Joe Kennedy's CuppaJoe at Roanoke. I still wrote one column per week and the newspaper still published it each Monday. But the Wednesday and Saturday versions were put into storage, while, like a nervous novice on the stage of a community theater, I played the part of temporary team leader.
Team leader is the current phrase for what used to be called a city or metro editor.
I mean team leader. For a time many years ago I acted as a sort of team half-leader in the Features Department, setting up team meetings, concocting agendas and ignoring the comments of those who thought the whole team concept belonged behind the building, in the big green boxes with all the other junk. Most important, I still think, is its ability to disseminate information to all in a timely manner. But I was glad to do it. As someone who for nearly 30 years has interrupted other people, including editors, at will, by phone, fax, personal visit and e-mail in the pursuit of stories, and as someone who then took anywhere from three hours to three weeks to write those stories with hardly any interruptions, I was shocked to realize how annoying interruptions can be.