Delicious, but you can't have one without the other.
The Courier's Plainfield beat reporter, Mark Spivey, has been honored as its Reporter of the Year for 2009.
Congratulations, Mark.
Mark's getting this award brings to mind an experience from my youth.
My first job for which I earned my own money was at the age of eight, picking raspberries on the farm of Sam and Dorothy Conti, up the road a half mile or so from our place.
It was demanding work, inching your way down the long rows on your knees in the hot sun, reaching for the berries hidden under the clumps of leaves of the low-slung plants. Not to mention the brambles that protected them and the rocky soil on which you knelt.
But you got real money for each quart picked (eventually; you got a stiff paper card on which the quantities picked were punched, with reckoning up at the end of the week when you turned the card in).
AND...all the plump, juicy and tart-sweet 'Columbia' raspberries you could eat.
As I got older, maybe 10 or so, I got to work with young Sammy and his brother John spreading horse manure on the fields.
But first we had to shovel it into the spreader. It was hard and smelly work. But if I was tempted to complain, the elder Mr. Conti, a wise and patient man who had immigrated from Sicily, would remind me to be thankful for the horses whenever I enjoyed one of the raspberries.
You can't have one without the other.
The other.
Just as in farming, so in Plainfield news gathering, you can't have one without the other.
Mark, I hope you remember to be thankful for Plainfield's 'horses'.
And congrats, again!
Making it happen.
-- Dan Damon [follow]
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6 comments:
The Courier belately learned that Plainfield could be a goldmine for news not just crime and assigned a reporter who knew how to mine the beat. I hope the editors don't realize that Mark is too good for the beat.
Good news: Mark Spivey, very competent Plainfield beat reporter and beer maven named Reporter of the Year.
Bad news: maybe he'll get a better offer (a la Bibi Taylor, e.g.) and move on to a bigger venue and we'll have to start all over again. Or maybe the C-N will outbid the competition.
Dan,
I knew Mark's work would be recognized--I just knew it! My own prediction is that he will be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Connolly story, and that he will WIN! I hope the Courier will submit this set of stories for consideration. Of course, if Mark wins, there is always the possibility that he will be snatched up by another news organization--in any case, the accolades he is receiving are richly deserved.
Rebecca
I have to applaud Mark and all the work he's done to help the tenants of David Connolly. He has helped us and listened to us. I can't think of a more deserving person.
Bob Bolmer
Olddoc -- Shhhhhhhh....!!!
His editors might be the least of our worries -- what if another paper tries to steal him???
Congrats to Mark! He has been an asset in his writings of both Plainfield positive and "needs improvement" articles. He should be commended for his professionalism and journalistic style.
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