And Then There Was One

What was harder? Losing the penultimate member of our team or finding her picture? I remember a very nice one that I took over my "back wall" that separated our offices. This is Idalia, in the middle of the picture. She had been at The Times nearly as long as I had. Such a hard working person. Her responsibilities in this dying organization included purchasing all hardware and software. But we had no money to spend. I know she will be okay. She has been preparing for this logical end.

In this picture, we have Gernard on the left. He left first. I'm not sure what he's doing, but I know it involves music and people we've all heard of. That young man knew everyone. Then there is Clif. He won the "last man standing" prize. I don't think that is much of a prize. Next to Idalia is Teena. Yes, this is from over a year and a half ago. Now Teena has a brand new baby boy. Hurray! Finally there is Fred. All my friends wrote to me, worried that Fred was gone. No, he's not gone. He's safely tucked away in the Editorial Systems group. They weren't totally stupid.

But Laura is gone from Chicago. Let's talk stupid. Not her but the people who thought that would be okay. She was with me in India. In fact the only two who are left from the India experience are Sophie and KJ. KJ and I still chat regularly. I'm happy that she made it through the chopper.

What does all this mean? Eric says it reminds him of the steel industry or the auto industry. Or any other slowing dying industry. In no case has there been a group of people smart enough to stop the death. Something remains. I'm sure there are still steel mills and a few viable car manufacturers in the US. And there will still be newspapers. But don't look for it to be like it used to be.

People are looking more to the Internet. I for one love to go to Google for any spare bit of information that might pop into my head. Cindy and I were talking about all kinds of things the other day and I kept looking up stuff on the Internet. It is a blessing. But did you hear what happened with Bloomberg earlier this week? Someone slipped some old news on their website about United Airlines being in receivership (this is just what I remember so it is accurate as anything else on the Internet that doesn't have an Editor), UA stocks took a HUGE nose dive. Then bounced back up, but what a shocking thing to happen based on unverified information. It was on a reputable site, but one that accepts posts from assumed reliable sources.

Say what you will about newspapers and bias, you will be hard pressed to get as accurate reporting on the Internet. What about Sarah Palin's daughter being the real mother of Sarah's baby? I don't care for Ms. Palin (too screechy and too easy at shouting bias - now that the shoe is on the other foot, how does it feel?) But I also think that kind of speculation would never have appeared in a newspaper. We need newspapers. I just hope we can save them before they sink under the surface of the information ooze.

Good luck, Idalia, Laura, Eddie, Paul, Carlos, Armen, Phil, Patrick, Chris, Paulette, Donna, Lorraine, and others who are recently departed from the tribune company. And good luck to all who remain. Sigh.