OLD FASHIONED CLIPS

Below are some scanned clips from the pre- or early internet days with some commentary on why and how I got them.

NOTE THE DATE

I am proud of my work during and after the 9-11 attacks. I had a 14-hour day and wrote all or parts of three stories for the Sept. 12 edition. My colleagues posted updates all day as we took this national tragedy and localized it as much as we could. Remember, in the hours after the attacks, no one knew what to expect.

WE TRIED TO GET ALL ANGLES

I remember working with Eric Reed and talking about going out to the Muslim cemetary where Lauri Sauer, our terrific editor, had contacts. We did get to talk to the local Muslim leaders that day and they all denounced the attacks as being radical terrorists and not an example of mainstream Muslims. I can't find the physical clip of the story but the one on the right was a compilation of people of faih and their initial reaction to pray together regardless of denomination or beliefs.

I'm another title

REALITY SERIES

A lot of TV shows started do long-term reality shows where they would follow real families and groups around like a documentary. (Not like this garrbage we have today.) So I decided to follow three military families who would be affected by the war to see if we could do a "reality" domentation of how a real familiy dealt with the challenges of war. Most of them never expected to actually be delpoyed overseas let alone see combat. For most it was a courageous challenge, for a few, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

BRINGing IT HOME

I like to take national and regional stories and bring it right down to how it affects my readers. When Obamacare was still getting vetted, I had countless readers ask me how it was going to work. I pointed them to websites and articles but they wanted to hear it from the local paper and from their neighbors. That led to the piece on the right. It probably created as many questions as it answered but it got people talking to others who could help them instead of me. I hope that's what journalism is about.

TEAMWORK

I am often pleasently surprised how prolific and broad our work can be. Working with Michelle has always been fun and challenging and creates great content for our readers. This cover is typical of one of our efforts. A newsy feature, a hard news story with broad implications and a photo essay and story on how to protect dogs from the summer heat.

The Gazzette Era

It looks a little archaic now but this was our first venture into publishing and marketing. What started as a lark and a way for Michelle to pick up a few bucks while working at home and taking care of the critters became a way to feed our family for almost six years working from home, often in shorts and T-shirts while the kids ravaged the house. This cover is another example of how we strived to be balanced with a local politics exclusive, a fundraiser for a kid who had luekemia, and crash story of survival and a cute picture of a little kid. We had great equipment and did our own printing in house. And Our Sony Mavicka was our first digital camera.

The Gazzette Era

We worked closely with an undercover detective who helped us get scoops and help our readers prevent crime. We were also featured in the Riverside Business Journal as a "Cutting edge" company that showed desktop publishing could be lucrative.

(DISCLAIMER: We know it's spelled wrong! But when I was designing the masthead it looked better with the two Zs so we went with that. We later changed the name to Silver Lakes Gazette because we could get more advertising.)