Vision of future newsroom bleak

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Imagine a newsroom, my friend said, where there are just a few editors, and maybe just a reporter and a photographer — you know, just in case something happens.

Feeling squirrelly after attack

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I’d known from the start of the week that Wednesday was going to be a challenge. I was not particularly dreading it — in fact, I was looking forward to seeing how well I would handle it.

 

But some things you just don’t see coming.

My last, finest summer vacation

Seeing parallels between then and now

The Mississippi River is seen at Winona, Minn.
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The spring of 1982 began in earnest with commencement ceremonies in a hot, crowded gymnasium at what then was known as St. Mary’s College of Winona, Minn., which some years later would follow an apparent trend and declare itself a university.

Can peeves really be pets?

Some things that can serve to annoy copy editors

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A former copy editor colleague of mine recently started a Facebook thread bemoaning some of his pet peeves of misused words in the English language. I joined in the thread — we share some of the same irritants.

Good news amid Sun-Times’ bad

New opportunities, more Sun-Times layoffs

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As much as everyone’s complained about all the thunderstorms this summer, I’ve enjoyed them — the sound of rain and thunder, the brilliant flash of lightning. It helps me sleep better.

But professionally speaking, I’ve been going through a dry spell of late, even though there have been some good things mixed in with that.

Time out to mark a milestone

Happy 50^th anniversary, Guy and Pat Schreck

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I’ve dedicated this blog to writing about some tough times of late, but also, I think, trying to maintain a degree of optimism about the future of this profession I’ve called my vocation for nearly 28 years.

Today I take a break to celebrate, albeit from a distance — 1,203 miles, to be as precise as Google maps can be. I am in Elgin, Ill., and Lisa, the woman I married, has driven all those miles with our five children to be with her parents, Guy and Pat Schreck, on this very special day, Aug. 5, 2011.

Regrown roots at heart of debate

Citizen journalism plan draws emotional response

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Less than a month ago, I began following a discussion thread on a professional networking site in which journalists were responding to the Huffington Post’s announcement of plans to resume its OffTheBus Citizen Journalism Project, to recruit volunteers to cover the 2012 elections.

These “citizen journalists” would offer a fresh, nontraditional look at the election season.