Get treatment for your alcohol addiction, then worry about making it as a journalist.

The world needs journalists about as much as it needs elevator operators.

Look at Yout tube! Look at all the attention the www.bessettekennedywedding.com video is getting! Its the newest! hang in there baby! Jane's Juicy Tidbits

Ten years ago, the LW would have had the pick of any number of decent jobs at decent-sized newspaper. Amazing how much can change in a decade.

The sad reality is that the number of journalism jobs that can provide a decent middle-class income is shrinking fast, and likely, permanently. The newspapers and magazines simply aren't hiring, and won't be for the forseeable future (and are likely in a state of steady, permanent decline).

Meanwhile, most of the "new media" alternatives want their writers to work unpaid, or for a nominal pittance. That's the case even with the high-profile outlets: The oft-touted Huffington Post doesn't pay most of its contributors, for example. And that's because "new media" doesn't make much money, certainly nothing close to the powerhouse profit margins that your average city newspaper saw as recently as the late 1990s.

Until the day comes when someone figures out how to make a lot of money selling journalistic content online, journalists may find themselves in the realm of the starving artist, forced to work basically for nothing or hoping to find a generous (and, likely, ideologically motivated) benefactor to fund their work.

For the LW, frankly, things look very bleak, I'm afraid to say. They have no real experience (sorry, internships don't count), particularly when compared with the tens of thousands of accomplished, experienced, recently-laid-off reporters who are competing for those very scarce job openings. The DUI is also a significant blemish.

And for all the talk of blogging, well, that's a great alternative if you want to keep mooching off Mom and Dad. For the vast majority of us, blogging is a hobby, not a career, and never will be.

If the LW wants to use that journalism degree, the best hope is in marketing/sales and public relations. If that's unacceptable, then go back to school, or start a business, or come up with another practical plan that you can live with.

It's not clear where he applied for a job. Did he try to start at the top?

And without a driver's license, you can't go out on stories even at the smallest of small-town papers.

By the way, one of the standard, fully accepted, perfectly natural meanings of the word "last" is "next before the present, most recent." You could look it up.

That day is sadly over. Now in Idiot America where hardly anyone reads anymore, intelligent people (who are non-technical) are now having to make their peace with living in a country that regards what they do with words as quaint at best, subversive at worst.

Unless you have a hankering to memorize a great work and take to woods to preserve civilization in these new dark ages (ala Fahrenheit 451) I would suggest aiming for a Federal clerical job. It's idiot labor but you'll get better pay, benefits (time off) and worker's rights than pretty much any other real world job and, generally, you can leave work at work. You can use the time off to write your blog.

Or you could always sell insurance. Or, perhaps, make drinking a full time habit. Unfortunately, it will probably not turn you into Dylan Thomas and even if it did, no one would care.

But the greatest test you'll have is saying sane.

Just get a skill the world really needs - like teaching, assistant physician, nurse, optometrist, plumber, etc. There is no shortage of people wanted to spout off on any conceivable subject in print, as can be seen in these letters. Why expect to get paid for it?

@ calderon -- No, thanks. I'd probably catch something nasty.

Why do ignorant people hate hearing grammar tips? Did you all slack off at school and loathe your teachers?

I've never understood why you wouldn't want to hear corrections to your clumsy mistakes in order to appear less illiterate next time.

For the record "last" is final. FINAL. As in "The last days of the dinosaurs before they became extinct..."

"Past" refers to the most recent.

"Prior" is an excellent alternative.

Correct grammar matters. It's similar to the rules of etiquette; both are signifiers that separate the educated from the riff-raff.

After nearly 20 years in daily print journalism, with tens of thousands of clips and several stints as an editor and manager, I was unceremoniously dumped by a completely dysfunctional management that tried to make my longterm illness my fault. Lawyers and union reps disagreed and the company folded. I took my severance and never looked back.

I went from a nice home in the suburbs to a hovel in the city that I still can't get out of but you know what ... I'm much happier! I'm getting an advanced degree and have a scut job to keep the lights on until I get my master's.

I was older when I got into journalism with a few Life Mistakes under my belt already. And that's probably how it should be. Most kids out of school aren't really ready for journalism even in the best of circumstances; the way the industry is now, you'd probably get the worst possible gig and get paid dirt to do it -- except there are people twice your age with 20 times your experience willing to do the same.

I don't know where the future of journalism lies, especially the print type. But if you're truly as good as you say, then those skills will never go away. But if you want to get out of the 'rents basement and get a life, I suggest you go back to school and get either another bachelor's or an advanced degree or some certification to get yourself employed.

If you're truly a writer, start a blog (ugh, just make it good, please!) and keep up with the occasional freelancing gig. Or write fiction. Or be a serial commenter on websites like this one ... not that that will get you a job, but it feels pretty good venting without all that pesky objectivity.

Just keep writing. Even if you go into dental hygenics, you might be able to parlay that into a science writing job down the road. And above all else: Stop whining. Your life isn't over, nor is your shot at journalism -- unless you crash into a wall under the influence. Get some counseling if the drinking's going to be an ongoing problem.