This has been a tough year at the Post-Dispatch.
In February, the Post announced it would outsource newspaper design to Lee’s design center in Indiana in May.
Somehow I didn’t lose my job — and I felt guilty about that. But most of the night crew did. Friends and colleagues I have loved and learned from since I first came to the P-D as an intern in 2001.
We lost the smartest, wittiest, best people I know.
In the months after that terrible layoff, other key talented journalists retired or left the paper. And then we learned the Post-Dispatch building had been sold and we would be moving a couple blocks away to a smaller place.
I spent Labor Day weekend working and packing my desk for the Post-Dispatch’s move to a new building. Sept. 4 was supposed to be the P-D’s final day at 900 North Tucker Boulevard before the big move. Throughout the day, I was wistful, watching as colleagues posted photos or live-streamed on social media. I was sad that it was happening during my “weekend” (I am off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) and that I wasn’t there to be part of it.
… and then came the text message that evening: The move had been postponed.
Classic.
It was only a few days delay, but it meant that I got to be on the night crew on the final night at the old building. It was bittersweet.
The very next morning I had a day shift, so I also got to be among the first folks working in the new building. I have to say, it is clean, bright, and seems nice. We got new desks, new break rooms, etc. But there’s a surprising list of things that don’t work, such as the elevator.
Anyway, we’re here, and before long it will feel like home. But I’ll never forget my 18 years (on and off) at the old place.
