I have been associate editor of this newspaper for several weeks now, and I would like to say, first, that it is an honor, and second, that nobody told me the job involved this much sitting.
My duties, as I understand them, are to greet everyone who comes through the door at 118 E. Second St. with the seriousness the office deserves, to supervise the floor beneath the publisher’s desk, and to make sure no sandwich goes unwatched. I take the last one very seriously. I have never once looked away from a sandwich.
A note on standards
This newspaper does not run anonymous tips. I want to be clear that the squirrel outside the window is not a source. He has never given me anything I could verify. He sits there. Sometimes he moves, and then he sits there again. I have raised this with the editor, who said she would “look into it,” which I have learned is what people say when they are not going to open the window.
The mail situation
There is a person who comes to our door most days around midmorning, deposits a stack of paper, and leaves without staying for a meeting. I have flagged this to management for some time. I am told he is “the mail.” I am told this is “fine.” I will continue to monitor the situation from the window, and I will continue to tell everyone in the building, at volume, when it happens. That is the job.
A correction
In the interest of transparency, this newspaper runs corrections, and here is mine. Last Tuesday I reported, loudly and for about forty seconds, that there was someone at the door. There was not. It was the wind. The Tribune regrets the error.
On Winslow
I also want to say something about this town. The corner is fine. The train is loud, and I have told it so. But the people who stop on the sidewalk to say hello are the reason I come in on Tuesdays, which is deadline, which I understand to be a day when everyone is too busy to throw the ball. I bring it anyway. Somebody will crack.
That is all for now. I have a meeting at the window.
Yoshi is the associate editor of the Painted Desert Tribune. He is an Akita. Letters may be sent to newsroom@yourtrib.com; treats may be sent to the same address, care of the associate editor.
