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July 9, 2024

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Colleagues,

Good Tuesday morning on this July 9, 2024,

Two of the best editors that our colleague Tim Dahlberg ever had in his corner are gone – dying within months of one another.

The former AP sports columnist notes that whenever he wrote a column that was on a topic of some importance, Terry Taylor would share it with Darrell Christian to look at – “and it always returned a lot better than I sent it out.” Terry died last November and Darrell last week. Both are former AP sports editors. (They are pictured at the 2008 Summer Olympics in China in this photo shared by Dave Lubeski.)

Dahlberg takes the lead of today’s issue to tell how he and Darrell collaborated on the preparedness obituary for one of the most important names in the world – Muhammad Ali. Click here to read the story.

CONNECTING ARCHIVE: For years, we have kept an archive of past Connecting issues (see Connecting Archive link in the masthead). Our colleague Jo Steck updates it and we pay a modest domain registration fee annually, but see very little use of the link. It could be most are saving each issues themselves, if at all. So unless there is a groundswell to keep the link, we will discontinue it after July 16. If you have any thoughts on this, please drop me a note.

Have a great day – be safe, stay healthy, live it to your fullest.

Paul

Darrell Christian – and the big role he played in my career

Tim Dahlberg - Darrell's sudden passing came after the U.S. Open golf tournament, where I'm glad to report he emerged victorious in the Calcutta we've done for 20-plus years in all the major championships. Darrell loved his golf, and he loved picking winners in our little contest where bragging rights were as important as the money won.

I go back to the mid-80s with Darrell, who was never my official boss but played a big role in my career. We met for the first time at an APSE poker game in Phoenix where it turned out my function was not to play but to go get more food and drink for those at the table. We bonded more when he discovered golf and were friends from then on.

It wasn't long after we became acquainted that Darrell offered me a job. The sports writer in Milwaukee was leaving and since I was already writing about boxing and basketball in the Las Vegas bureau, he thought it would be a good career step. But I had two little kids and my wife and I had never been to Milwaukee. I told Darrell I needed a week and a trip to Milwaukee to decide, neither of which he was about to offer. That made turning the job down a bit easier, and probably the best career decision someone who is used to desert heat could make.

We talk a lot about good editors and I had two of the best ever in Darrell and Terry Taylor, both gone within months of each other. Often when I was writing a sports column on a topic of some importance, Terry would send it to Darrell to look over, and it always returned a lot better than I sent it out.

Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali stands over fallen challenger Sonny Liston, shouting and gesturing shortly after dropping Liston with a short hard right to the jaw on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine. The bout lasted only one minute into the first round. JOHN ROONEY / AP

But it was one piece in particular I will always be grateful for his help. I was writing the obit preparedness on Muhammad Ali and for a while was a bit overwhelmed by the task. I mean, how do you sum up the life of one of the greatest figures of our times, a man more recognizable around the Earth than anyone?

I spent weeks working on what would, I believe, become the longest obit ever run on the AP wire. But I couldn't figure out a lede that rose to the occasion and believe me, I tried everything.

Then, on a rare off day for columns at the 2012 Olympics in London, Darrell suggested we try together. We sat behind his desk in the AP newsroom bouncing ideas off each other, and Darrell suggested an alliteration of "fast of fist and feet" might work. I didn't particularly like it but we went back and forth for several hours before finally discovering magic. Here is the lede that would move four years later when Ali died:

He was fast of fist and foot -- lip, too -- a heavyweight champion who promised to shock the world and did. He floated. He stung. Mostly he thrilled, even after the punches had taken their toll and his voice barely rose above a whisper.

He was The Greatest.

Darrell was never going to get his name on that obit, and he knew that. It moved under my byline, and the only credit he would get was a thanks from me. Unfair, yes, but such is an editor's calling.

I'll miss him greatly.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Tim Dahlberg was a political columnist with the Las Vegas Review-Journal when Las Vegas AP correspondent Pat Arnold offered him a 15-hour-a week job with the AP with the guarantee it would soon become fulltime. It finally did in 1981 and he worked in a two-man bureau with Correspondent Bob Macy while also covering fights, which got him to the 1984 Olympics. He became a national sports writer in 1998 and a sports columnist in 2003 until retirement in 2022. Winner of 2006 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi award for sports column writing.

Would Helen Thomas have missed the story?

Doug Pizac - I agree with Bruce Lowitt’s “Press missing the story” piece yesterday. So what’s the cause? Could it be the takeover of local independent media being conglomeratized by massive chains and hedge fund companies whose primary purpose is generating profits and huge paychecks/bonuses for top management verses the hiring of staff to investigate politics on the local and state levels instead of laying them off? Could it be the passing of olden AM/PM and bulldog newspaper editions and a half-hour of daily network news shows where subscribers and viewers waited for the local and world developments that took time to produce polished material instead of constant 24/7 updated websites and newscasts where being first may be more imporant than being right? Or is it a generational change where people have lost their patience to wait for well-rounded thought-out stories so they can experience and get hooked on constant multi-tasking updates from any source regardless of authenticity to feed fleeting moments of instant self-gratification instead?

Whatever the reason, we’re in a new time period now. For the rest of the Connecting oldies who will remember her, it is hard to imagine today’s politics happening the way it is if famed late/great pitbull reporter Helen Thomas was still sitting in the front row of the White House press room holding the president and those in Congress accountable for their actions and words. She’s probably foaming at the mouth waiting for the current politicians to pass so she can be their own personal Hell with hard hitting straight to the punch questions with no place for them to hide or spin the story.

Walter Mears is not forgotten

David Espo - More than two years after the death of the legendary Walter R. Mears, his byline still makes it into wide circulation.

A recent online advertisement by Ancestry.com featured a photo of an 88-year-old Robert Frost and a birthday cake, along with Mears' bylined account of a black-tie dinner celebrating the event.

For those keeping track of such things, it was also a rare juxtaposition of two men with Pulitzer Prizes in widely different fields.

AP sightings

From Bethesda, Md., shared by Bob Cullen

Shared by Ken Klein.

Connecting wishes Happy Birthday

Keith Chrostowski

Bruce Richardson

Paul Simon

Stories of interest

‘Not Acceptable!’ CBS News Reporter Blasts Karine Jean-Pierre Over Biden’s Health in Off-the-Rails Briefing (MEDIAite)

Zachary Leeman

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe got into a tense exchange at a wild Monday press briefing where O’Keefe grilled her about reports of a neurologist visiting the White House eight times in eight months.

The New York Times reported Monday that Parkinson’s expert Dr. Kevin Cannard has visited the White House eight times from July 2023 through March of this year. There is no confirmation that Cannard was there to see the president or someone else and Jean-Pierre would also not confirm anything at a press briefing, leading to frustration from O’Keefe.

“That much you should be able to answer at this point,” O’Keefe said after Jean-Pierre would only tell the room that Biden has seen a neurologist three times over the course of his presidency as part of his annual physical.

Read more here. Shared by Mark Mittelstadt.

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Joe Biden, in the Goodest Bunker Ever (New York Times)

By MAUREEN DOWD

When I saw the Michael Shear story in The Times on July 4, recounting how President Biden had stumbled talking to Black radio hosts days after his debate debacle, telling one he was proud to have been “the first Black woman to serve with a Black president,” I knew it spelled trouble.

First of all, if any white man could claim to be “the first Black woman” in the Oval, it was Bill Clinton. Black fans called him “the first Black president” and feminist fans called him “the first woman president.”

Second of all, we were entering a new post-debate examination period with President Biden, where his every word would be scrutinized. He was always a fast and voluminous talker, and as he has gotten older, the words and ideas sometimes tumble out in the wrong order. Also, he’s more slurry now, so words get smushed together, and words and thoughts collide; words get dropped, caesuras skipped, and sentences sometimes trail off into the ether.

The Times’s chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, told me he has started using translation headsets on overseas trips, even when he is 20 feet away from the president, because they offer a magnified volume when Biden starts to mumble.

Read more here. Shared by Dennis Conrad.

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Fewer radio stations run less local news (RTNDA)

By Bob Papper and Keren Henderson

July 8, 2024 — The latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey found that, overall, 64.2% of all radio stations in the Survey report running local news: 66.5% of AM stations and 63.3% of FM stations. Those numbers are all down from last year — down 4 points overall from a year ago. FM stations dropped 3 points, but AM stations fell by almost 7.

Overall, 65% of commercial stations run local news in this year’s Survey. That’s nearly identical to last year’s 66.2%. A year ago, we saw a 10-point drop in non-commercial stations running local news. This year, the percentage of non-commercial stations running local news fell another 2 points — down to 60.7%. We don’t know why there’s been a drop in local news at non-commercial stations. This year’s numbers back up the idea that last year’s drop was neither a fluke nor a survey anomaly.

There’s a common perception that locally owned radio stations are more likely to produce local news than stations that are not locally owned. But that’s never been the case every time we’ve looked at the issue — until this year. Overall, 75.3% of locally owned station groups run local news, and 71.5% of non-locally owned station groups run local news. The percentage of locally owned groups running local news is virtually unchanged from last year, but non-locally owned station groups fell 12 points from a year ago.

Read more here.

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Krissah Thompson will run the newsroom process building the third newsroom (Washington Post PR)

By WashPostPR

From executive editor Matt Murray:

I’m excited to share the news that Krissah Thompson will run the newsroom process building the third newsroom. With a task force she is currently forming and expects to have in place this week, and input from across the newsroom colleagues from the commercial side, she will helm our effort to set up the structure and plans for this next era of growth for The Post. In taking on this assignment, Krissah will temporarily step back from most daily duties.

As we’ve discussed, the main focus of the project is properly structuring ourselves for a rapidly and regularly changing news ecosystem. While bolstering and growing the core Post products and expanding our reach, we aim to concentrate some of our journalistic resources, as well as our substantial expertise and brainpower, toward developing new products and formats, and deepening our capabilities, that will bring our journalism to different audiences, especially off-platform users who consume Washington Post journalism but are less likely to subscribe for our traditional offerings.

Read more here. Shared by Myron Belkind.

AP classes, by the year...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a listing of Connecting colleagues who have shared the year and the bureau where they started with the AP. If you would like to share your own information, I will include it in later postings. Current AP staffers are also welcome to share their information.)

1951 - Norm Abelson (Boston)

1953 – Charles Monzella (Huntington, WVa)

1955 – Henry Bradsher (Atlanta), Paul Harrington (Boston), Joe McGowan (Cheyenne)

1957 - Louis Uchitelle (Philadelphia)

1958 – Roy Bolch (Kansas City)

1959 – Charlie Bruce (Montgomery)

1960 – Claude Erbsen (New York), Carl Leubsdorf (New Orleans)

1961 – Peter Arnett (Jakarta, Indonesia), Strat Douthat (Charleston), Warren Lerude (San Diego), Ed Staats (Austin)

1962 – Paul Albright (Cheyenne), Malcolm Barr Sr. (Honolulu), Myron Belkind (New York), Kelly Smith Tunney (Miami)

1963 – Hal Bock (New York)

1964 – Rachel Ambrose (Indianapolis), Larry Hamlin (Oklahoma City), Ron Mulnix (Denver), Lyle Price (San Francisco), Arlene Sposato (New York), , Hilmi Toros (New York)

1965 – Bob Dobkin (Pittsburgh), Harry Dunphy (Denver), John Gibbons (New York), Jim Luther (Nashville), Larry Margasak (Harrisburg), Rich Oppel (Tallahassee)

1966 – Mike Doan (Portland, OR), Edie Lederer (New York), Nancy Shipley (Nashville), Mike Short (Los Angeles), Marty Thompson (Seattle), Nick Ut (Saigon), Kent Zimmerman (Chicago)

1967 – Dan Berger (Los Angeles), Adolphe Bernotas (Concord), Lou Boccardi (New York), Linda Deutsch (Los Angeles), Don Harrison (Los Angeles), Doug Kienitz (Cheyenne), David Liu (New York), Bruce Lowitt (Los Angeles), Chuck McFadden (Los Angeles), Martha Malan (Minneapolis), Bill Morrissey (Buffalo), Larry Paladino (Detroit), Michael Putzel (Raleigh), Bruce Richardson (Chicago), Richard Shafer (Baltimore), Victor Simpson (Newark), Michael Sniffen (Newark)

1968 – Lee Balgemann (Chicago), John Eagan (San Francisco), Joe Galu (Albany/Troy), Peter Gehrig (Frankfurt), Charles Hanley (Albany), Jerry Harkavy (Portland, Maine), Herb Hemming (New York), Brian King (Albany), Samuel Koo (New York), Karren Mills (Minneapolis), Michael Rubin (Los Angeles), Rick Spratling (Salt Lake City), Barry Sweet (Seattle)

1969 - Ann Blackman (New York), Ford Burkhart (Philadelphia), Dick Carelli (Charleston, WVa), Dennis Coston (Richmond), Mary V. Gordon (Newark), Daniel Q. Haney (Portland, Maine), Mike Harris (Chicago), Brad Martin (Kansas City), David Minthorn (Frankfurt), Cynthia Rawitch (Los Angeles), Bob Reid (Charlotte), Mike Reilly (New York), Doug Tucker (Tulsa), Bill Winter (Helena)

1970 – Richard Boudreaux (New York), Richard Drew (San Francisco), Bob Egelko (Los Angeles), Steve (Indy) Herman (Indianapolis), Tim Litsch (New York), Lee Margulies (Los Angeles), Chris Pederson (Salt Lake City), Brendan Riley (San Francisco), Larry Thorson (Philadelphia)

1971 – Harry Atkins (Detroit), Jim Bagby (Kansas City), Larry Blasko (Chicago), Jim Carlson (Milwaukee), Jim Carrier (New Haven), Chris Connell (Newark), Bill Gillen (New York), Bill Hendrick (Birmingham), John Lumpkin (Dallas), Kendal Weaver (Montgomery)

1972 – Hank Ackerman (New York), Bob Fick (St. Louis), Joe Frazier (Portland, Ore.), Terry Ganey (St. Louis), Mike Graczyk (Detroit), Denis Gray (Albany), Lindel Hutson (Little Rock), Brent Kallestad (Sioux Falls), Tom Kent (Hartford), Nolan Kienitz (Dallas), Andy Lippman (Phoenix), Ellen Miller (Helena), Mike Millican (Hartford), Lew Wheaton (Richmond)

1973 - Jerry Cipriano (New York), Susan Clark (New York), Norm Clarke (Cincinnati), Joe Galianese (East Brunswick), Merrill Hartson (Richmond), Mike Hendricks (Albany), Tom Journey (Tucson), Steve Loeper (Los Angeles), Tom Slaughter (Sioux Falls), Jim Spehar (Denver), Paul Stevens (Albany), Jeffrey Ulbrich (Cheyenne), Owen Ullmann (Detroit), John Willis (Omaha), Evans Witt (San Francisco)

1974 – Norman Black (Baltimore), David Espo (Cheyenne), Dan George (Topeka), Robert Glass (Philadelphia), Steve Graham (Helena), Elaine Hooker (Hartford), Sue Price Johnson (Charlotte), Dave Lubeski (Washington), Janet McConnaughey (Washington), Lee Mitgang (New York), Bud Weydert (Toledo), Marc Wilson (Little Rock) 

1975 – Peter Eisner (Columbus), David Powell (New York), Eileen Alt Powell (Milwaukee)

1976 – Brad Cain (Chicago), Judith Capar (Philadelphia), Dick Chady (Albany), Steve Crowley (Washington), David Egner (Oklahoma City), Marc Humbert (Albany), Steven Hurst (Columbus), Richard Lowe (Nashville), Charlotte Porter (Minneapolis), Chuck Wolfe (Charlotte)

1977 – Bryan Brumley (Washington), Robert Burns (Jefferson City), Charles Campbell (Nashville), Dave Carpenter (Philadelphia), Ken Herman (Dallas), Mike Holmes (Des Moines), Brad Kalbfeld (New York), Scott Kraft (Jefferson City), John Kreiser (New York), Peter Leabo (Dallas), Kevin LeBoeuf (Los Angeles), Ellen Nimmons (Minneapolis), Dan Sewell (Buffalo), Estes Thompson (Richmond), David Tirrell-Wysocki (Concord)

1978 – Tom Eblen (Louisville), Ruth Gersh (Richmond), Doug Pizac (Los Angeles), Charles Richards (Dallas), Reed Saxon (Los Angeles), Steve Wilson (Boston)

1979 – Brian Bland (Los Angeles), Scotty Comegys (Chicago), Frances D’Emilio (San Francisco), Pat Fergus (Albany), Brian Friedman (Des Moines), Sally Hale (Dallas), Jill Lawrence (Harrisburg), Barry Massey (Kansas City), Phillip Rawls (Nashville), John Rice (Carson City), Linda Sargent (Little Rock), Joel Stashenko (Albany), Robert Wielaard (Brussels)

1980 – Alan Adler (Cleveland), Jeff Barnard (Providence), Mark Duncan (Cleveland), Bill Kaczor (Tallahassee), Mitchell Landsberg (Reno), Kevin Noblet (New Orleans), David Speer (Jackson), Hal Spencer (Providence), Carol J. Williams (Seattle)

1981 – Paul Davenport (Phoenix), Dan Day (Milwaukee), John Flesher (Raleigh), Len Iwanski (Bismarck), Ed McCullough (Albany), Kim Mills (New York), Mark Mittelstadt (Des Moines), Roland Rochet (New York), Lee Siegel (Seattle), Marty Steinberg (Baltimore), Bill Vogrin (Kansas City)

1982 – Dorothy Abernathy (Little Rock), Al Behrman (Cincinnati), Tom Cohen (Jefferson City), John Epperson (Chicago), Ric Feld (Atlanta), Nick Geranios (Helena), Hpward Gros (New Orleans), Robert Kimball (New York), Rob Kozloff (Detroit), Bill Menezes (Kansas City), David Ochs (New York)

1983 – Scott Charton (Little Rock), Sue Cross (Columbus), Mark Elias (Chicago), Diana Heidgerd (Miami), Sheila Norman-Culp (New York), Carol Esler Ochs (New York), Amy Sancetta (Philadelphia), Rande Simpson (New York), Dave Skidmore (Milwaukee)

1984 – Owen Canfield (Oklahoma City), Wayne Chin (Washington), Jack Elliott (Oklahoma City), Kelly P. Kissel (New Orleans), Joe Macenka (Richmond), Eva Parziale (San Francisco), Keith Robinson (Columbus), Cliff Schiappa (Kansas City), David Sedeño (Dallas), Andrew Selsky (Cheyenne), Patty Woodrow (Washington)

1985 - Betty Kumpf Pizac (Los Angeles)

1986 – Joni Baluh Beall (Richmond), David Beard (Jackson), Tom Coyne (Columbia, SC), Dave DeGrace (Milwaukee), Alan Flippen (Louisville), Jim Gerberich (San Francisco), Howard Goldberg (New York), Mark Hamrick (Dallas), Sandy Kozel (Washington), Robert Meyers (London)

1987 – Donna Abu-Nasr (Beirut), Dave Bauder (Albany), Chuck Burton (Charlotte), Beth Harris (Indianapolis), Lynne Harris (New York), Steven L. Herman (Charleston, WVa), Rosemarie Mileto (New York), John Rogers (Los Angeles)

1988 – Chris Carola (Albany), Peg Coughlin (Pierre), Kathy Gannon (Islamabad), Steve Hart (Washington), Melissa Jordan (Sioux Falls), Bill Pilc (New York), Kelley Shannon (Dallas)

1989 – Ted Bridis (Oklahoma City), Charlie Arbogast (Trenton), Ron Fournier (Little Rock)

1990 – Frank Fisher (Jackson), Dan Perry (Bucharest), Steve Sakson (Baltimore), Sean Thompson (New York)

1991 – Amanda Kell (Richmond), Santiago Lyon (Cairo), Lisa Pane (Hartford), Ricardo Reif (Caracas), Bill Sikes (Buffalo)

1992 – Kerry Huggard (New York)

1993 – Jim Salter (St. Louis)

1995 – Donna Tommelleo (Hartford)

1996 – Patricia N. Casillo (New York)

1997 – J. David Ake (Chicago), Pamela Collins (Dallas), Madhu Krishnappa Maron (New York), Jim Suhr (Detroit), Jennifer Yates (Baltimore)

2000 – Gary Gentile (Los Angeles)

Today in History – July 9, 2024

By The Associated Press

Today is Tuesday, July 9, the 191st day of 2024. There are 175 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On July 9, 1868, the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, granting citizenship and “equal protection under the laws” to anyone “born or naturalized in the United States,” including formerly enslaved people.

Also on this date:

In 1850, President Zachary Taylor died of gastrointestinal illness after consuming a large amount of cherries and iced milk on a hot day five days earlier; Vice President Millard Fillmore was sworn in as president the following day.

In 1896, William Jennings Bryant delivered his famous “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

In 1918, 101 people were killed in a train collision in Nashville, Tennessee in the deadliest US rail disaster in history.

In 1937, a fire at 20th Century Fox’s storage facility in Little Ferry, New Jersey, destroyed most of the studio’s silent films.

In 1943, during World War II, the Allies launched Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily.

In 1944, during World War II, American forces secured Saipan as the last Japanese defenses fell.

In 1947, the engagement of Britain’s Princess Elizabeth to Lt. Philip Mountbatten was announced.

In 1965, the Sonny & Cher single “I Got You Babe” was released by ATCO Records.

In 1982, Pan Am Flight 759, a Boeing 727, crashed in Kenner, Louisiana, shortly after takeoff from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 145 people aboard and eight people on the ground.

In 2004, a Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded the CIA had provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq that the Bush administration had relied on to justify going to war.

In 2010, the largest U.S.-Russia spy swap since the Cold War was completed on a remote stretch of Vienna airport tarmac as planes from New York and Moscow arrived within minutes of each other with 10 Russian sleeper agents and four prisoners accused by Russia of spying for the West.

In 2011, South Sudan officially became an independent nation.

In 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill the seat left vacant by the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Today’s Birthdays: Artist David Hockney is 87. Author Dean Koontz is 79. Actor Chris Cooper is 73. Musician and TV personality John Tesh is 72. Country singer David Ball is 71. Business executive/TV personality Kevin O’Leary (TV: “Shark Tank”) is 70. Singer Debbie Sledge (Sister Sledge) is 70. Actor Jimmy Smits is 69. US Senator Lindsey Graham is 69. Actor Tom Hanks is 68. Singer Marc Almond is 67. Actor Kelly McGillis is 67. Rock singer Jim Kerr (Simple Minds) is 65. Actor-rock singer Courtney Love is 60. Actor Pamela Adlon is 58. Actor Scott Grimes is 53. Actor Enrique Murciano (TV: “Without a Trace”) is 51. Musician/producer Jack White is 49. Rock singer-musician Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse) is 49. Actor-director Fred Savage is 48. Actor Linda Park (TV: “Star Trek: Enterprise”) is 46. Actor Megan Parlen is 44. Animator/writer/producer Rebecca Sugar is 37. Actor Mitchel Musso is 33. Actor Georgie Henley (Film: “The Chronicles of Narnia”) is 29.

Got a photo or story to share?

Connecting is a daily newsletter published Monday through Friday that reaches more than 1,800 retired and former Associated Press employees, present-day employees, and news industry and journalism school colleagues. It began in 2013. Past issues can be found by clicking Connecting Archive in the masthead. Its author, Paul Stevens, retired from the AP in 2009 after a 36-year career as a newsman in Albany and St. Louis, correspondent in Wichita, chief of bureau in Albuquerque, Indianapolis and Kansas City, and Central Region vice president based in Kansas City.

Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!

Here are some suggestions:

- Connecting "selfies" - a word and photo self-profile of you and your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have been with us a while.

- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.

- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career. 

- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.

- "A silly mistake that you make"- a chance to 'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.

- Multigenerational AP families - profiles of families whose service spanned two or more generations.

- Volunteering - benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer stories - with ideas on such work they can do themselves.

- First job - How did you get your first job in journalism?

- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.

Paul Stevens

Editor, Connecting newsletter

paulstevens46@gmail.com