(interview held on Sep. 15, 2008)
Ask a New Yorker: Julie Walker has good news. What’s going on?
Julie: The good news is that I just got a call from CNN. That was one of the reasons I was 5 minutes late in meeting you. They called me. My bosses are in Atlanta and they asked me to work the next two days. Unfortunately the problems at Lehman Brothers and the banking sector created work for me. Because I freelance, so it’s big news.
Ask a New Yorker: What do you do?
Julie: I’m a freelance radio correspondent.
Ask a New Yorker: What kind of schooling do you have and what did you study?
Julie: I went to Wellesley and studied Art History and Political Science.
Ask a New Yorker: And now reporting on the financial crisis…
Julie: Well I’ve been reporting on the financial crisis for some other people, including the Associated Press. I usually get work by the day. But it can also be by the story. CNN booked me for the next two days. I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of the financial crisis yet. There will be more to come, which means more work for me. It’s not like I’m profiting off of other peoples misfortune. I feel bad. It just means work for me.
Ask a New Yorker: As we sit inside this crowded Restaurant/bar Republic on a mid September evening you would never feel like we’re in the midst of such a financial meltdown. Who are these people?
Julie: I ask myself that question all the time. Today the Dow closed down 504 points. Who does it affect because New York is somewhat of an anomaly, is that the right word.
Ask a New Yorker: A bubble.
Julie: Yea, it’s in a bubble. It seems you go to a restaurant like Republic. You have people at the bar, people at the tables and it’s only 5:30 in the evening. People are still spending. People are still going out. I wonder who does get affected .
Ask a New Yorker: Perhaps the maid of one of Lehman’s employees. She just got a pink slip. So what else does a Freelance Radio reporter do?
Julie: Basically, a freelancer keeps looking for more work. I actually started freelancing after leaving NY1 news a few years ago. Ever since then I’ve been working for a lot of different news organizations. That includes the Associated Press , where I have worked every Sunday for the past 2 years as a radio correspondent . I also contribute to NPR newscast and am one of the co-hosts for Newsweek on Air. This month I get to cover the Hamptons International Film Festival for WVVH TV, which is always a lot of fun. So freelancing gives me opportunities to cover a lot of different stories, when I am not looking for more work of course.
Ask a New Yorker: The conversation has shifted to cybersquatting.
Julie: The last time I saw you was at Jeff Pulver’s breakfast which was interesting. You actually convinced me to go and I’m glad I did. Jeff is very interesting guy. He’s done a lot with his companies. I made some interesting connections at that breakfast, we all did. That was the whole point of it, the networking breakfast, as Jeff would say. So you brought up the idea cyber squatting. I wanted the domain name juliewalker.com so I looked it up on the web; it’s going for a lot, close to $700, which I think is crazy, but I guess it’s the whole cyber market now a days.
Ask a New Yorker: So, here’s a random question: have you ever been mugged in New York?
Julie: Yes, like every true New Yorker, I have been mugged. I think if you live here long enough it will happen to you too. I hate to say that but my first day freelancing for CNN at 7:00am I was on my way to the subway and I was mugged at knife point. This was about a month ago. It got me to thinking sort of like Carrie Bradshaw does those questions like, ‘Is crime back in New York?’ But it never really left. Crime has always been around. I thought the days of knife point and gun point muggings were down. Apparently they are up.
Ask a New Yorker: What did this mugger say?
Julie: Give me your money. What else do you say when you mug someone? I said, ‘O.K’….I looked at the knife and I thought to myself I don’t have health insurance if he cuts me. That would be pretty bad and pretty costly. It’s not worth the $37 in my wallet. The only thing that’s worth anything is everything else in your wallet, all your id, everything that would have to be replaced .
Ask a New Yorker: So you handed over your wallet. You didn’t take the cash out first? I mean, he did say,’ Give me your money’?
Julie: No I gave him the whole wallet. Then I thought to myself this is crazy. I said to him,’ I need my license back’ because I drive a lot for work. I need my license. I really need my licenses. He said.’ Calm down’ and he took the cash out and gave me my whole wallet back with everything in it. I called CNN and I said I’m really sorry I’m going to be late for work I was mugged. Then the police even offered me a note to bring to work. But I said I think they’ll believe me. Who would make up a story like that? I don’t need a note. If my employer doesn’t believe me I wouldn’t ever even want to work for them. So I get to work and the story I do for CNN is the story of the 85 year old women who was mugged in her elevator. That video made its way around the world via YouTube and the internet and everything. I mean that was really sad. So you think bad things happen to you and then you see an 85 year old women being put in a choke hold. The guy stole here cane and her money.
Ask a New Yorker: Did you get a good look at your mugger?
Julie: No, he had on a baseball cap which can obscure someone looks in a way. But I did get a decent look at him.
Ask a New Yorker: Did he ask you out for dinner? what happened next?
Julie: He had asked me for my phone. I said I didn’t have one. I think I would have rather died rather than giving up my phone as anyone. Especially a New Yorker knows. You never back up those numbers. You rarely do. So if you give up your phone you might as well be dead. So I told him I didn’t have a phone. And this is the advantage of carrying one of those huge bags, like the Mary Kate bags, like the bags that are bigger then you. There’s no way that anybody whose mugging you would take the time to go through that bag. And they’re not going to take it because it’s huge. I said, ‘I don’t have a phone’ He left and I called 911 immediately. They sent a squad car. I was talking to the cops and I was saying I am a reporter and I do a lot of stories about crime and they never do a story about some simple muggings, like mine. You do the stories about muggings gone wrong and the people are killed. You do the really sad heart wrenching violent crimes stories. Not the typical ones that seem to happen every day in New York to someone somewhere. That was mine. You don’t become a story for the news. My whole point is that you don’t want to try to fight back if someone has a knife or a gun. You could try to run but you never know.
Ask a New Yorker: Regardless of your mugging story being picked up, we’re glad to have the first scoop here on Ask a New Yorker. Thanks for the interview.
