A Life Update

Hi everyone!

It's been a while. To be precise, it's been 50 days since I last published anything. Before that, it had been 22 days. So, the question is: what exactly have I been doing if I haven't been publishing anything on Austin B Media, Movies We Texted About, or Patreon?

Well, the answer is both exciting and terrifying: I'm going to college! 

I’m sure that immediately raises a ton of questions, so I wanted to sit down and answer as many of them as I can.

Why are you going to college now?

The short answer is that I’ve wanted to go to college for years and finally reached the point where I feel ready to take the next step.

The longer answer is a bit more complicated.

I originally planned to go to college right out of high school, but losing my financial aid at the last minute completely upended those plans. For a long time, college stopped feeling realistic, and I put the idea aside for years.

However, while planning the second half of 2026 for Austin B Media, I realized that I’d reached the end of what I could reasonably teach myself about journalism, writing, and my day-to-day responsibilities that come with running an independent publication. I want to become a stronger writer, reporter, editor, and storyteller, and college feels like the next logical step toward that.

At the same time, I also realized that if I didn’t seriously explore this now, I probably never would.

What has the last month looked like?

Without getting too deep into the mindbogglingly boring details, the last month and change has been filled with researching schools, speaking with admissions offices and advisors, placement testing, campus visits, financial planning, paperwork, and trying to figure out what day-to-day college life could realistically look like for me as an adult learner.

I started this process with a list of seven schools. I gradually narrowed things down to three options that checked all the boxes I cared most about: strong journalism programs, support systems for adult learners, affordability, flexibility, and environments where I could see myself growing both personally and professionally.

At this point, one option is very close to finalized, another is still reviewing additional information from me, and the third would involve starting at a community college before transferring into a four-year program.

So, while nothing is fully official yet, I’m in the stage where I’m in the final throes of preparation instead of “thinking about it.”

As I'm writing this, I'm expecting to hear back from one of the three colleges on a final admissions decision today. That may end up shaping the next steps in a very real way, but I didn't want to wait for that outcome to share this update. Regardless of the result, the big picture of the decision and this transition remains the same.

What am I studying?

My major will be journalism.

I’ve also explored the possibility of adding public relations as a second major, though journalism will remain my primary focus. One of the biggest goals during my college search was finding a program that could build on the skills I’ve spent the last six years developing through Austin B Media and help turn them into a stronger professional foundation.

As for minors, things are still a little less certain. My first choice would be a film studies program, but I’ve also considered areas like marketing, public relations (if it’s not offered as a major), and video production/editing, depending on the school and how the degree paths are structured.

No matter what combination I ultimately choose, the goal remains the same: to become a more well-rounded journalist and storyteller by the end of my college career.

What does this mean for Austin B Media and Movies We Texted About?

A lot of this remains up in the air. While I have class schedules for two of the schools I’ve applied to, the biggest unknown right now is how much free time I’ll realistically have left once classes begin.

The summer semester should give me more flexibility because of the lighter workload. However, once the fall semester begins, my course load will nearly triple, and that’s before factoring in campus life, work-study opportunities, trips to see movies, and everything else that college life has to offer.

As a result, I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep yet. My current plans are to keep Austin B Media operating as normal during the summer while I figure out what a sustainable, long-term school-work-life balance looks like.

Once the fall semester starts, I’ll likely need to reduce my workload to somewhere in the 25%-50% range to leave room for school and everything that goes with it. That reduction will likely mean fewer reviews, less predictable publishing schedules, and scaling back on awards and festival coverage. However, I want to make it crystal clear that while you may see my work less often, its quality and thoughtfulness will not suffer.

My goal in all this is to build the next chapter of my life and Austin B Media at the same time, but sustainably.

The same applies to Movies We Texted About. I fully intend to continue contributing there, even if my work becomes a little less predictable while I adjust to college life.

At the end of the day, I see college as an opportunity to become a stronger writer, reporter, editor, and storyteller than I could become on my own. You’ll see that growth in everything I create over the next few years.

I’m not going away, and I’m not stepping away from journalism to focus on college. Instead, I’ll be entering a new era of my career. I don’t know what that era looks like yet, but for the first time in a long time, I can’t wait to find out alongside you.

Until next time!

— Austin