Syndicated columnists

Art Buchwald

I'm from the era when newspapers had multiple pages for opinions - not only editorials, but also letters to the editor and syndicated columnists. Our local dailies had one to two such pages each issue. And with two dailies, there was room for a wide variety of columns representing differing views.   

I used to enjoy reading those pages, and, in particular, certain columnists. Two of the syndicated columnists I particularly enjoyed were Art Buchwald and Sydney Harris.

I dreamed of being a columnist myself. In college I created a column called The Pregnant Pause for the school newspaper. It was a mixture of humor, satire, and commentary, combining elements of Buchwald and Harris.

After college,  although I freelanced some articles, I did not work full-time as a journalist for a number of years. Then I was hired by the diocesan newspaper. I eventually became the associate editor, and regularly wrote editorials, getting a taste of fulfilling my dream. I even won a few awards for my editorials.

But after a decade I left the newspaper business to become a teacher, a career I also loved. 

By that point, the newspapers across the country were folding - including one of our two local dailies. Editorial pages were shrinking, with room for fewer columns, and many of the great columnists of the past retired or died. I also stopped reading newspapers as regularly, disappointed by their content - or lack thereof - and finding other news outlets online. As a result, I did not keep up with the kinds of columns still being written.

I started a blog, and used that as an outlet. But it was not the same as being a newspaper columnist. Few people saw what I wrote. 

Then blogs started to follow the newspapers into oblivion. 

Oh, there were other outlets - like podcasts - but I was a written word person, and did not follow those technological routes.

I still write - and blog. And I edit and write three newsletters. Nothing short of something like dementia or a stroke will stop me from expressing myself through writing. 

Who knows. Maybe syndicated columns will make a comeback before my gray cells go dark. 

After all, vinyl records are now cool again. 

Pax et bonum