— my old friend and managing editor, Jeff Dute, about the news business.  He told me that just before I left Virginia for New York, leaving newspapers behind for a job in public relations. I believe it was around 1997.

I was chatting with a friend with a journalism background today, and I realized how much I miss the news world.  I even feel a little of what seems like homesickness when I read the Facebook posts of my old colleagues, even though their “beats” (sports and hunting) are very different from what I used to cover.

News taught me so much about working quickly, multi-tasking, researching a topic quickly, and speaking with people.

It also taught me a lot about authority, local government, the range of beliefs and ideologies in America, neighbors’ kindness toward one another, strangers’ violence against the innocent, and how easy it is to get lost on country roads.

It taught me to smoke cigarettes, to consider my sources’ motivations, and to be loyal to those who confided in me.

There were lessons in mortality too.  Rookie reporters are routinely assigned to the traffic accidents that occur at all hours.

All in all, it was a hell of an education — and not an easy job, but a rewarding one.