| Senior
Focus 2 Years Young: A Retrospective |
| Welcome to Senior Focus' birthday party! Of course, in this
high-tech age, it's only a virtual event. Sorry, no cake or
party hats. But don't pout. |
| Although we can't have the customary party hijinks a rambunctious
2-year-old would normally expect, we can have some fun in
reminiscing at how Senior Focus came about and take a peek
into its future. |
| It was back in the last spring of the 20th century that
the Reston Community Center's Senior Academy offered a three-session
workshop for aspiring journalists. |
| The idea was to give frustrated old geezers without experience
or formal training a chance to explore the lofty aspects of
newspapering. There were to be no exams or grades and tuition
was only five bucks. The sole requirement was to write an
article for publication in a phantom newspaper. |
| Our editors were representatives from Reston's three major
newspapers who volunteered to critique our make-believe headliners.
|
| So we hapless journalistic wannabees, whose only experience
was delivering the newspapers in those bygone days of real
paper boys or having moved on in our graying years to reading
the morning paper over a cup of coffee, wrote, rewrote and
shot the bull to graduate as instant "journalists." |
| Fortunately, the sessions with our mentors gave us an opportunity
to get to know their philosophies. What impressed me about
Chris Moore, managing editor of The Observer, was his vision
to provide a continuing dialogue with senior citizens. |
| And, of course, I admired his obvious good sense to invite
me to join the Observer staff. |
| We agreed that Senior Focus would be an informative voice
for seniors and that it had to be interesting and readable
so that our readers wouldn't doze off beyond the first paragraph.
|
| The column was to come out monthly, more or less. Hey, I'm
retired, so we had to be flexible. My title, senior correspondent,
was arrived at as sort of a joke and Chris' faith in age being
a substitute for experience. |
| My first visit to The Observer was educational. Unlike the
movies which portrayed the stereotype editor to be Edgar G.
Robinson, or a fast-talking James Cagney in a haze of smoke
from a cigarette hanging out the side of his mouth and a bottle
of whiskey next to the typewriter, the modern-day editor or
reporter wears jeans and sits in an antiseptic-like, non-smoking
room glued to a computer and relies on nothing stronger than
Evian for inspiration. |
| Chris even forsakes the hard stuff, like coffee. |
| But, despite their failure to appreciate the finer, if deadly,
things of life, you really have to admire the dedication of
these hard-working professionals who put out three editions
of The Observer each and every 52 weeks of the year. |
| Another difference: Modern-day reporters seem to be youngsters
about the age of Senior Focus readers' children or grandchildren,
and look like they should be writing for a high school newspaper.
|
| Their youthfulness is refreshing but makes one feel ancient.
It's sort of like worrying whether our doctors are really
old enough to have graduated from medical school. |
| In looking to the future, Senior Focus has entered the computer
age. Veep Dick Cheney would be proud of The Observer going
big-time, but I must confess, I haven't mastered such advanced
gadgetry. |
| I rely on a 10-year-old word processor which is similar
to an electric typewriter with a memory. |
| At times, it suffers from a "senior moment," so I leave
it to publisher Tom Grein, Chris and their elves to do the
fancy computer mumbo jumbo. |
| Apparently, they know what they're doing, because you can
now keep current with Senior Focus while you're off to distant
vacation lands. Chris tells me the magic password is "www.observernews.com";
then click onto "Senior Focus" and presto! You'll be greeted
by yours truly. |
| But, for now, the party's over. So, let's blow out the virtual
candles and make a wish for the future. |
| Nobody knows what that may bring, but I'd like to share
with you the sign-off Garrison Keillor uses on his morning
PBS radio program, The Writers' Almanac: |
| "Be well, do good work and keep in touch." |
