Happy Birthday Inquirer

Because today is a special day for the Philadelphia Inquirer -- our 180th birthday -- I thought I'd take a moment to talk about my job in this jobbing blog.

As a reporter and a subscriber,  I'd like to add my own congratulations on our 180th anniversary. On June 21, I will have worked here 27 years. I'll never forget how thrilled I was be hired at the Inquirer in 1982. On my first day, I proudly walked in the back door. The front door on Broad Street is for visitors, but I belonged here. (I promptly got lost and ended up aghast opening the door to the men's room used by our press crew, but that's another story.) In my time here, we've had two owners and six editors-in-chief. That's all well and good and each has contributed, but I consider this newspaper my Inquirer and this is my building. Our newsroom is a fabulous place, a huge soaring industrial room that stretches, more or less, from Broad Street to 15th Street. Hundreds of talented, intelligent and hard-working writers, photographers, artists, clerks and editors work in this room. They are my colleagues and I am proud to be among their number. When I first started working here, there were more resources -- obviously we weren't in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy is worrisome, but we are producing excellent work every day, regardless. It's one thing to produce great work when there are a lot of resources, but you are seeing our resilence and spirit in your newspaper and online. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we are proud to serve our readers, both in the newspaper and online. With a few exceptions, I have experienced our readers as intelligent, generous, supportive and compassionate. Congratulations and thanks to the Inquirer, my colleagues, and our readers. I'm proud of all of us!