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THANK YOU FOR THE EXCELLENT
article on the Cornell Daily Sun's 125th
anniversary ("Staying Up Late with the
Sun," November/December 2005).Having
worked at the Sun in the early 1980s, I
completely agree that it was like attending
the best J-school in the world--plus I got
a good liberal arts education. Though
some referred to the Sun in those years as
"Ithaca's Only Morning Fish Wrapper,"
they lined up in the Straight every morning
to buy it. Now it's available free, and
the offices sound better than the gritty
newsroom where many compets like me
learned to tune out distraction and write
a good headline, caption, and lede.
The Sun helped me to figure out what
I wanted to be when I grew up. It gave me
a chance to interview the late Harry
Chapin '64, write a puff piece on the Concert
Commission, and make out with the
cute guy from American lit class in the
wire room. It introduced me to a brilliant
group of students I never would have
encountered, especially not at 2 a.m. on a
weeknight.
After Cornell, as publicity director at
Polo Ralph Lauren and now as a freelance
writer, I've often summoned skills from
my Sun years--I used them recently to
rewrite an editor's headline on an essay I
wrote for the New York Observer. She emailed
back and offered me a job. I wonder
if it pays.
Nancy Aronson '82
New York, New York
THANKS FOR REKINDLING MEMORIES
for the thousands of Sun alumni who all
wish we'd beaten Elaine Povich '75 to the
quote, "It's only a small exaggeration to say
that I went to the Cornell Daily Sun as a
college career and attended Cornell University
on the side."At no cost to Cornell,
other than the grief of publicity when
some Day Hall scheme goes awry and gets into print, the Sun provides
what is
arguably the finest undergraduate training
ground for journalism and publishing in
New York State. As testament, look to the
Sun's five Pulitzer Prize winners, along
with hundreds of others who staff and
oversee the nation's newspapers, magazines,
radio stations, and TV news shows.
Similarly, the business side, which writers
and editors looked down upon as a necessary
evil, was a springboard for many successful
entrepreneurs. There's nothing like
being on your own, with no university
funding to fall back on, to provide realworld
training.
The Sun has been through lean times
and is on the rebound: its switch to free
circulation improved the advertising rate
base; a redesign made the paper more
readable and less like the tabloid-size version
of the New York Times it was in my
era; the growth of the Web as a national
news source lets the Sun focus more on
local coverage, especially entertainment,
the arts, and sports; and purchase of the
building on State Street gave the Sun a base
of operations with room for expansion.
Bill Howard '74
Westfield, New Jersey
Ed. Note: Bill Howard was executive editor
of PC Magazine and is a member of the
CAM Committee. He was co-chair of the
Sun's 125th anniversary dinner.
Another Connection
I ENJOYED YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT "The
South Hill Connection" (July/August
2005). When I was a Cornell student
[1938–42], there was a series of philharmonic
symphony concerts at Bailey Hall.
This was a subscription series with some of
the best orchestras in the country performing
for us.Many Ithaca College students
came to these concerts. Because I was
lucky enough to own a tuxedo, I was able to get a job as an usher at the
concerts. A
group of Ithaca College girls used to come
through my station, and I began dating
one of them, Roma Steinman. Roma and I
got married about a year after we both
graduated and six months before I went
overseas in the Army.We are now going
into our sixty-second year of marriage.
The connection continues: our son
graduated from Ithaca College, and we
have a granddaughter who graduated
from Cornell.We play no favorites.
Joseph Hoffman '42
Scottsdale, Arizona
Correction--November/December 2005
Some subscribers received a notice
attached to the cover that their class membership/
subscription might be expiring. It
asked them to check by calling or going to
a special Web page. Unfortunately, the
URL for that Web page was not printed
correctly. The correct URL is:
/substatus.html. |
