Early Days

After two years of high school journalism, I was hungry for more. I also wanted to move away from sports and start covering regular news.

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Chicago had a respectable chain of neighborhood weeklies called Lerner Newspapers. I called Lerner's offices and became a freelance stringer. I covered whatever they threw at me, and got paid per story. I also enrolled at Northeastern Illinois University, where I wrote for the campus newspaper. Known simply as The Print, the paper published only about once a month.

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Eager for more intensive training, I transferred the following year to Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. I declared myself a journalism major, and I joined the campus newspaper. The Northern Star offered real-world experience covering both campus and local DeKalb news. I worked alongside other students in all aspects of newspaper production. Best of all, The Northern Star published every day. It was the perfect laboratory for learning the business.

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I quickly realized that The Northern Star offered better training than I could find in any classroom. So I spent more and more time at the paper -- and less time in class. I covered the college administration, wrote editorials, served as campus editor, and then covered DeKalb City Hall. I even had my own column for a year or two.

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After winning top honors as the Northern Star's best reporter, I decided to leave college in 1984 and enter the job market. I was confident about being ready to start my career. But I was also aware that dropping out of college was risky.

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It would not take long to find out whether the gamble was going to pay off. 

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