You know, I’ve been fortunate enough to be a member of the Texas Press Association for a long time now. A really looooong time.
And I think I have earned the distinction of being the longest serving TPA board member in the history of the TPA.
In all this time I have observed a few things I’d like to share with those of you who are just beginning your trek through the TPA jungle.

Have you ever had one of those days, weeks, months?
You know … you take one step forward and get kicked back two. No matter how you try to please people, they can’t find anything but the negative to harp about.
Just when we make major progress on our postal problems, Florida legislators pull a U-turn and jeopardize how and where public notices can be posted. And I have no doubt some of our friends in Austin are licking their chops and making calls to Florida as we speak.

I sure hope the March primaries were better for you than they were for me. No, I’m not talking about the poor field of candidates and the lack of real statesmen out there. I’m still looking for that man or woman who cares more about me and other Texans in this state than in their own self-serving needs. I mean when you have a very high-ranking elected state official saying we need to sacrifice our elderly during COVID so we can all go to Walmart to boost the economy, there’s something seriously wrong with the state leaders of the 21st Century.

As most of you know, we lost my beloved wife Suzanne on Jan. 7. She was killed in a car wreck.
Suzanne was a very passionate person. She loved teaching, and it showed as hundreds of former students — many of them newspaper and yearbook students — returned that love by turning out for her funeral either in person or online through the livestream and thousands of tribute posts on Facebook.
It was truly amazing. Never have I seen such an outpouring of affection for a former teacher or a regular person. But then I remembered: Suzanne was never just a regular person.

Whew … what a year 2021 was.
The good thing is if you’re reading this, then you survived and are still in business. Congratulations!
The night before I got elected TPA president last January through a Zoom call – which was a first for TPA and kind of weird in itself – I dreamed about Capt. Edward Smith on the bridge of the Titanic. And I sure was hoping we weren’t going to be steering TPA on the same course and that I wasn’t destined to go down with the USS TPA.

As we exit the Thanksgiving holidays and approach the Christmas and New Year seasonal festivities I would like to share some thoughts with my fellow members of the Pica Pole.
1. I have not been a big fan of holidays ever since I ran Westward’s East Texas printing plant for 20 years and had to deal with holiday schedules. Sure — I love all the presents and food with my family. I’m not THAT much of a Grinch.

Happy September - or is it still August? I don’t really know if I’m coming or going these days. No doubt I am not in this leaky boat by myself. Am I right? Suzanne and I are headed to the NNA convention in Jacksonville, Fl., at the end of September and then slipping over to Orlando for the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World for some much-needed R&R.

It’s almost time to work up our 2021 Fall Sports posters (we include football, band, volleyball, fall tennis, cross country, cheerleaders, twirlers, flag lines and drill teams) for two of our area schools. Suzanne works very hard every year to top the previous year’s revenue and I expect she will do the same this year.
And no – you can’t borrow her to sell yours.

I would like to thank everyone who attended last month’s Texas Press Association’s 141st convention held in Denton. We all had a great time, learned a lot of new things about making money for our newspapers, and got to visit with dear old friends while making many new friends.

If the mail service has improved, you should be reading this column before heading out to the 141st Texas Press Association Convention in Denton June 10-12.

You are coming, aren’t you?

After all you’ve been through this past year you really deserve a convention and some newspaper fellowship! And I promise this won’t be one of those Chicken Little conventions where all we talk about is how the “sky is falling.”