| OCR Text |
Show Nobody wants this 'celebrity' autograph By MARC ELLA WALKER "Newspaperwoman" was one of those listed as being a professional from whom people like to get an autograph. I laughed. No one has ever asked for my autograph. No one seems to stand in awe of a newspaperwoman and very few stand in awe of a newspaperman unless he should be Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein. Actually the only one who has ever seemed at all impressed with me being a newspaperwoman was my uncle in Missouri and he thought it was pretty neat. He asked me all kinds of questions about my work. I tried to make it sound as good as he thought it was but how can you make a city council meeting sound good? Sometimes I feel we newspaper people ought to be given an award just for going to the city council meetings. Often we are the only ones there besides the council. I ike the council members, we have to be there. It is our job. My mom always told me I would never make it as a journalist because jobs are scarce and wages are low. She wanted me to be a teacher. Their wages are so good? At least there are more job openings for teachers than there are for journalists. But I didn't listen to her. I took one class in education in college and thought I'd be in the nut house before the end of the term. Mom, who was a teacher for over 30 years, told me to not judge the autograph. On the other hand the job has t rewards, although the salary-certainly salary-certainly not one of them. A ne " reporter gets to meet all kindsf nice people. Interviewing, talri pictures, rubbing shoulders the famous and not-so-famous t interesting and certainly it fcJjj you aware of what is happening the community. 8Ul I have talked with the governn senators, legislators, congressmen'' sports celebreties and otT honorees. FViends call me election time and ask me to tell them about the candidates so thai they can decide for whom to vote, So there are rewards, of a sort. Last week I got to have my fiw dumptruck ride I was fortunate to f ride in a fire truck last fall Probably many of you have n ;:l done that, so there are some advantages. j Of course there are some handicaps, too. News happens ' anytime, daytime or nightime, Sundays and holidays, so yoj f cannot just have a nine to five job (1 like normal people. v I dread fires, bad accidents, and serious injuries. I'd rather 'stay f home and be safe in my little world I Even though it is exciting sometimes, and you get to meet lots i-of i-of fine people and a few folks might actually think you have a :$ glamorous job, no one has asked "! me for my autograph. il It is just as well, I'm not a good penman, anyway. : ;:Ci entire profession on one class. She said the class I took talked only of theory and classroom theory had little to do with what a teacher actually found in the schools. She was probably right but I had already had enough of that. I come from a family of teachers both on my father's side and my mother's. My mother and all five of her sisters were teachers and one was even a superintendent of schools. All my dad's sisters, except one who is a nurse, were teachers. I married into a family of teachers with both my father-in-law, Calvin Walker, my mother-in-law, Lucile Walker, being educators. Even my husband got his degree in Secondary Education. It is a noble profession and actually I wouldn't mind being a teacher if I could have a class full of kids who really wanted to learn. I substituted once up at Pleasant Grove High School and it nearly scared me to death. The college-bound college-bound English Classes were great. They sat down and did their assignments and were polite and quiet. In the other classes (some were better than others) a group of boys said they had no work to do. Some tried to set the maidenhair fern on fire and others tried to to the same thing to the window blind puller. I don't see how some of the teachers hold up through it all. Anyway, I ended up graduating in journalism and in spite of my mother's dire predictions I have always been able to get a job when I needed one. First I was called by KBOI Radio and Television of Boise, Idaho to apply for a job with them when I first graduated. I did and I worked for them till Jerry got off his mission. Then I worked for KOVO in Provo and later for the BYU News Bureau. After a hiatus of several years while I raised by babies I finally became a stringer for the Daily Herald and finally city editor for the Pleasant Grove Review. And I have enjoyed every minute of it. But, still, no one wants my |
