Wow, that story about Lorenzo and the Sunset Post is so inspiring/bonkers/hilarious/awesome. And that George drives him two hours each way at 10pm at night!? What an amazing person. I live in Budapest but at the moment I'm reading stories about Sunset Park.
Michelle, I worked at community newspapers the first ten years of my career. Started at $12k a year and topped out at $28k, if I remember correctly. And I was working long-ass hours!
The Deep South has perfected the art and science of hosting funerals, which includes the right foods, of course. The best book on the subject, in my opinion, is “Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.” Is it accurate? Yes. Is it hilarious? Oh my God, YES. Lynne Thompson
"I don't know about you but death makes me very hungry!” You know, Anne, hit on an issue that my wife's family and I laugh a lot about. When my mother passed away in her '80s, peacefully thank goodness, my wife's siblings all came over and put on the Feed Bag at our house; of course they brought the food! But I was sitting in the living room and they were all at the big table in the kitchen yucking it up telling jokes and the only thing that I could hear was “Please Pass the Mustard!” And that is the phrase we say all the time at Mercy meals to interject a bit of fun! For Christmas I am going to get all five of my wife's siblings each one of those Mercy meal cookbooks that you listed! It will get a lot of laughs!
The cockatoo spray bottle. Incredible. God I love them.
Lorenzo is INCREDIBLE! I can't believe the amount of work that must go into that paper every day! I hope he gets his little sitcom office.
In pumpkin spice news, I recently saw a container of pumpkin spice Dude Wipes in a friend's bathroom. He's an adult. No spouse or kids. I seriously question his taste now.
As the former editor of a weekly newspaper who also reported, wrote editorials, designed pages, sold ads, drove files to the printer and delivered the paper to retail outlets, I gotta say -- I love this guy! And this story. Thanks, Anne.
Bob, we all have a lot in common. My first journalism job, at the Cheektowaga Times outside of Buffalo, NY, I was the sole news reporter and photographer. I also helped lay out the paper every week (using a wax roller!), drove it to the printer late Wednesday night and helped deliver it to stores. I also took out the trash. It was a great job!
Now I want to take the train up from Philadelphia, then the subway to run around Sunset Park. I don't know the neighborhood so I'll check the Sunset Post website first. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend...autumn in NYC rarely disappoints
Ted, Sunset Park is a fascinating neighborhood for sure! Check out the Chinatown along Eighth Avenue, then the actual Sunset Park park which has amazing views, then the Spanish section along 4th Avenue and then finally Industry City, a super bougie development on the waterfront created from mammoth warehouses. You will have so much fun!!!
My little village has a free community newspaper. The creator / editor is an absolutely wonderful lady, but clearly just as crazy as this dear fellow. She was providing weekly newspapers for years but dropped back to fortnightly about a year ago. I have no idea how people like that survive, but the passion clearly fuels them. Extraordinary people. The glue that holds a community together. Thanks so much for another fascinating read. 🤗🤗
There seems to be an inverse correlation, Beth, between how fulfilling a job is and how much it pays. On there other hand, there are also inverse correlations and also there are correlations, so what do I know?
Interesting observation. AI sez: "Since an inverse correlation has a measurable linear relationship (even if it's in the opposite direction), it falls under the general category of correlation. The sign (positive or negative) simply specifies the direction of that relationship."
Wishing him every success. We need local news now more than ever! Some of my favourite journalism jobs have been working at local papers. Thank you Anne for showcasing another great facet of city life!
Great to hear about this Anne. if ideas didn't sound stupid, someone would have tried them already. So there's a correlation between "stupid" and innovative.
Love this David! I'd love to make a scattergraph chart to illustrate this point with all the wonderful things in the world that initially looked stupid.
Love this! When I was starting in journalism my first job was at a community weekly on Block Island. Kudos to the editor and you for highlighting the paper!
Wow it is so funny how many people responding in the comments have worked at community newspapers, John. It's such a great experience I wish every journalist could have. Or maybe every PERSON should have!
I have also, at a 250-year-old English-language paper in Quebec City! Very niche for th hesrt of French Canada, published weekly. They/we claimed to be North America's oldest paper. It was all the things you say about long hours, low pay, and so rewarding.
It really was! After working for them a couple of years, I was tapped to lead their 250th anniversary celebration in 2014, and it was an amazing amount of work! We had about 3 or 4 months of activities that really reconnected the paper to the community and got some Francophone press attention and city leadership involvement. It was gratifying to see it all come together!
i loved delivering and occasionally writing stories for an alternative Burlington Vt. weekly back in the late 70's ...the drive across the Connecticutt river in early morning dark to a press in Bradford N.H. which leeched acrid inky smells and spit out papers baled like hay then thrown into a van the feeling of being connected to something subversive and impulsive...turns out it helped lead to the election of a commie mayor too
AK, such a vivid description. Now I can feel the ties bundling the newspapers cutting into my hands as I loaded them into the van. Remember that feeling?
I mean, rice porridge at a Norwegian Church? Only in New York City.
“I don't know about you but death makes me very hungry!” You know, Anne, you hit on an issue that my wife's family and I laugh a lot about. When my mother passed away in her '80s, peacefully thank goodness, my wife's siblings all came over and put on the Feed Bag at our house; of course they brought the food! But I was sitting in the living room and they were all at the big table in the kitchen yucking it up telling jokes and the only thing that I could hear was “Please Pass the Mustard!” And that is the phrase we say all the time at Mercy meals to interject a bit of fun! For Christmas I am going to get all five of my wife's siblings each one of those Mercy meal cookbooks that you listed! It will get a lot of laughs!
I was exhausted after reading about Lorenzo and that Community newspaper. I wish him all the good luck in the world! I will check it out online.
Wow, that story about Lorenzo and the Sunset Post is so inspiring/bonkers/hilarious/awesome. And that George drives him two hours each way at 10pm at night!? What an amazing person. I live in Budapest but at the moment I'm reading stories about Sunset Park.
And there's at least one person in Sunset Park currently reading a story about Budapest, I'm sure. It's got like 120k residents!
Glad you enjoyed the story, Hillary.
It warms my heart to see community journalism alive & thriving. Lorenzo has heart!
Anne, thank you for introducing us to good people doing good work in the world.
So happy to write about Lorenzo, PPC. He's a very cool guy.
Bless that guy.
Spent 30 years in community journalism. It was my soul. Everyone asks me why I don’t start my own paper to replace the one where I worked.
This is why: Even longer hours and lower pay, and it was bad enough when I was editor.
Michelle, I worked at community newspapers the first ten years of my career. Started at $12k a year and topped out at $28k, if I remember correctly. And I was working long-ass hours!
A lot of fun though!!!
Very fulfilling, but the hours and pay were just brutal.
I’d go back in a hot second if I could!
Re: funeral cookbooks
The Deep South has perfected the art and science of hosting funerals, which includes the right foods, of course. The best book on the subject, in my opinion, is “Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral.” Is it accurate? Yes. Is it hilarious? Oh my God, YES. Lynne Thompson
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1401312837/?bestFormat=true&k=being%20dead%20is%20no%20excuse%20the%20guide%20to%20the%20southern%20funeral&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-pd-bk-d_k0_1_19_de&crid=9PD8TGP6OVDJ&sprefix=Being%20dead%20is%20no%20ex
Wow, I REALLY want to read this book, Lynne!
"I don't know about you but death makes me very hungry!” You know, Anne, hit on an issue that my wife's family and I laugh a lot about. When my mother passed away in her '80s, peacefully thank goodness, my wife's siblings all came over and put on the Feed Bag at our house; of course they brought the food! But I was sitting in the living room and they were all at the big table in the kitchen yucking it up telling jokes and the only thing that I could hear was “Please Pass the Mustard!” And that is the phrase we say all the time at Mercy meals to interject a bit of fun! For Christmas I am going to get all five of my wife's siblings each one of those Mercy meal cookbooks that you listed! It will get a lot of laughs!
I have a copy! A friend gave me one when my momma passed.
The cockatoo spray bottle. Incredible. God I love them.
Lorenzo is INCREDIBLE! I can't believe the amount of work that must go into that paper every day! I hope he gets his little sitcom office.
In pumpkin spice news, I recently saw a container of pumpkin spice Dude Wipes in a friend's bathroom. He's an adult. No spouse or kids. I seriously question his taste now.
Justin, I think you need to seriously reconsider this friendship.
Oh trust me. I have. It has called in to questions all of his behaviors and mannerisms and past crap. Really upset the apple cart, honestly.
As the former editor of a weekly newspaper who also reported, wrote editorials, designed pages, sold ads, drove files to the printer and delivered the paper to retail outlets, I gotta say -- I love this guy! And this story. Thanks, Anne.
Bob, we all have a lot in common. My first journalism job, at the Cheektowaga Times outside of Buffalo, NY, I was the sole news reporter and photographer. I also helped lay out the paper every week (using a wax roller!), drove it to the printer late Wednesday night and helped deliver it to stores. I also took out the trash. It was a great job!
As an education — priceless. And I got paid $150/week!
Okay, you beat me! My first job I was making $12k a year (this was in 1994). Which is a grand $230 a week. That went a long way in Buffalo though!
I’m much older. This was in 1975 at the Florida Keys Free Press where $150/week could still get you in a lot of trouble.
Now I want to take the train up from Philadelphia, then the subway to run around Sunset Park. I don't know the neighborhood so I'll check the Sunset Post website first. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend...autumn in NYC rarely disappoints
Ted, Sunset Park is a fascinating neighborhood for sure! Check out the Chinatown along Eighth Avenue, then the actual Sunset Park park which has amazing views, then the Spanish section along 4th Avenue and then finally Industry City, a super bougie development on the waterfront created from mammoth warehouses. You will have so much fun!!!
My little village has a free community newspaper. The creator / editor is an absolutely wonderful lady, but clearly just as crazy as this dear fellow. She was providing weekly newspapers for years but dropped back to fortnightly about a year ago. I have no idea how people like that survive, but the passion clearly fuels them. Extraordinary people. The glue that holds a community together. Thanks so much for another fascinating read. 🤗🤗
There seems to be an inverse correlation, Beth, between how fulfilling a job is and how much it pays. On there other hand, there are also inverse correlations and also there are correlations, so what do I know?
Anyhow, glad you enjoyed!
Interesting observation. AI sez: "Since an inverse correlation has a measurable linear relationship (even if it's in the opposite direction), it falls under the general category of correlation. The sign (positive or negative) simply specifies the direction of that relationship."
Wishing him every success. We need local news now more than ever! Some of my favourite journalism jobs have been working at local papers. Thank you Anne for showcasing another great facet of city life!
It's surprising to me that there aren't more community newspapers here on Substack, Isabel. I just did a quick search and nothing came up. Weird!
Also, now that there are so few community papers, I wonder where kids are getting their first journalism jobs?
The Laramie Reporter is one such. I'm not aware of others, though.
Yeah, it is curious there aren’t more community papers on here!
Great to hear about this Anne. if ideas didn't sound stupid, someone would have tried them already. So there's a correlation between "stupid" and innovative.
Love this David! I'd love to make a scattergraph chart to illustrate this point with all the wonderful things in the world that initially looked stupid.
All "Big Ideas" must be viewed as crazy at first blush or else they aren't "Big Ideas."
Well put JRB!
Love this! When I was starting in journalism my first job was at a community weekly on Block Island. Kudos to the editor and you for highlighting the paper!
Wow it is so funny how many people responding in the comments have worked at community newspapers, John. It's such a great experience I wish every journalist could have. Or maybe every PERSON should have!
I have also, at a 250-year-old English-language paper in Quebec City! Very niche for th hesrt of French Canada, published weekly. They/we claimed to be North America's oldest paper. It was all the things you say about long hours, low pay, and so rewarding.
Wow how cool to be part of a tradition like that, Bethann.
It really was! After working for them a couple of years, I was tapped to lead their 250th anniversary celebration in 2014, and it was an amazing amount of work! We had about 3 or 4 months of activities that really reconnected the paper to the community and got some Francophone press attention and city leadership involvement. It was gratifying to see it all come together!
Sounds like you need to do a story on George Fiala next!
I know, Paul. He's "That guy!" right???
There's so much microculture in NYC!
Absolutely, David. Anyone who thinks NYC is getting too bland needs to go outside.
New York City, bland? Never!
LIKE! Yay, small journalism! Small journalism is the only journalism, the rest is just lifestyle marketing.
CCS that is very true!
i loved delivering and occasionally writing stories for an alternative Burlington Vt. weekly back in the late 70's ...the drive across the Connecticutt river in early morning dark to a press in Bradford N.H. which leeched acrid inky smells and spit out papers baled like hay then thrown into a van the feeling of being connected to something subversive and impulsive...turns out it helped lead to the election of a commie mayor too
hmmmmm 🤔🤪
Gumshoes like you and Lorenzo have alot in common
AK, such a vivid description. Now I can feel the ties bundling the newspapers cutting into my hands as I loaded them into the van. Remember that feeling?
lol twine burn? but that lousy $60 guaranteed once a week to see the world well maybe worth it
I mean, rice porridge at a Norwegian Church? Only in New York City.
“I don't know about you but death makes me very hungry!” You know, Anne, you hit on an issue that my wife's family and I laugh a lot about. When my mother passed away in her '80s, peacefully thank goodness, my wife's siblings all came over and put on the Feed Bag at our house; of course they brought the food! But I was sitting in the living room and they were all at the big table in the kitchen yucking it up telling jokes and the only thing that I could hear was “Please Pass the Mustard!” And that is the phrase we say all the time at Mercy meals to interject a bit of fun! For Christmas I am going to get all five of my wife's siblings each one of those Mercy meal cookbooks that you listed! It will get a lot of laughs!
I was exhausted after reading about Lorenzo and that Community newspaper. I wish him all the good luck in the world! I will check it out online.
Click early and often, JRB!