Chapter 7: Decisions to Make

My time at UT-Austin turned out to be eventful in many ways.

I landed a job at the Austin American-Statesman. During the day, I was working at the UT newspaper, the Daily Texan. On the world scene, the Vietnam War was raging, and students were raging against it. Another campus protest erupted when plans were announced to bulldoze trees so they could expand the football stadium. Called the "Battle of Waller Creek," demonstrators resorted to climbing the trees to stymie the effort.

One of those tree-climbers worked in the American-Statesman newsroom, who proudly wore a black armband to show his support of the protest. As any J-School student knows, one of the bedrock tenets of journalism is to be Switzerland -- neutral and impartial. We weren't even allowed to espouse our political affiliation on yard signs. Needless to say, he lost his job, even if his heart was in the right place.

Another event that had earthquake-tsunami implications that year in Austin, and across the state: The beloved Longhorns won the national football championship. Led by legendary coach Darrell Royal, they first won a comeback shootout with their rival, the Arkansas Razorbacks,  in what was called, "The Game of the Century," 15-14, then went on to beat Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, 21-17. President Richard Nixon presented the trophy to the team.

Pandemonium erupted like you've never seen. The UT Tower was bathed in orange lights and one Austin radio station played the UT fight song for 24 hours straight. Even for football-crazy Texas, it seemed a little over the top.

On a personal note, as mentioned in the previous chapter, Pam and I set our wedding date for November. Managing being 200 miles apart was a struggle for both of us. Not only did I rack up large, long-distance phone bills, but also put a lot of miles on my car, going back and forth to Fort Worth every chance I got.
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On one visit, a week before the wedding, we just decided "why wait?" So we rounded up a few friends, a preacher, said our vows and eloped to Austin, where we set up housekeeping and adopted a cat we named "Zhivago."

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Copy Editing
(Phoebe, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)

After several months of my "rolling tape" job at the American-Statesman, I got to be pretty proficient. So much so, I started to have spare time when everything was caught up in the wire services room. One night, again feeling bold, I went out to the copy desk and asked if I might try my hand at writing some headlines.
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To explain, the copy desk is horseshoe-shaped. Copy editors sit around the edges, while the copy desk chief -- the boss -- sits in the middle. The copy desk chief distributes the stories that will go in the next day's paper to the copy editors, who read each story for typos, accuracy and style, then came up with a headline. I was regularly writing headlines and editing stories for the Daily Texan, so I felt confident this wasn't so different.

To his credit, the copy desk boss, who we called "Red," gave me a chance to show what I could do. Red was what you might call a grizzled newsroom veteran -- think "Lou Grant." He was nice, until he wasn't. Some nights he was downright mean. But he knew his stuff, and if you wanted to improve your skills, you listened, and learned.

After three months of rolling tape and filling in editing copy, Red offered me a regular spot on the copy desk, along with a raise. I was overjoyed, but also reflective. Suddenly, I was doing the job that I was going to school to get. Did I really need to keep slaving away in class? On the other hand, I was close to completing three years of work on a four-year degree program -- did I really want to stop now?

All questions Pam and I pondered as we eased into life in Austin, which in many ways was magical. Shopping and restaurants on Guadalupe Street, a main drag on the UT campus. Days spent at Zilker Park and Barton Springs. Admiring the yearly bluebonnets that covered the Hill Country. Not to mention the Austin music scene. Did you know Janis Joplin once attended UT?

Despite all that, we both were fighting home sickness. While we were both working, and yes, life was good, but the family and friends we left behind exerted a strong gravitional pull. I had accomplished my mission of completing my upper level journalism courses, and proved my worth in a major city newsroom. Maybe it was time to take another leap of faith.

Saying our goodbyes, we packed up and headed back to Fort Worth, where, while I didn't know it at the time, my writing career would kick into high gear.

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