Tuesday, April 13. Tea Party. Almost An Employer. Mary Ann told me this morning that she wants to go to one of those ridiculous Tea Party events in Washington, DC to advance the cause of bringing down the Democrats. Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out how in the world I will pay the taxes I owe, further alarmed by the knowledge that the tax cutting of the Bush years makes even this load a fool's paradise. As difficult as it will be to pay, I believe my tax bill is more than fair, given the kind of place we live. I think if MA and I got into this one, I could get her to say that all taxes are evil. Oh, we can get into the arguments.
On the front page of this morning's paper was an obituary for Walter Cowan, the editor of the States-Item in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most pleasant and nicely memorable of all the people who turned me down when I was looking for a job in late 1976. The new owners of New Orleans Magazine--which I had edited for the three previous years--decided to clean house. I was twenty-five, and I was having a tough time finding a job even one or two steps below that level.
I heard about an opening at the States-Item. It was about three or four rungs down from my old job, but I knew I could make something out of it soon enough. Walter Cowan gave me a lot of time to make my case. At the end of it, he apologized that he probably could not bring me in, because in general the paper didn't hire journalists from other local publications. He also said I'd have to give up my radio activities, which at the time consisted of two daily vignettes on WGSO. When I said I had to think about that, we both knew I wouldn't be working at the paper. My last words to him were, "You know, this is a very satisfying way to make a living."
A knowing smile slowly spread over his face. "Yes, it is," he said. I believe he thought that was the most intelligent thing I said in our meeting. I wish I'd said it earlier.
That was my last initiative to land a job working for someone else. What I should have done, for the sake of my career, was to leave town. Instead, a week or so after that, I put out the first issue of the New Orleans Menu. And here I am.
