How could it be, me working in the same room as the best and the brightest? I considered myself lucky to breathe the same smoke-saturated air as as they did.
As the overworked and underpaid day rewrite, the lowest of the low at the Dallas Morning News, I belonged. At 22, the crazy deadlines and dizzy pace suited me fine. No two days were alike. The City Desk reporters also were uncommonly fine writers and shared their tips with me.
"Don't back into the lead." That advice has stuck with me for many years. Also "write tight, cut the crap."
Could I have stayed at that 45-line phone bank forever, taking dictation from someone at the scene of a crime? Or writing human interest features? Obits on local notables? I had to finish college. My last four courses were in the middle of the day. Rather than work the night shift (too many murders!), I took a public relations job at at the university. Once a flack, you can't come back to the J-side they said.
My journalist friends sent me off with a beautiful cordovan leather briefcase and good wishes for the future. Although I stayed on the PR side of the tracks for the next 20 years, I remained a journalist at heart and champion of the First Amendment.
— Suztek
As the overworked and underpaid day rewrite, the lowest of the low at the Dallas Morning News, I belonged. At 22, the crazy deadlines and dizzy pace suited me fine. No two days were alike. The City Desk reporters also were uncommonly fine writers and shared their tips with me.
"Don't back into the lead." That advice has stuck with me for many years. Also "write tight, cut the crap."
Could I have stayed at that 45-line phone bank forever, taking dictation from someone at the scene of a crime? Or writing human interest features? Obits on local notables? I had to finish college. My last four courses were in the middle of the day. Rather than work the night shift (too many murders!), I took a public relations job at at the university. Once a flack, you can't come back to the J-side they said.
My journalist friends sent me off with a beautiful cordovan leather briefcase and good wishes for the future. Although I stayed on the PR side of the tracks for the next 20 years, I remained a journalist at heart and champion of the First Amendment.
— Suztek
Oh, I can relate to this! Only I never did journalism at all, I went straight to PR !!! But mostly for the arts. Thanks for the grizzled advice, too! This piece is a succinct tale of how people make choices and what those choices mean... but in a breezy way!
ReplyDeleteOh, the above is from me, Macoff.
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