Francena H. and Frank M. Arnold, my grandmother and grandfather
Whenever I’m getting a little too full of myself, I can find some humble pie by recalling or looking up what my grandmother accomplished. I ate a lot of humble pie recently learning in greater detail than I ever knew about her achievements.
Grandma wrote her first novel, Not My Will, at age 58 (my age right now). And her books have sold more than 1.2 million copies. But until recently, she didn’t have a Wikipedia entry. Now she does. I wrote it.
Writing a Wikipedia entry – or at least editing a Wikipedia page – had long been on my someday-to-do list (a list on which I make meager progress). I was thinking I might write one about Bob Moore, a World War II hero from Villisca, Iowa, whose life (and the lives of some family members) I chronicled in 1997 for the Omaha World-Herald and updated in 2008 for the Cedar Rapids Gazette. He’s certainly worthy of a Wikipedia entry, but no one’s written it yet (and few know more about him than I do). But I hadn’t gotten around to it. Maybe I will someday.
My prod to become a Wikipedia contributor came in a series of emails starting last October. First an academic researcher contacted me (having found a brief mention of Grandma on my blog). The researcher’s work hasn’t been published yet, so he asked me not to use his name. So I’ve edited his email slightly to respect that request: (more…)
Here’s my original draft of my Wikipedia entry about my grandmother, Francena H. Arnold. To leave it sort of in the format of a Wikipedia entry, I have left the footnotes as footnotes rather than linking in context (except to other Wikipedia entries). I also have added individual sales figures for her books and translation information, which I actually received after doing the first draft and discuss in my post about the process of getting Grandma into Wikipedia.
My cousin, Jan Worgul Ackerson edited this before I submitted to Wikipedia. I have used some of her edits, but have not made most of the cuts she suggested because I decided to use Grandma’s full story here (as full as I could tell it anyway). Jan correctly suggested that it probably needed to be more dispassionate for Wikipedia. While I did that for Wikipedia, I have not tried to tone down any passion here (for what it’s worth, I thought I was being pretty dispassionate when I wrote it, but Jan’s pretty passionate about Grandma, so I accept her judgment. You may see some hints of affection or admiration). I also added photos, which I have not done in the Wikipedia entry (if you’d like to help me figure out how to upload photos to Wikipedia, please contact me.)
Introduction
Francena H. Arnold was a 20th century novelist, author of the Christian fiction classic Not My Will and nine other books.1
Not My Will has sold more than 500,000 copies2 and has been translated into at least seven languages. Published by Moody Press, it remains in print and available as an electronic book 66 years after it was first published. (more…)
Dan’s memoir, Peace Warrior, came out last month and I just finished reading it. Dan tells about his work teaching and practicing peacemaking around the world — from Burma, Georgia (Tbilisi, not Atlanta), Liberia, Nagaland, Bosnia, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Congo and on and on. I sometimes think I’ve seen a lot of the world as a journalist, but Dan has seen much more of it as a peacemaker. And he’s had more profound impact.
If you’re interested in world affairs or Christian missionary work or peacemaking, you might enjoy the book, though I don’t pretend to be a fair judge of it. I enjoyed it, of course, for other reasons. In a way, I was catching up with a brother whose exploits I’ve heard and read before (actually, I scanned his reports from his various travels more often than I read them) but mostly followed from afar. We visit a few times a year and I knew much of the story but the memoir told many details I missed or had forgotten. I’ve understood for decades the depth of Dan’s calling and commitment to peacemaking, but the memoir added greatly to that understanding.
I generally blog about media and journalism issues here, so I won’t focus on Dan’s peacemaking efforts but on a few of his occasional references to media coverage of the conflicts he became involved in. As a journalist, it was interesting to read an activist’s perspective on media coverage (or non-coverage). (more…)
I was annoyed the first time I met Tom Harkin. We were supposed to meet outside the Fremont County Courthouse in Sidney, Iowa, and he was late. I don’t remember how late, but late enough that I was annoyed.
He was a freshman congressman, a Democrat swept into a Republican district in the 1974 throw-the-bums-out vote after Richard Nixon’s resignation. I was a summer intern for the Evening Sentinel in Shenandoah, Iowa. Harkin was traveling around the district, as he usually did on congressional breaks, and would be stopping in Sidney, so I was supposed to interview him for a story.
He showed up eventually, apologizing for the delay, and we sat down to talk at a picnic table outside the courthouse, which had already closed. It was a warm summer day when it would have been more comfortable to talk indoors or to give me a quick interview and hop into his air-conditioned car to head for wherever his evening stop was. But we talked until I ran out of questions, easily a half hour, maybe closer to an hour. If he had a next stop on his schedule, I am sure he was even later for that. But I had waited from him, and he was generous with his time.
I don’t remember the issues we discussed. What I remember is his passion and sincerity. He really cared about people and this was a classic liberal who wanted to use the power of government to make people’s lives better. I remember being impressed and wondering whether he would get his ass kicked in the next election in a district that historically belonged to the Republicans.
But I also wondered if he had staying power. He had the right mix of charm and fight, I thought, to have a successful career in politics. And already I could see that he had mastered the art of constituent service. An aide drove around the district holding “office hours” in small towns, listening to complaints and helping people work out their problems with the Agriculture Department, Social Security Administration or whatever corner of the federal government was troubling them. (Harkin’s staff helped my father-in-law get a passport when the State Department balked because of his lack of a birth certificate, a problem that hadn’t kept him from going overseas in the Navy during World War II.)
Well, Harkin did have staying power. He carried that Republican district four more times and then in 1984, he ran for Senate in a state that had two conservative Republican incumbents. He beat one of those Republicans, Roger Jepsen, in 1984 and won four more Senate terms. Harkin announced today that five terms is enough. He’ll retire rather than seeking re-election in 2014 (he’d have won easily again). (more…)
Mike’s first job out of college was in Hagel’s Senate press office, and he worked for Hagel seven years (with a year off to work on a political campaign), from 2000 to 2008, chief of staff for nearly the last year. Mike remains a good friend of Hagel’s and they talk regularly. Update: Mike was on CNN this morning, discussing Hagel’s nomination and confirmation.
I don’t know the senator well myself, though he has been friendly when we’ve met, and we have an autographed copy of his book, America, Our Next Chapter.
When I was a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald, my editors and I sought to avoid conflicts, but were not always successful. I would never write stories that were primarily about Hagel, but if a story I was working on turned out to have a Senate angle where we needed a comment from Hagel, I would give my editors a heads-up. They never called me off a story but I would call someone other than Mike to seek the quote. Of course, that arm’s-length effort became kind of silly when I would get Hagel on the phone and he’d start with some sort of humorous remark about Mike. (more…)
I’m quite sure my 247 posts this year (well, 248 now) are my most ever in a single year. I had my highest traffic ever for a single day (April 6) and in April and October I set records for a single month. In fact, seven months in 2012 exceeded the single-month record I set in December 2011.
My best-read 2012 post (by more than 2,000 views) was my letter to newsroom curmudgeons, published April 6, the day I set that single-day record with 4,882 views. I’m not sure what that says about newsrooms or curmudgeons or my blog. But I hope it helped some curmudgeons find some comfort and be more productive in their newsrooms. With more than 9,000 views, it’s my fourth most-read blog post of all time. And the other three have had far longer to accumulate views. I think it got more views faster than anything I’ve ever blogged.
I touched on similar themes — advising journalists on thriving in journalism’s turbulent, changing times — in a couple other 2012 blog posts: one on trying to recapture the joy of journalism and one telling angry journalists that bitterness is like wreaking revenge on yourself. I addressed some of the same themes in keynote addresses to press associations in Pennsylvania and Arizona that also worked well as blog posts. Though none of those posts resonated the way the curmudgeon post did, each received more than 1,000 views.
A military honor guard carries Brandon Buttry’s casket from the airplane that brought him home to Shenandoah, Iowa.
After my nephew, Brandon Buttry, was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month, I played a role no one ever anticipates: handling media requests about a loved one’s death.
I’m blogging some advice learned from the experience for any or all of three audiences:
Relatives of fallen troops who want to help the family deal with the media. (If my advice is helpful, I hope they will find the post through search or by someone sharing with them when they need it).
Journalists (the usual readers of this blog) who may cover military deaths.
Military public affairs officers or casualty assistance officers, who assist families of military casualties after the death. (I’m hoping they will find this piece through search or Google alerts or perhaps journalists sharing it with them.)
Some of my advice might fit in other situations where your family is suddenly in the news — death from a disaster or crime, for instance — but I am focusing on military deaths because that was my experience and that is a loss that more than 6,000 U.S. families have experienced during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope you won’t need this advice, but sadly, the carnage in Afghanistan continues. (more…)
Apologies to email subscribers to my blog, who kind of got spammed Sunday when I was trying to update my blog post about the cheeseburger salutes to my nephew, Brandon Buttry. Brandon was supposed to come home to Fort Lewis, Wash., Friday, but he was killed in Afghanistan Nov. 5. The meal he wanted to celebrate his return with was a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke. Facing a difficult day on Friday, Brandon’s parents, Don and Pam, asked friends and family to remember Brandon with a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke. Brandon’s sister, Missy, and I passed the request along on Facebook and more than 100 family, friends and strangers who were touched by Brandon’s story and honored his service joined in the salute, which we continued through the weekend.
Storify was not updating the version of the first post on my blog. I did the first few updates by cutting and pasting from new posts into the original post, which worked OK, though it sent out new email notices each time to my blog subscribers. That was bad enough, but then Sunday Storify was giving me error messages and telling me to try again, which I did, but it was really posting multiple error messages to my blog. So I’m doing one last update here in a separate post. If you continue the salute this week, post it to my Facebook wall or tweet me (@stevebuttry), and I will share your salutes there, but this is the last group of salutes I will compile on Storify and my blog.
We start with Sonya Sorich, who has saluted Brandon before.
Here’s my cheeseburger tribute to Brandon. I’m wearing my fallen hero race tag from the Soldier Half Marathon.
Sonya (who had never met anyone from the family before) wrote a column about running that Half-Marathon (outside Fort Benning, where Brandon went to boot camp).
Several others have also saluted Brandon since my last update:
Google “cheeseburger salute” and you will learn that Pfc. Brandon Buttry, nephew of Daniel Buttry and of Steve Buttry, planned to eat a cheeseburger and fries when he came home from Afghanistan. He was killed 10 days before he was due to come home. Friends and family around the country are saluting Brandon with cheeseburgers of their own.
Pfc Brandon Buttry was killed in Afghanistan on Nov. 5, 10 days before he was scheduled to head for home. He’d been looking forward to a burger and fries so this weekend, hundreds of us have participated in a cheeseburger salute in his memory. Thanks Steve Buttry for your posts and for your nephew’s sacrifice.
Johnny Wells II and I will be saluting on Tuesday when he is off with some home ground beef burgers on the grill. As close to Iowa as we could get…by grinding it ourselves.
Friday was going to be a tough day for Brandon Buttry’s family. It was the day they were supposed to greet him on his return to Fort Lewis, Wash. But he died Nov. 5 in Afghanistan. Still the family found a way to smile on this difficult day.
My family has had an emotionally exhausting month since my nephew, Pfc Brandon Buttry died in a watch tower in Afghanistan. The Army doesn’t want troop movements mentioned publicly, so we refrained from disclosing an agonizing detail of the death: Brandon was killed 10 days before he was supposed to leave Afghanistan. His funeral in Shenandoah, Iowa, was on the day he was supposed to head home. His parents, Don and Pam, were making plans to travel to Fort Lewis for his return home, scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving.When I talked with Don on the phone Thanksgiving Day, I could tell that Friday was going to be a tough day for the family. They were planning to drive to Pella, Iowa, to spend the day with their adult daughter, Mandy, and her family. By the time they got to Pella, they had a great idea. They emailed family and friends, telling them Brandon had said he wanted to celebrate his return to Fort Lewis with a cheeseburger, an order of fries and a large Coke. They asked us to enjoy a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke in his honor. Their daughter Missy Rock and I shared the request on Facebook and things kind of took off.
We have more than 100 burgers photographed and mentioned here, if I count correctly, and Don tells me many more were consumed by Pam’s relatives, who weren’t asked to post them on social media.
Let’s continue the burger salute through the weekend. Tag or message me on Facebook if you post a photo there. Or mention me (@stevebuttry) in a tweet. I’ll update with the photos posted Saturday and Sunday.
My brother, Don, and his wife, Pam, had been planning to go to Fort Lewis, Wash., today to meet Brandon on his return from Afghanistan. He was killed 10 days before his scheduled departure. He told his parents he wanted to get a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke on his return. Don and Pam are encouraging his family and friends to remember Brandon today with a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke (the Thanksgiving leftovers can wait till Saturday). Mimi and I will be going to Five Guys this evening (yes, quite a sacrifice) and posting a photo of our meal. If you’re joining us in the cheeseburger tribute, please post a photo and we’ll share them with Don and Pam (who aren’t on FB).
Of course, lots of Buttry family members toasted Brandon with burgers:
Wishing Brandon had come home safely to enjoy a cheeseburger, fries and a coke at Fort Lewis today. I’m enjoying them in a cheeseburger salute to our fallen hero.
No one in the extended family understands what Brandon’s family is going through as well as the Devlins, who lost their son and brother Patrick (the same age as Brandon and probably each other’s closest cousin) in 2009. Kat Devlin and her parents, Carol and John, posted four photos from their cheeseburger salute, apparently spilling their Coke and winning points for the best use of ketchup.
Trevor Cohenour, a close friend of Brandon’s from basic training, who led the Soldier’s Creed at his funeral, ate a burger for his buddy and wears Brandon’s name on his wrist.
Empty Wendy’s sack. In memory of Brandon Buttry, my cousin’s son who was killed on duty in Afganistan a couple of weeks ago. He was due to be home about now, and wat he wanted most of all was a cheeseburger and fries. The family had r…equested family/friends to have cheeseburger and fries for supper tonight in his memory. Sorry, all you get is a picture of the empty sack–we couldn’t wait! My friend and I also prayed for his family.See More
Yesterday’s the day my cousin’s son was supposed to return from Afghanistan. All he’d been telling his family was how much he wanted a cheeseburger and fried so yesterday family and friends all over the country had just that.
Even a 95-year-old great aunt joined the salute from her nursing home.
Adding to the cheeseburger salutes, mom was able to have a cheeseburger for lunch at her residence dining, but no fries or coke on the menu But she was very happy to be able to have a cheeseburger for Brandon.
This is one of the coolest cheeseburger salutes, a whole grill in Brandon’s honor from a journalist friend and the in-laws he was visiting in Georgia (be sure to click through the full album, nine photos in all.
Burgers on the grill. This was our little tribute to PFC Brandon Buttry, nephew of a friend of mine who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month.
Friend and new media writing guru Steve Buttry lost a nephew in Afghanistan 10 days ago. His nephew was supposed to return home for the holiday and was looking forward to a cheeseburger. Steve asked us eat a cheeseburger in Brandon’s honor and post it on FB. Here’s mine, the Spiced and Smoky Burger from the Rosewood Grille in Hudson, Ohio. Feel free to share or eat a cheeseburger yourself.
Steve Buttry, a colleague who works for the American Press Institute, asked folks to honor his nephew Brandon by enjoying a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke today. Brandon was a U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan earlier this fall, jus…t 10 days before he was to head home. He expected to meet his parents today and said he wanted a cheeseburger, fries and a large Coke. This is for Brandon and other service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.See More
So here I am at lunch today at Excuses Pizza Pasta & Burgers in Jefferson IA, paying tribute to a fallen hero. Pfc. Brandon Buttry, 19, a native of my hometown of Shenandoah IA, was killed in service in Afghanistan a couple weeks ago. His… funeral was in Shenandoah about a week ago. This is the weekend he was to be out of combat and back at his home station at Fort Lewis WA. He had told his family that what he really wanted when he got back was “a cheeseburger, fries and a big Coke.” So this weekend, across the nation and probably by now around the world, there are people joining in the “cheeseburger salute” to the service, courage and sacrifice of Pfc. Buttry. I asked the server at Excuses in Jefferson to take this picture of me; it isn’t a very good photo, but it was a great cheeseburger. Not only that, but the server, after hearing the story, said, “That’s really something. I’m going to go fix a cheeseburger for myself and salute him, too.”See More
Proud to offer a “cheeseburger salute” to Steve Buttry‘s nephew, Pfc Brandon Buttry, who was killed in Afghanistan earlier this month. Brandon, 19, was supposed to return home this weekend and had told his family wanted to celebrate his ret…urn with a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke. His family is asking friends to honor Brandon by enjoying that same meal in his honor. More than 80 people around the country have taken part in the cheeseburger salute so far, as Steve has chronicled on Storify – http://storify.com/stevebuttry/brandon-buttry-s-cheeseburger-salute-brings-smilesSee More
My Washington, D.C., friends bought some awesome burgers in Brandon’s honor:
RT @donw: On Brandon’s behalf. I can’t drink caffeine this late but ill have the soda in the morning. 4 @stevebuttry @mimijohnson http://pic.twitter.com/CWBEeQQX
@stevebuttry stopped at Five Guys on way back from BWI. Didn’t think to take a photo before I ate, though.
— Samuel Chamberlain (@SChamberlainSBN) 2 days ago
This cheeseburger salute came from a former co-worker of Brandon’s at — appropriately — the McDonald’s where they met and worked together.
Our contribution to the “cheeseburger salute” for our former co-worker Brandon Buttry at the McDonald’s where we worked with him. He was supposed to come home from Afghanistan last Friday. He was excited to come home and have a cheeseburger, a large fry and a coke. So his family had this meal for him, in honor of him, on Friday ~ when he was supposed to have returned home. They got such a great response of others wanting to “salute” him also, they extended it throughout the weekend and asked others to join in, to “salute” Brandon. So, here’s to you, Brandon. We just wish you could have made it home so we could have enjoyed it together.
Other family friends joined, and some people who just heard about the cheeseburger and wanted to salute a fallen soldier who didn’t get home to enjoy his own burger.
Had a burger tonight in honor of Pfc Brandon Buttry. We honor and remember you today. — with Melissa Rock.
Brandon Buttry died Nov. 5 in Afghanistan serving this country, 10 days before he was supposed to return home to Ft. Lewis. He planned to celebrate his return with a cheeseburger, fries, and a coke. Since he couldn’t I tried to honor and salute him by eating it for him. RIP Brandon, good friend, good man, good soldier.
Many of these Facebook photos have lots of good comments, so I encourage Brandon’s family and friends to click on the photos and read the comments. But I wanted to highlight this comment by the man who posted the photo above:
The salt packet reminds us of the countless fallen tears of families as they wait.
Maybe I missed your photo (or tweet or update noting your participation in the salute). Or maybe you’ll join us today. Either way, if you’re participating in the cheeseburger salute, let me know and I’ll add you in an update. Brandon had a great smile (below, with his cousin Patrick) and he loved a good cheeseburger. So we’re remembering him with a cheeseburger and a smile.
The family is exhausted and I don’t have much new to say. I’ll let photos of the past few days at Brandon’s hometown of Shenandoah, Iowa, tell the story of the grief our family feels at our loss and the gratitude we feel for the outpouring of love and support from the community and the nation.
Brandon’s family gathered at the Shenandoah Regional Airport Tuesday, wearing t-shirts with Brandon’s photo: “Our Fallen Hero.”
The backs of the t-shirts bore a Bible verse offering hope and comfort.
Brandon’s plane landed in Shenandoah on Tuesday, eight days after his death in Kandahar, Afghanistan, a highly emotional moment for his family.
The Patriot Guard Riders — veterans who travel to military funerals to honor the war dead — showed out in force at the airport and later at the visitation, funeral and burial. Their devotion to the fallen soldier and his family was deeply touching.
Monday night, Brandon’s parents, Don and Pam, gave me their remembrance of Brandon to read at Thursday’s funeral, including this passage: “You will always be with us. … We will look for that bright smile in every sunbeam.” Tuesday morning I shot this photo (no PhotoShopping, I swear) as the family waited for Brandon’s casket to emerge from the plane that brought him home to Shenandoah.
Two lines of Patriot Guard Riders bearing flags stretched out from the plane to honor Brandon as his body came home.
A military honor guard carries Brandon’s casket from the airplane to the hearse.
My cousin, retired Air Force First Sergeant Frank Yunk-Arnold, escorted Brandon’s body home from Dover Air Force Base and stayed for the visitation and funeral.
Stars and stripes for Brandon
Shenandoah got a visit from “Flagman” Larry Eckhardt, who lined the route from the funeral home to the church to the cemetery, and the lanes of the cemetery with a couple thousand American flags, assisted by local volunteers. Driving the route in the quiet of Wednesday morning was a moving experience. The photo in my blog header is just a sliver of the panoramic view of the cemetery.
My sister, Carol Devlin, and I visited the cemetery Wednesday morning, awestruck by the flags rippling in the wind. I thought of another passage from Don and Pam’s letter to Brandon that I would be reading the next day: “When the wind blows, we will listen for your laugh.”
Near my father’s grave, just a short walk from Brandon’s, this flag rippled in the morning sun.
Gov. Terry Branstad ordered flags across Iowa flown at half-staff Thursday. Flags in Shenandoah were lowered all week, including this one at Rose Hill Cemetery, where Brandon was laid to rest Thursday.
Shenandoah shows its love
All across Shenandoah, signs and window displays expressed support for Brandon and his family.
The church where Mimi and I were married 38 years ago was among those expressing support for Brandon and his family.
The Patriot Guard contingent kept growing. I heard that 150 would be there Thursday. It seemed like at least that many, maybe more. They lined the sidewalk outside the church.
A vile, attention-seeking cult posted plans on its website to picket Brandon’s funeral. Thankfully, they never materialized. They would have been drowned out by the Patriot Guard’s Harleys and their signs blocked from our view by sheets and signs expressing thanks for Brandon’s service. And their hatred would have been overwhelmed by the love this community showed. This is the sidewalk across the street from the church.
More flags outside the church, First Baptist Church in Shenandoah, Iowa, where my father, Brandon’s grandfather, was pastor from 1970 to 1976.
As we drove from the church to the cemetery, the flags, signs and people lining the street gave me chills. That’s the Flagman’s truck at the left.
Still more flags and more stirring scenes at the cemetery.
Brandon’s medals and the flag that covered his casket.
Update: I have compiled much of the media coverage into a Storify account (originally posted Nov. 8, but updated and reorganized Nov. 18). I also compiled photos from various sources on a Pinboard in Brandon’s memory.
I thank the journalists who covered Brandon’s death, return and funeral for their compassion and professionalism in covering this story.
Brandon’s family was overwhelmed by the community’s response and the response from all over the country.
The first time Brandon Buttry greeted me that way on a Facebook chat, I paused a moment, trying to fill in some punctuation and a few implied letters. I guess I figured out that he was asking, “What’s up?”
Anyway, we chatted again and again, usually exchanging just a line or two (often about what was up, naturally).
What was up was that Brandon was fighting our nation’s longest war. And now he’s one of its casualties. Monday morning my brother, Don, and his wife, Pam, got the visit that parents of the men and women serving in the military dread most. Soldiers were at their door in rural Iowa with the news that Brandon had been killed in action in Afghanistan.
Don’s and my father, Luke Buttry, was an Air Force chaplain during the Vietnam War, though he never was stationed in Vietnam. His worst duty was to be the bearer of that heartbreaking news when a son or husband would not be coming home.
My generation in our family didn’t serve in the military. I was in the first age-group not drafted when we turned 19. We still had the draft lottery for people born in 1954, though. My number was 9, so I would have been called if the draft had continued. I applied for 1-AO status, meaning I was a conscientious objector who would not bear arms but would serve in a non-combat role. Until they dropped the draft, I was wondering whether I would be a chaplain’s assistant or a medic. Instead, I was a civilian journalist and happy about that.
Brandon’s father, Don, was two years younger than me, well past the end of the draft and not interested in volunteering.
Our older brother, Dan, was a conscientious objector but had a high draft number and is a peace missionary. He was in Asia leading a 10-day conflict management seminar for religious leaders and peace activists when I called him Monday with the news of Brandon’s death. We talked about what a happy, fun kid he was. We exchanged memories of our Facebook chats with him, often starting with a “sup” from Brandon.
What was up Wednesday evening was that Mimi and I were standing on the flight line at Dover Air Force Base, a nor’easter‘s driving rain mixing with the tears on our cheeks as an honor guard carried Brandon’s flag-draped box across the tarmac. (more…)
My first job in the news business was as a paperboy (I don’t remember any girls or adults carrying papers then) for the Columbus Citizen-Journal from 1968 to 1970. As I dreamed of someday being one of those journalists telling those historic stories on the front page each day, Neil Armstrong was my biggest story.
It was a newsy time with lots of stories about Vietnam, civil rights, LBJ, Richard Nixon, political conventions and the USS Pueblo. But Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon with Buzz Aldrin was the story that riveted my attention. (I started carrying the paper after the two assassinations of 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy.)
Once I got my paper route, I would read the paper at about 4:30 a.m., before I hopped on my bike to deliver the papers. If a space flight was approaching or under way, that would be the first story I would read. (more…)
I am Digital Transformation Editor for Digital First Media. I also led community engagement for TBD.com. I have been an editor, reporter, writing coach, blogger and innovation coach for seven community and metro newspapers, most recently Editor of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I spent three years doing research, teaching and writing for the American Press Institute. I have pursued my journalism career in 44 states, 8 Canadian provinces, Ireland, Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Siberia. I write about journalism and innovation (and sometimes other stuff) on my blog, The Buttry Diary. My wife, Mimi Johnson, and I live in Herndon, Va. We have three grown sons, two daughters-in-law and two granddaughters.
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