the editor talks with you

My sister Betty discovered her real calling later in life than most of us. She set out to become an actress, winning parts in summer stock productions as far away as Texas while majoring in languages at Agnes Scott near Atlanta. Because my wife and I were living in the New York City suburbs, our father reluctantly agreed to help finance her search for an acting career in Manhattan. In the late 1990s, Betty talked to a neighbor who had just earned her Masters degree in occupational therapy at NYU, one of the few schools that offered it. With her advice, Betty found out that there are opportunities for those with Masters degrees in OT. She applied to NYU but found out that because her BA was more than 10 years old, she had to retake biology, anatomy, physiology and psychology. My sister wasn’t easily deterred. It took her 3 years, but she did everything needed, earned her degree and went to work in the public schools helping “special ed” students, most autistic but many with other multiple disabilities. She loved teaching, loved the kids and found she loved being loved by them. Now that’s a calling. My son Mark and I visited her at one of the New York schools where she worked with these children. Her love for them inspired us. My sister had found her purpose.

Years ago, I was searching for my purpose. I had been through military school, college and the Army. I had worked for 2 newspapers as a reporter and editor and loved it. The work was always fun. But I didn’t feel fulfilled. I quit to try writing a novel about my Army experience. An older friend had contacts in the entertainment world. We worked on a screenplay and a couple of television plays. This was the Golden Age of TV to which many famous writers contributed, but we failed to sell anything we had written. I was running out of money and needed a paying job. Through a fraternity brother, I learned an editor in Columbia was looking for a few good men. Unsure I qualified, I called, and he invited me to an interview. It was one of the most unusual job interviews I’ve ever had. It changed my life.

His name was Lloyd Huntington, a demon tennis player and visionary editor. He wanted to know if I was just looking for a job or a mission and a calling. No one had ever asked me that, but my momma didn’t raise any fools. I figured what the right answer had to be. Then I was reckless enough to ask him what he saw as his newspaper’s mission. That was the right questions to ask, too. Lloyd began to weave for me a vision of what the newspaper could become. It was a dream of a newspaper. It embraced its readers. It made a complicated world understandable to them. It told stories, not simply reported facts. It told those stories in human terms readers could relate to. It gave all sides in stories of conflict. It celebrated the good news. It pointed out the bad. It exposed deceit, fraud and chicanery in public and private life. The only ones it favored were the community and its readers. Then he offered me a job, and I took it. I’ve not been the same since.

Next: What’s your story?

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