5 ways my Mom and my sons’ Mom shaped my journalism career

Harriet Arnold, 1940s

As I considered writing something about Mom or Mimi for Mother’s Day, I initially dismissed the idea as not right for my blog.

I generally blog about digital journalism and innovation in the media, and though I occasionally veer into personal topics, I usually try to relate them to journalism in some way. As I considered the moms in my life, I noticed quickly how much my career owes to both of them. So here are five reasons (I could have picked more, but five is a good number):

1. Mom always had newspapers around the house and she always read them. She always talked about the news and often about the journalists reporting the news.
2. Mom encouraged me to read and write and set me up with a great first teacher (Mrs. E.R. Shaw) when I was too ill to start school as a young boy when we lived in England.

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As Mom’s memory fades, my memories of her grow more precious

In my earliest memories, I am sick, struggling for breath on Mom’s lap as she strokes me gently and sings Brahms’ Lullaby in her clear soprano voice.

We lived in England then, the first of Dad’s military assignments I can remember. My memories of Utah are more vivid. In the dry mountain air, my asthma faded, and I started playing baseball in our back yard with brothers or friends or by myself (providing my own radio play-by-play).

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