So, as I previously blogged about the NY Times ongoing series American Album, this MSNBC multimedia project (Vanishing Americana) is another reminder of the power journalists have to tell the untold or un-thought about stories. Seriously, when was the last time you considered the average age of barbers? (It’s 57.) And did you even know that milkmen still exist? (I didn’t.)

It’s something to think about. I like the idea behind this package/series in that MSNBC is taking a look at cultural icons everyone knows and many identify with and holding up a mirror to ask, well, whatever happened to?

It could be an interesting project for any newsroom. Either a quick and dirty 10-inch ditty on the topic/person or something more. (It seems MSNBC did both. Though, there’s no real explaination why.) Maybe a day-in-the-life-of for several different jobs or people or places? (Full disclosure: For feature writing a few summers back, I spent 12 hours riding around in 90+ degree weather on an ice cream truck. It sucked. But the story turned out to be pretty humorous and the reporting experience was something worth doing. Would I do it again? Probably, but I’d rather take on the day in the life of something entirely new.)

I think it would be interesting to have this job. Writing (for the NYTimes or anyone) about off-beat people you encounter.

I just finished reading the latest story in the “American Album” series, Dreams in the Dark at the Drive-Through Window. It was a quick profile of someone you otherwise might not notice, of a person who’s probably spent her whole life going unnoticed.

I love just talking to people and hearing their stories. It’s one of the best parts of being a journalist. I encounter all different sorts of people and get to ask them nosy questions about themselves. Even before I started reporting I was like this. People would sit at my counter at the bowling alley, and half an hour later I’d know their profession, kids names, hometown, and way more than how they take their coffee. Lucky for me, most people like talking about themselves.

Also, perhaps because I’m a writer, I frequently think about how interesting someone’s life has been and how it’d probably make a great story. Then again, I think everyone has a story, and anyone’s story could be interesting enough to tell if you made the effort… That’s what makes this project seem so appealing. These aren’t the people you expect to read about in the newspaper. They’re everyday, average folks just carving out a living, living their life. Actually, that’s what fascinates me.