Tis the season … to be in Arkansas. At least it was in 2005, when I spent the week leading up to Christmas there.
I was 29 years old and fairly low on the totem pole at the Topeka Capital-Journal, where I worked as a sports copy editor/lead sports designer. I was also single. I assume that’s why the paper’s management chose me for emergency duty in Conway, Arkansas.
In those days, Morris Communications owned a chain of newspapers, including the Capital-Journal and the Log Cabin Democrat, based in Conway. The LCD was in bad shape in December 2005, due in large part to numerous departures. Much of that likely had to do with the corporation’s chintzy approach to business. Let’s just say our Christmas “bonus” that year was a $15 gas card that didn’t work for most of the employees.
The LCD was down to one page designer, who was right out of college. The Capital-Journal’s managing editor picked me to spend a week before Christmas to help the paper essentially survive until permanent help arrived.
Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled. Christmas always has been a big deal in our family, and spending a week away from my parents, brother and his family during the holiday season was not ideal.
I asked why I was selected for the assignment and really didn’t get an answer. My boss’ boss wasn’t going to say, “Well, you’re the only one who doesn’t have a wife or kids.” Nonetheless, I packed up that night and drove nearly seven hours to Conway the next day. The highlight of the trip was having one of those music moments while listening to “Where are you going?” by the Dave Matthews Band (My wife and I walked away from the alter to that song eight years later).
The LCD ended up being a memorable experience. For starters, the paper wasn’t using the modern design programs we had at the Capital-Journal, so I had to re-learn Quark Xpress in a day. I ended up designing a 32-page special section in three days. That and working in the sports department was the bulk of my work in Arkansas.
As I did at every stop in my newspaper career, I met a number of characters. My favorite was the sports editor, who did his best to make my experience fun, including a night of drinking just across the county line (Conway was a dry city) and another night out in nearby Little Rock.
He also helped me appreciate my job in Topeka a hell of a lot more than I did before I arrived at the LCD. He was making so little money that he worked as a waiter part-time, a gig at which he actually made more. That’s right, the sports editor of a newspaper made more money serving awesome blossoms at Chilis.
I ended up staying an extra two days in Conway before coming home. I haven’t been in Arkansas since, though one of my blogs in this space and annual series is about the state, where I spent a year in Bloomer as a child.
That more or less summed up the newspaper life at Christmastime. In sports, especially on the desk, you rarely had holidays off. In 2002, I worked the desk at The Monitor in McAllen, Texas. From 2003 to 2005, I was on the desk at the Capital-Journal. In 2007 and 2008, I edited copy at the Daily Press in Newport News, Virginia. In 2009, the day after a massive snowstorm, I designed pages at the Tulsa World.
Not until I returned home in 2010 (the very year and month my wife and I’s romance began) did I finally spend Christmas with my family again. By 2011, I’d gone from monotony of editing wire stories (virtually no reporters were writing stories on Christmas Day) to five separate Christmases (My wife and I’s family, my dad and brother’s family, my mother’s, my in-laws and the Godderz family) in one day.
I prefer that to my week in Arkansas and 11 years in newspapers.
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS SERIES
Twelve Days of Christmas, Part III: From the archives
Twelve Days of Christmas, Part II: The Pine Tar Derby
Twelve Days of Christmas, Part I: Rest in peace, Dan Ascheman
2022 finale: The search for James “Danny” Hollingshead continues