Like most people who come into journalism, I intended to be a writer.
The journalism job market was tough when I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 1975 and, frankly, I wasn't as well prepared as a lot of the people I meet nowadays. I had no internships and my campus journalism experience was negligible. All I really had was a good pile of freelance clips.
Unable to land an internship or job, I returned to school to get a master's degree. Some great things happened in that year. For one thing, they trained us in newspapers, television and radio journalism. For another, Prof. Paul Jess suggested that I try copy editing because I could hit a deadline -- and copy editors were in demand.
Most of my writing goes into Ask the Recruiter, UNITY's site, the JobsPage and this Web site. Here are links to some more:
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Let's Do it Better program
Growing your own: A best practices guide to diversity
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Getting through the first three months
Poynter
Massacre on a managing editor's first day
Offshoring: Coming trend for copy desks?
Tales of the incredible shrinking pressman's hat
Curiosity killed the cat, but good questions win jobs
Newspaper Association of America
Sowing your own
A better understanding (about Arabs and Muslims)
J-Ideas, Ball State University
Your first steps to a career in journalism
Important behind-the-scenes careers
The summer is for making a career
No train, no gain Web site
Advice on recruiting Latino journalists and interns
NON-JOURNALISM BOOKS
I am a history buff. Michigan and Great Lakes history fascinate me. In addition to my books in the Newsrecruiter.com bookstore, I have written three books along historical lines, all published by Wayne State University Press:
Michigan Voices: Our State's History in the Words of the People Who Lived it, 1987
Windjammers: Songs of the Great Lakes Sailors, 2002, winner, non-fiction book of the year, Center for Great Lakes Culture
Songquest: The Journals of Great Lakes Folklorist Ivan H. Walton, 2005
Bringing the News Century-old postcards celebrate newsies in photographs and artwork, in groups or singly, black and white or color. The newsboys -- and girls, as well as a few adults -- are always portrayed in hard-knock ways. Feet and calves are sometimes bare. Patches cling to elbows and knees. They cover their heads with stocking caps or the floppy hats we still know as "newsboys." If there is inside you a scrappy, survive-by-your-wits newsie, you'll enjoy this collection of cards and carriers bringing news in old-fashioned ways. (Twenty-five images.)