Laid off at 51, picked up at 53: Eager to be a full-time journalist again

First off, I should apologize for writing so much. But I've been carving today's tome since yesterday.

Late last week, part of me was dreading the Monday ahead. It had the potential to be a tough day.

It was, after all, the second day of yet another month — in fact, 19 in all since the start of one of the toughest personal challenges I have ever faced. The second of each month has come as an increasingly bitter milestone of sorts. Some have been harder than others; some have slipped past with little fanfare.

Maligned media, Part 2: The truth will out, but it can take time

Sometimes they shoot the messenger.

It’s an expression related to the idea of killing off the bearer of unwelcome tidings — as if the messenger really is to blame for unwanted or bad news.

To be clear, as I noted in Maligned media, Part 1 of this missive, sometimes the negative perception of the media is justified, such

Then and now: Peaks and valleys on a journalist's career roller coaster

Over the past 18 months or so, I have found that working through an extended season of un/underemployment can be a roller-coaster ride.

There are flat stretches when not little more happens than the passage of time. There are hills — solid job leads for which I must slow down and carefully consider my steps. Hopes rise with an initial email contact, then soar with a phone screening and the prospect of a face-to-face interview.

Until now, there has been a thundering, rapid descent into blackness — perhaps with the realization, a week or so later, that

Are newspaper paywalls a corporate recognition that the end is near?

If you aren’t concerned, you should be
The debate about paywalls continues as more and more newspapers gravitate toward requiring online subscriptions to their websites. For me, the debate grows more fascinating at each turn, and in the past several weeks, I have come across some interesting reading material related to the debate, whether directly or indirectly.

Making local news relevant again

Amid all the talk of pay walls, the decline of newspapers, and what the industry needs to do to save itself, many seem to overlook the idea of media relevance. They may give the idea lip service in the greater discussion of rebuilding revenues, but it seems to me that such discussions miss the point.

A Christmas wish

A message to my family, near and far,
friends, colleagues and former co-workers

The past 12 months have been tough, in many ways far tougher than I would have imagined. Yet, through it all, there have been some very good, joy-filled moments that have lifted me up in the times I have struggled most with despair.

That is the spirit of Christmas, as I mentioned in my post a week ago. The spirit of Christmas comes in a savior, Jesus Christ, who made such a great sacrifice for one like me who, in spite of the good I try to achieve, ultimately is undeserving of His grace, His love and the sacrifices he made to offer each one of us redemption.

It is in that spirit which I write today, for so many of you have blessed me in ways I do not deserve.

2011's been a turkey, but ...

Still thankful, despite job status

(stock,xchng vi)

A year ago, I was thanking God that I had escaped yet another brutal round of layoffs as Sun-Times Media continued the draconian downsizing which I ultimately believe will prove fatal — if not to the entire company, then at least to its neglected suburban holdings.

Down but not out

When I was laid off in December, I was devastated — I felt a combination of hurt and betrayal that a company I had worked for loyally for 16 years had dropped me, with little more than a short “thanks but we don’t need you anymore” and a couple of boxes into which I could unceremoniously cast my belongings.

The loss of daily contact with my friends and colleagues — who for five days a week had been my social circle — hurt like hell as well. But the greatest pain was the sense that I had failed my wife, my kids, myself, and a career I’ve loved since I began a little more than 27 years ago.

Fessin’ up: Addressing mistakes

Mistakes are not acceptable when they are avoidable.

This was a lesson I had pounded in to me repeatedly when I was news editor in the early 1990s at one of Wyoming’s then two capital city newspapers.

I worked there in a pressure cooker environment – I enjoyed the work thoroughly, despite the intensity and workload. There was very little time to stop to think through the course of the 90 mph night. We rushed through everything. I starting using the term “spray-and-pray editing” to describe our work.

When your best ain't good enough

Sometimes, your best just ain't good enough.

It's not that it isn't good. But somehow, somewhere, someone makes a decision that what you've been working on, the career you've made a life of, or perhaps, just perhaps, the revolution you've started is just too risky.

The latter is what appears to have happened this week to TBD.com, a revolutionary website launched in August in the Washington, D.C., area that was to present "hyperlocal" news on a variety of Web-based platforms using television, the Internet and increasingly ubiquitous social media.

Time flies, job search's urgency grows

It's hard to believe that it's been 2½ months since I was laid off. I was too busy with the blizzard during the first week of February to really notice Feb. 2, and by the 7th, my middle son's 19th birthday, my mind was again on other things. But starting about Tuesday, the 8th, I noticed the passage of time as I filled out my certification online for unemployment benefits.

It's been more than two months, and the realization dawned on me that that time has flown by so swiftly -- too swiftly. Roughly, I have about four months of unemployment left. And then what?