A Man's World
For those of you out there who know just how buttoned down, how neat and organized I am (and for those of you who don’t, hopefully you’ll catch the irony in this), it should come as little surprise to you that my beloved wife Nancy is a compliance officer.
And while that sounds kinky, it really means that it is her professional duty to make sure that everyone around her is doing the right thing. Naturally, I tow the line. I’m married now and I don’t win any points for being rebellious like I used to.
Still, a trip out of town for my wifey means a trip down memory lane for your publisher. Last week was just such an occasion.
The Yankees were on television almost every night. I put my head on the pillows I’m not supposed to use. I drank beer and flicked the caps at our cat, Dean Martin. I ate steak with no vegetable side dishes and used the platters we received as wedding gifts for plates. I wore the same shorts and Don Mattingly t-shirt every single night. Sport jackets covered every chair in the kitchen and dining room and pairs of my shoes were readily available for use in almost every room.
My God, was I lonely.
I remember as a child being told that when I grew up I would get to make decisions for myself. That idea would manifest itself in several ways over the years. Like when I was a reporter at a daily newspaper and I would argue with my editors and they would say, “when you get your own newspaper, then you can decide what goes on page one.”
I think back on those times and laugh. Particularly when I look over the staff of your Parkville Luminary. It’s charming when Nancy Jack or our editor Mandy Hay call me “boss.” As if I could ever tell either of them what to do.
Mandy used to edit my copy at another newspaper. I have learned that she has very exacting tastes. What can you say about a woman who hates Garamond (the font type you are enjoying now)? On the flip side, she has consistently defended Flash Gordon’s inclusion in the newspaper. I admit, I was a little worried about the so-called “protector of the universe” when his first adventure in the newspaper featured him kissing a hologram of Dale Arden inside a giant plant for a couple of weeks. The current storyline has been ok, and I’ve seen the advances on the next one (each story lasts about 12 weeks) and I think we’re going to stick with Flash a little longer. I think the artwork is impressive and Flash is, by far, the most “classic newspaper” comic available on the market today.
That said, Mandy is often the “conscious” of our newspaper in that she’s the only one awake.
And then there’s Nancy Jack. This is not a knock on other reporters, many of whom do a great job at the other area newspapers, but it isn’t like I assigned Nancy Jack to the “river rescue” beat (see front page story). This is now the second time she has made it to the scene of a dramatic rescue on the riverfront readers of The Luminary will recall the time she made it over to Riverside and witnessed the rescue of a woman who had been missing for two days.
All up the masthead line — from our gutsy circulation director Sandy Kuhlman to our newest reporter Alicia McGarry and to the maven of the archives, Carolyn Elwess — you are looking at a staff that is supremely professional, fun to work with and, most importantly, willing to tell me to go take a hike at any moment. That means they really know what they’re doing.