In praise of journeymen and women
The term journeyman has somehow acquired a pejorative tone in today's lexicon, as if it refers to a person who is somehow not accomplished enough to be distinguished. To me, though, it is just about the highest compliment given in any profession, for it implies a person who can be relied upon to do the best work day in and day out, regardless of the profile of that job.
I've been thinking a lot lately about journeymen - and women - at the Daily Herald. The economic pressures of the past decade on our industry have forced writers, photographers, copy editors - all of us, really - to redefine our roles, to take on new assignments. And yet, so many on our staff have stepped up in ways that are easily as inspiring as an award-winning sensational Page 1 series.
For example, the pandemic created unexpected turmoil in the world of prep sports. As March 2020 dawned, not only did the high-profile world of professional sports come to an abrupt halt, but the Daily Herald staple of prep sports suddenly offered almost nothing to cover. There was still plenty of suburban news to report, though, so staff members like Dave Oberhelman, Kevin Schmit and Orrin Schwarz adapted their sports reporting skills to cover municipal and school board meetings, business, crime and courts.
Such adaptations are hardly recent or limited to sports. My all-time favorite example may be Bill Gowen, who retired more than a decade ago after years of doubling up as sports copy editor and one of the top opera critics in Chicago. More recently, photographer Joe Lewnard has proved himself as a news writer as well as shooting pictures for our new Glenview and Northbrook publications. For years, Barbara Vitello has done double duty as a comprehensive courts reporter and an expert on the Chicago theater scene. Our tax watchdog Jake Griffin regularly produces breaking news reports, and he and transportation writer Marni Pyke are the suburbs' go-to experts on COVID-19 developments.
In just the past week, consider such journeyman efforts as these: On Friday, Susan Sarkauskas had a Page 1 story on an election controversy in Glendale Heights in addition to the "Cops & Crime" column she co-writes with deputy city editor Chuck Keeshan. The same day, Russell Lissau, who is becoming one of our premier reporters on state and national politics, wrote one story on a controversy involving a student at Maine South High School and another on plans for a veterans cemetery in South Barrington. On Wednesday, Diversity Editor Madhu Krishnamurthy shifted to cover a controversy brewing in East Dundee government.
And, in a piéce de resistance of journeymanship, Steve Zalusky started the first of a three-part series Sunday in his "Baseball Way Back" column with a rare interview with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, followed on Monday with a breaking news story on the career and tragic death Sunday of world-renowned architect Helmut Jahn, including interviews with Jahn's wife Deborah and some of the premier experts on Chicago architecture, then chimed in on Wednesday with a story on goals of the new Mount Prospect village board. Such work is remarkable, but not rare here. Space does not allow me to highlight every Daily Herald staff member who demonstrates excellence in diverse ways nearly every week. Indeed, pick any byline in the paper from the Neighbor and any specialty section to the front page and you'll find someone you can rely on for the best work day in and day out whatever the subject.
The rap against journeymanship, I suppose, is that for people to distinguish themselves in one field, they cannot have time to distinguish themselves in many. But such thinking has never much applied to journalism, and it utterly disintegrates when you consider the journeymen and women of the Daily Herald. Theirs is the spirit and capability the best journalists aspire to.
jslusher@dailyherald.com