On picking up where we left off
Much of the effort to save the Rocky Mountain News started in Longmont and Loveland (the geographic center might have been somewhere near Berthoud). It was at those two Northern Colorado cities' newspapers -- the Longmont Daily Times-Call and the Loveland Reporter-Herald -- where I first encountered two close friends who were standing with me the day we were unceremoniously booted from the Rocky office.
Kim Humphreys, with whom I worked in Longmont, started the effort by suggesting what in retrospect seems simple but at the time seemed as far from most our minds as could be: "Let's do something about it." What Kim started by getting about 30 staffers together on a Saturday at the Denver Press Club resulted in the web site IwantmyRocky.com. Over the next three months, Melissa Pomponio, who I first met when she was the news editor in Loveland, held us all together as the unit chair of the guild. Ultimately, we did not save the newspaper, but thanks to Kim and Mel, many of us saved our sanity and our dignity.
Today, Kim is relaunching the web site IwantmyRocky.com. After the Rocky closed, we temporarily used the site to post news -- primarily from Kevin Flynn, the Rocky's Spotlight staff and a group of copy editors who were dedicated to seeing something emerge from the wreckage. When the group became involved with INDenverTimes, we shut down the site. Now, Kim is picking up where we left off back in March. We may have lost our paper, but we still need to save the news. What happened in Denver, happened in Seattle and Tucson, and it will happen more places before the end of the year. IwantmyRocky.com was always about more than saving our jobs, it was about saving what our jobs meant.
The loss of newspapers is being felt by journalists now more than anyone else for obvious reasons. But it will be felt by the society as a whole, if we do not find a way to save vigorous news coverage and the watchdog role journalism performs in society. As she says in her first post on the site, "Journalism was worth our time last year, and it’s still worth it this year." Read more and help support the cause here.
Hello Steve, I hope this personal request will not be inappropriate. I've tried a few other avenues without success. If you, or your friends can help forward this message to Ed Dentry, I'd sure appreciate it.
Hello Ed, If you are who I think you are, I lived across the street from you in Cockeysville years ago. My (then) wife Susie and I lived on St David Ct and you wrote an article for the News American about my trips to the Outer Banks to fish for King Mackerel. You were also kind enough to take me fishing on a very frozen Susquehanna River.
Thanks for those memories. I hope the passing years have been good to you. Among the many events which have transpired since those days, I produced a film about surf fishing. It's something I'm pretty proud of and would be absolutely delighted to send it to you. Please send some info and I'll get it out to you. I remarried years ago and my son just graduated high school. 35 years in film production, and, of course, life's ups and downs, have taken their toll.
But then, what life was ever worth living that left no scars? On the whole, life continues to be good and most of the people I've known remarkable - even if in unremarked ways. I have a website - fishthesurf.net. I don't know if you'll recognize me - it's been a while.
I remember you fondly and I wish you and your family all the best.
I'm still in Baltimore and can be reached at shapiras@comcast.net
Be well, Lee Samson Shapira
I passed this note on to Ed.