Since the layoff that hit the Indianapolis Star (along with many other newspapers) cost me my job on Dec. 3, I've gotten lots of inquiries asking if I am the "I am a newspaperman" guy. And yes, yes I am.
They're referring to Jim Hopkins' well-read Gannett Blog, in which he covers the company he (and now I) used to work for. I was a regular reader of Gannett Blog, if for no other reason to learn news about my employer, though I rarely if ever made any comments on the site.
I did make a rather lengthy post the day I got laid off. Jim had asked for people getting the pink slip to report on the circumstances of their layoff. So I put in my two bits. Jim liked it enough that he broke it out as a separate post that got a lot of traffic and comments:
http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/layoff-stories-i-am-newspaperman-well-i.html
For whatever reason, the first sentence and my name got cut off when it became a separate post, which led to the question about my authorship. A number of people from the Indy Star asked me if I wrote it, since it seemed to be in my writing style. Anyways, I did, and I did put my name on it -- in some ways, I consider it my final byline for the Star.
You can see there's a link early in Jim's breakout post that leads you back to my original, complete comment, including my name. Here it is:
http://gannettblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/layoff-stories-she-was-only-one-close.html?showComment=1228337820000#c1420644947940052567
So anyway, you can see that I did not hide my comments behind a veil of anonymity. Yes, I am the "Newspaper Man." Well, I was.
UPDATE: As you can see from the comments section, Jim dropped by to let us know he updated his post, so my name is now on both. Thanks, Jim!
Great blog, Chris! Hey, as a freelance writer you should post your email address with your bio in case somebody wants to hire you. Good luck with this - the paper has lost a huge talent. - John Strauss, jstrauss@wibc.emmis.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for the plug, Christopher. I've added your name to that post; I didn't include it the first time around because I first wanted to confirm it was you before I slapped on your name in such a public place; I didn't have contact information for you until now.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to El Blogging!