A toast ...
... of nonalcoholic cider or something, since we're still in the office, to N&R reporter Jim Schlosser. Today he celebrates his 40th anniversary with the N&R and its predecessor papers.
More than anyone else here, Jim has held a mirror up to this community, yet he also from time to time shows us how what we have been can point the way to what we could be. His source network here is second to none. His story count would overshadow that of a reporter with 20 years' less experience (although it will dwindle soon as he works on a history of Greensboro pegged to the city's 2008 bicentennial ... or maybe it won't), and his storytelling, full of fun details and quirks, sometimes in the oddest places, is a joy.
I would be saying all this even if his cube wasn't catty-corner from mine, by the way. The only thing that bugs me about him is that I look older than he does.
Just a few minutes ago we had a brief celebration here in the newsroom to mark the occasion. I wish we could have recorded it for a podcast; the stories were hilarious. As it is, this excerpt must suffice:
Regular readers know about Jim's fascination with older buildings, (and architecture and architects in particular). This is not a recent hobby. In his first story here, published on Jan. 30, 1967, his lede, or beginning paragraph, not only reported that a woman had jumped from the Jefferson-Standard (now Lincoln Financial) building downtown, it also named the "renowned architect" who had designed the building.
"That's the most important detail," Jim said today, deadpan, after Margaret Banks read from the clipping. And although he was joking, in so many ways important to Greensboro and the South, he's kind of right.
(UPDATE, 7:26 p.m.: Margaret just strolled in here and disclosed that she totally made that lede up. Shows what happens when you don't check the documentary evidence. And does she apologize? Sort of, if, by "apologize," you mean, "says, 'Well, now you know I am a convincing liar.'")
Congratulations, Jim, and thank you for spending so much time with us.