Well, it was bound to happen. The Birmingham Post-Herald has printed its last edition. Those of you not from Alabama may not know what this is. I spent almost two years in that office downtown, first as a copy editor, than as a page designer, and finally as a reporter. Although I was usually underpaid and my night-time schedule was a major hassle (especially for dating), it was a pretty cool place to work. It was satisfying nailing a solid front page layout on deadline. It was a gas seeing my name in print. I loved walking up to people and introducing myself as a reporter and hearing their stories. I was on friendly terms with the mayor and, for at least one interview, with then-Alabama governor Don Siegelman. But the whole time I was working at the Post-Herald we knew that our competing newspaper, the Birmingham News, was taking all of our readers. We were the afternoon paper, and our news was old hat by the time we hit the racks.I was also there on September 11. Adam Wilson and I were watching the debacle at his house on tv, and shortly after the second tower fell we got a call from the editor saying we needed to come in to work. The next 24 hours were crazy. I still have the edition that we printed that morning. In fact, I thought our coverage of the event was just as good as any other newspaper in the country, and certainly better than that of our competitor across the hall, the News. And that’s what makes the whole thing sad—we were frequently the better newspaper. But few read us, for a host of reasons. Namely, we were the afternoon rag, the red-headed stepchild with yesterday’s news. But that’s exactly why we were good—because we gave the whole story behind the headlines, because we took the time to talk to people and report what effect the headlines were having on the people in our community.
And so a good thing comes to an end. I’m glad I left the paper when I did, but I’m also glad I was there and learned all I did. I also hope Adam, who was still working at the Post-Herald when it closed its doors (he’s the one in the center of the picture with the grey shirt), finds a new job soon. Doesn’t the Appalachian Trail Conference have a newsletter?
