I suppose I should be experiencing profound emotions - something deep in the pit of my stomach.

Tomorrow I’m going to rise when the alarm beeps, shower, dress, eat breakfast and head off to work - but not at a newspaper.

It’s a strange feeling, but not a bad one. Not really what I expected - if one can really expect an emotion.

With a few minor breaks in between jobs, I’ve worked for a newspaper of one sort or another since I graduated from college in 1974. That’s when I started my first full-time job as a reporter at the Statesman Journal (the photo at right was taken in about 1975, when I was covering the school board) in Salem, Ore.

During 24 years with the Gannett Co., which purchased the Statesman my second day on the job, and seven years with Thomson Newspapers, I’ve worked at 10 different newspapers in six states. I held every job from reporter to publisher, but most of the time I was an editor.

I did take one year off to get my master’s degree from Northwestern University, and two of my years with Thomson were in corporate jobs.

The Monroe Evening News, where I’ve worked as managing editor the last three years, was my 11th newspaper. Ironically, I started work on Aug. 15, 2005, and my last day was Aug. 15, 2008.

Thirty-four years as a newspaperman ended Friday.

Tomorrow I’ll cart a box full of books, files and miscellaneous stuff into my new office at Monroe County Community College. My new business card reads “Assistant Professor of Journalism and Humanities.”

I thought maybe I’d feel lost.

But the anticipation of new challenges seems to be pulling harder at my heart than that empty feeling.

And besides, I’m not really leaving newspapers behind. One of my jobs at MCCC is advising The Agora, the student newspaper.

I won’t be the editor. That job is in the capable hands of student Emily Chandonnet. But I’ll be close enough to the action to smell the ink.

And I can’t wait to get started.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under The Evening News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.