Author: tom

International carrier day

Let me say right here, in honor of International Carrier Day, that I learned no valuable lessons about life, economics or journalism from my stint as a newspaper carrier. All I learned was that it sucks to be the only…

RIP Alexei Sidorov

He was a Russian newspaper editor, apparently murdered for getting too nosy. His predecessor was murdered too. Russia is the world’s second-most dangerous place to be a newsie, after Colombia.

When Mondo met Allen Ginsberg

Sid remembers the Beat legend. I was half captivated by the fact that I was hanging out with Allen Ginsberg, fellow poet, and half captivated by the photos and stories of Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. My heroes –…

Reserve your room at the ACES convention

I would advise friendly people to double up — it’s $125 a night and Houston’s hotel tax is a wallet-curdling 17 percent. Here’s the link.

Clay on the Copy Editor Code

Copy Massage, who collects dictionaries for fun, is working on his personal Code of Copy Editing. Stop by and help him add new stuff. A highlight: 3.) I will express my concerns. Copy editors do their job toward the end…

The life of a music writer

Simona Rabinovich at Media Bistro, on how music writers are like groupies: Despite the groupie’s lowly status among pretentious intellectual and hipster circles, both the groupie and the music journalist in truth share many traits, chief among them an insatiable,…

Gettin’ tough on the boss

Wall Street Journal newsies are stickin’ it to the Man, who’s trying to impose a lot of stuff on ’em they’d just as soon not have to put up with. Among the union’s get-tough tactics: The angry union members have…

100 interesting things about Autumn

82. I didn’t have a Japanese Japanese teacher until college. (This is one of those 100-things-about-me lists that are flaming death in the hands of an inept writer. Since Autumn isn’t, it’s fun stuff.)