Seventy-six trombones may have “led the big parade” but there were equally as many squeals of delight at Cook Street Coffee on March 13, as more than 76 combined years of writing for this newspaper converged! Lake Barrington Shores columnist Cathy Trawinski, North Barrington columnist Barbara Benson, and yours truly met for a fun pow-wow and an opportunity to share our collective experiences as the longest running columnists with the Barrington Courier-Review.
We were all hired in an age of manually handed or faxed-in columns at the Pioneer Press facility on James Street. Emailing was not yet a trusted vehicle for deadlines. We were also all hired in person, with one caveat: write about anything, but keep it positive, and no politics.
Our chat at Cook Street was a fun afternoon, and midway through our “meeting of the minds,” I came up with the idea of actually writing about our writing. Shades of an artist’s self-portrait…only a three-headed reflection:
Barbara Benson, the quintessential historian of Barrington, and also a passionate dog show participant, “first started writing for the Barrington Courier Review in 1980, the Museum Memos column for the Barrington Area Historical Society. I chronicled some historical events, but a lot was the activities of our museum community, especially the volunteers.
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The Courier was locally owned then, by the Bash and Rockwood families, and had offices in the old building on James Street, where the Chamber of Commerce is now. Copy was typewritten, and faxed or handed in at the desk, for our copy editor Rita Ehrenburg to key in. I wrote that column for about 11 years. It was all very local and personal.
In 1997, I took the opportunity of an opening for the Barrington North column, and since I had also written many feature articles for the Courier, my credentials were acceptable! Again, Rita was wonderful: Misspelling of a name, wrong date, anything that wasn’t quite accurate, she would catch. She seemed to know everything about Barrington that enabled her to keep us on the straight and narrow. And the overseer of columns was Teddi Martin. She had very clear guidelines for us, for instance, only write about a great vacation after the family has returned home, no politics, and give a pat on the back for what people are doing and achieving.”
Cathy Trawinski has been writing her Lake Barrington Shores column for 23 years!
“Some changes in the newspaper business I’ve seen over the years…I went from typing and hand delivering copy to the Pioneer Press office on James Street to emailing to a third party or my editor. The most recent editors have all been responsible for at least five weekly papers — a far cry from one editor, one paper. In these 23 years, I have worked for about a dozen. The James Street office housed section editors, the photography department and more. Lately, everything has gone through the Sun-Times or Tribune main offices in Chicago. When I first started, the feature editor that interviewed and hired me gave me a list of suggested topics — just about anything relating to our residents except politics. Payment has gone from paychecks to direct deposit, making it harder to cash my checks and go shopping!”
Cathy started out working in public relations “and when I first started volunteering at the Barrington Area Library, I wrote for their newsletter, ‘Check It Out.'” She holds a journalism degree from Marquette University and her “greatest wish for the paper is that it is a local source for Barrington residents.”
My thoughts as your Barrington East columnist for over 17 years echoes much of the above. Pre-kids, I had worked as a writer-producer in television after earning my master’s in radio, television and film from Northwestern. Besides singing every week, writing every two weeks has also been a good discipline, and a great way to keep the creative “juices flowing,” with babies and toddlers in tow!
Meeting deadlines was often challenging in the early years, but I somehow found a way – even faxing in columns from airport “business centers” and hand-writing a column in Hawaii! Rita Ehrenburg was a wonderful copy editor who knew how to spell everyone’s name, never complained and was always a pro.
Yes, things have definitely changed, which is our only constant in life. Now, I am thrilled to be writing for The Courier through our “parent” newspaper, the baiduhai. On behalf of Barbara, Cathy, and myself, thank you for your loyal readership, and keep the good news coming!