This morning I got up and went to work for the last time as an employee of the
Star Tribune, completing 40 years and one month of employment here.
I would like to use this forum to thank the many of you out there in this fine
city who patiently answered my questions over the years, and also gave me
critical feedback. I also want to apologize for the stories left undone.
I came to this city as a college freshman, met my wife here, raised our
children here with her, and now find that I have grown old here.
The city has changed markedly since my arrival on campus from St. Paul by way
of Roseville. The Twin Cities were so isolated from each other back then that I
can remember going to Minneapolis only three times before I started at the U in
1969. I still remember the experience of driving to Minneapolis for the first
time on I-94. Once we got here, promptly we turned around and drove back. The
Foshay and First Bank towers were still the preeminent features of the skyline.
I still believe that newspapers are important, whatever form they take. I
downloaded the last 30 years of my stories onto a flash drive last week, and
the 10 years before that are now searchable. That's a long ways from the
newsroom in which I started, with the racket of dozens of typewriters and
phones, and the thump of copy hurtling through pneumatic tubes to linotype
operators. I remember how 425 Portland would tremble slightly and the lights
flicker when those massive presses accelerated into a cinematic tidal wave
bearing the day's news.
You folks out there who want an advocacy press, I understand that urge and
there's nothing wrong with that. But I still think there's a place for a
dispassionate vetting of facts before publication. Although the internet has
brought us wonderful things, it has also atomized our discourse in a way that
seems to be undercutting our sense of a common community of interest. Whatever
the failing of newspapers in the days of the Cowles, most everyone read them
and used a common pool of information from which to develop diverse
conclusions.
I know that there's no putting that genie back in the bottle; nor should we.
But I miss the presence of civility in public debate and lament that the most
strident voices get the most attention.
This city does many things well in the realm of public services, others not as
well. It has much work left to do with income and racial equity if it is to
become a great city. I hope that we tackle that job with good will and
intelligence.
I relish the opportunity to be civically and politically active without
journalist restraints for the first time since college. I can have a lawn sign,
door-knock for a cause, give a campaign contribution, and go to a precinct
caucus for the first time in my adult life. As a former boss said after she
retired, it's a big world out there.
I'll remain on this list. Should anyone need to find me, my email starts with
sbrandt51 and ends with gmail.com. I'm in the phone book, assuming you still
have one, on Pleasant Avenue.
Godspeed, everyone.
Steve Brandt
Reporter
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
612-673-4438
<email obscured><mailto:sbrandt@startribune.com>
Follow Minneapolis news<http://twitter.com/#!/BrandtStrib> on Twitter
Follow the MPLS blog<http://www.startribune.com/blogs/MPLS.html> for extra city
news
Star Tribune, completing 40 years and one month of employment here.
I would like to use this forum to thank the many of you out there in this fine
city who patiently answered my questions over the years, and also gave me
critical feedback. I also want to apologize for the stories left undone.
I came to this city as a college freshman, met my wife here, raised our
children here with her, and now find that I have grown old here.
The city has changed markedly since my arrival on campus from St. Paul by way
of Roseville. The Twin Cities were so isolated from each other back then that I
can remember going to Minneapolis only three times before I started at the U in
1969. I still remember the experience of driving to Minneapolis for the first
time on I-94. Once we got here, promptly we turned around and drove back. The
Foshay and First Bank towers were still the preeminent features of the skyline.
I still believe that newspapers are important, whatever form they take. I
downloaded the last 30 years of my stories onto a flash drive last week, and
the 10 years before that are now searchable. That's a long ways from the
newsroom in which I started, with the racket of dozens of typewriters and
phones, and the thump of copy hurtling through pneumatic tubes to linotype
operators. I remember how 425 Portland would tremble slightly and the lights
flicker when those massive presses accelerated into a cinematic tidal wave
bearing the day's news.
You folks out there who want an advocacy press, I understand that urge and
there's nothing wrong with that. But I still think there's a place for a
dispassionate vetting of facts before publication. Although the internet has
brought us wonderful things, it has also atomized our discourse in a way that
seems to be undercutting our sense of a common community of interest. Whatever
the failing of newspapers in the days of the Cowles, most everyone read them
and used a common pool of information from which to develop diverse
conclusions.
I know that there's no putting that genie back in the bottle; nor should we.
But I miss the presence of civility in public debate and lament that the most
strident voices get the most attention.
This city does many things well in the realm of public services, others not as
well. It has much work left to do with income and racial equity if it is to
become a great city. I hope that we tackle that job with good will and
intelligence.
I relish the opportunity to be civically and politically active without
journalist restraints for the first time since college. I can have a lawn sign,
door-knock for a cause, give a campaign contribution, and go to a precinct
caucus for the first time in my adult life. As a former boss said after she
retired, it's a big world out there.
I'll remain on this list. Should anyone need to find me, my email starts with
sbrandt51 and ends with gmail.com. I'm in the phone book, assuming you still
have one, on Pleasant Avenue.
Godspeed, everyone.
Steve Brandt
Reporter
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
612-673-4438
<email obscured><mailto:sbrandt@startribune.com>
Follow Minneapolis news<http://twitter.com/#!/BrandtStrib> on Twitter
Follow the MPLS blog<http://www.startribune.com/blogs/MPLS.html> for extra city
news
