The Original of Me
[In 1997, the following column, “The New Wave,” won the New York Press Association’s “Best Column: Humorous Subjects” award in its “Best Newspaper” contest. I was the assistant editor and sports editor for a small-circulation weekly in Sullivan County, New York, The River Reporter, which means that I acquired a lot of experience for very little pay. It was mostly worth it.
It is one of the very first columns I wrote, which is something that I hated for years after—inwardly I complained, “It was only ‘beginner’s luck,’ that I won.” (For years, I lived my life as someone who could think of an award or reward as a denial or a subtraction. And then ruefully rue my rueful rueing.) I was 27 at the time, and I think I also secretly and not-at-all-secretly assumed that more awards were coming my way. They weren’t. The date of June 1996 is a bit of a guess from me as to its publication date. It might have been earlier that year. My family found a copy of the clip recently, so I have included it here, back-dated and with some 2016 interjections, because I can not help myself.] Here is the column, fresh from 1996, when I was me in print for the first time, the original me:
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The Gad About Town 