life to. That ended up being historic architecture, so I went to grad school to study it, and it was the best thing I ever did. Now I'm happy as a clam, not only because I'm writing, but because I spend every day learning about a topic that never gets old for me, and working to interpret fairly complicated stuff for the general public, which gives me a lot of satisfaction.

People write about everything, of course. You're still young; spend some time working to discover what in the world you really love, what you could spend the rest of your life studying and learning about. The environment? TV shows? Politics? Food? Then do whatever you have to do to get a toehold in that field. (Often, that means grad school and a string of internships.) Once you're there, you'll find that a lot of the people around you can't write to save their lives, and that you'll be in demand, because explaining things clearly is harder than it looks, and people who can do it are always in demand.

Good luck!

I'm not going to say this article was a masterpiece, but it certainly provided some useful information, and for god's sakes, folks, aren't you reading this FOR FREE? Jeez, what a bunch of brats. You get something for nothing and turn around and bitch, bitch, bitch just to show how much smarter you are than everyone else. Shame on your mothers for not teaching you better.

That said, the gas mileage for this thing is abysmal. My pop's three-year-old Hyundai Elantra gets 40 mpg on the highway and fits four adults and a bunch of other stuff with no trouble at all. And spongy brakes in this day and age? That's just inexcusable. Fortunately, I have the subway at my disposal, so I rarely have to deal with any of these horrible Earth-murdering contraptions.

It's nice to read so many encouraging comments, but as someone who works in the historic preservation field (which employs a lot of people with art history and architectural history degrees), I've got to say, make sure you know what you're getting yourself into before you go back to school.

I can sympathize with you. Five years out of college and doing a job that made me miserable, I discovered the field of historic preservation, where it seemed that I could put my love of history, architecture, cities, and landscapes to work every day. So I went to grad school for three years, got out, and within another three years, found myself in a job where I'm basically getting paid to learn, in an environment filled with smart, funny, generous, fantastic people. I can't imagine being back in the miserable place I was in ten years ago. So I know who awful it is doing work you can't stand, and how the right education can rescue you from that.

That said, you really need to think about what kind of job you're going to be able to get when you graduate, and how much debt you're going to have. I was lucky to graduate with ONLY $45,000 in debt in a field in which you're very lucky to make $40,000 to start (and that's in New York, where $40K doesn't go very far). And you'll probably only get that $40K after working a few crap jobs (basically glorified internships) your first three years out. And you'll be competing against really brilliant 25-year-old kids with master's degrees (which they got after sailing through Ivys or prestigious liberal arts colleges), who are willing to work for peanuts and pay their dues because this is their first job in a 40-year career, and because they have supportive parents who are willing and able to help them out when things get tight. (And, unlike a lot of 60-year-olds, they don't bitch and they don't get sick. Guess who employers would rather hire?) One of the previous posters called art history a luxury degree, and that's not far from the truth.

So, my advice would be to find yourself steady employment, get back on your feet, and, in your spare time, get yourself a serious volunteer position or unpaid internship. That may satisfy your fix; it may also turn you off to the field, or make you more committed than ever to going back to school. If that happens, go back to school, but make sure you do it with your eyes open.