I’m hearing on TV these days lots of conversation about “journalism”. Most of the conversation is political and most of the “journalism” mentioned is not journalism at all. It’s opinion. Here are some reflections from my yesteryear…

Growing up in Webster Groves, Missouri our family subscribed to two newspapers, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat (the morning paper) and the St Louis Post-Dispatch (the evening paper). The Globe Democrat stopped publishing in 1986. Newspapers were important to us and I remember watching my father working the crossword puzzles every night.

My first journalism class was in high school. Yvonne Lannigan taught us to write clearly and interestingly which we did on manual typewriters with carbon paper and copies. One of my first articles was about tennis player Tony Trabert who I interviewed briefly while attending a tennis demonstration in St. Louis. I was in high school and had to re-write that story at least five times before it could appear in the Webster Echo. I sent the (short) story to Tony and he replied with a thank-you note. Which I kept for years.

And then college. I majored in what was called Home Economics-Journalism. The home economics was not of particular interest, but I loved the journalism and even worked as a freshman proofreader for the Iowa State Daily. In those days, we were taught the five “W’s”: Who, What, Where, When, and Why. and the “why” was not a political opinion. Later I reported for the Iowa State Daily.

My first job out of college was on the food page of the Chicago Daily News. And what a shock. We had no kitchen, but every day we ran recipes–-sent to us by food manufacturers who sent us “gifts” as well. I was the low person in the office, but even I took home samples of food and even a watch by the folks at 7-up. I didn’t like that job because it was far from pure journalism, and I wasn’t a cook, couldn’t practice cooking and couldn’t even pronounce the names of some of the spices. What I did like was a series of columns I did about four recent graduates, women, living in Chicago. I had a copy editor who was very helpful.

During my time at the Daily News, I read the first regular columns of a man named Mike Royko (I remember he once wrote about the then hapless Chicago Cubs ending the article with, “When the umpire yells ‘Play Ball’, they won’t.’”

Also Roger Ebert wrote his first columns then – I’d never before read real movie reviews And then about four months into the job I quit-– probably about an hour before I would have been fired. Oh my God! That day I went to the Marshall Field Department Store to get a job for the holiday season. I could not call home and tell my folks I didn’t have a job.

About two days after I left the Daily News, I got a message that my former copy editor was downstairs in wanting to see me. He told me that I had talent and should not get discouraged. He gave me the confidence I needed then.

And later I did get another job… with S&C Electric Company as Editor of their company magazine, Volts & Jolts. I stayed at S&C for 39 years, during which time (1978), the Chicago Daily News went out of business.

Twenty-plus years ago when I retired, I did some part-time writing for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, but then that stopped when a new owner came along and hired a newsroom full of full-time writers. So I went to the Internet and found this web site: Living-Las-Vegas.com. I have been writing about events and people in Las Vegas ever since.

Yes “journalism” and my life with journalism has changed. I now write on a computer and you can find my articles online with no politics. I subscribe to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on-line and after listening to the Fox News and CNBC experts on cable, I miss Mike Royko and Roger Ebert very much.