[donation]
By Joel Thurtell
Hey. folks! In case, you’ve been wondering what it’s for, that “donation” button above my by-line actually works.
Yep, there are people out there in the blogosphere who have actually used that button to contribute money to the operation of joelontheroad.
One donor referred to my recent column about job shifts among Detroit Free Press management. He wrote:
Joel,
I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say how much I enjoy your blog. After 21 years in the newspaper business, I just got fed up and left (resigned on the spot). I still freelance, but I work out of home and I don’t have to deal with the insanity of clueless upper management.
Your description of Ron Dzwonkowski as an editor struck a chord as I have worked for some editors I would gladly go through a wall for and rave about the taste of drywall. They encouraged, challenged and made me a better overall journalist. Ron sounds like one of those editors.
Sadly, those folks have been replaced by corporate sycophants who would gladly throw a reporter under a DOT bus at the first whiff of controversy.
All the best,
Larry O’Connor
Larry was a reporter with the Observer & Eccentric papers and later worked for the Jackson Citizen-Patriot.
Thank you very much, Larry.
And to others who have contributed either money, time or advice, I also say thanks. The help, be it financial, or simply a positive comment, email or phone call, is a great reassurance to me that my work is filling a need.
It’s especially gratifying to receive monetary contributions, because it makes me feel like I have actual, paying subscribers.
I can’t possibly exaggerate the impact — It propels me to think more, write more and consider new ways to make this site interesting and useful.
The fact is, folks, there isn’t enough time in teh day for me to write every story I think of. But I try.
There are nights, or rather mornings, when I find myself writing well past my bed time. Since I always get up at six in the morning to make coffee foe me and my wife, read the Free Press and Times and work on my books, the wee hours bedtimes sometimes force an afternoon snooze. Just before I doze off, I often think of a new story angle.
Couldn’t write and doze and write at the Free Press!
Two of the people who have helped me most are my sons, Adam and Abe. Adam shepherded me into a new version of WordPress back in July and helped me to start a new site, www.shoestringreporter.com. The Shoestring site will help sell my Journalism anti-textbook when it’s ready to print. My son Abe ushered me into the Web world in 1996 when he created my ham radio equipment sales site. He or Adam coach me on every new step I take into the Internet.
As I say, that “donation” button sure works. It’s been tested. Don’t be shy.
Think of it like public radio — you like what you hear, you want it to keep coming, so you pay to make sure it stays with you.
Well, joelontheroad is like that. It’s pretty much a volunteer effort by me right now. But the more help I get of any kind, the better this site will be.
Drop me a line — or a nickel — at joelthurtell(at)gmail.com
