I’m getting a real kick out
of my co-workers these days. I’m working with about a half dozen young women —
young being the operative word.
They’re all so freaking
competent it kills me. They can write like it’s nobody’s business, they all
take great photos to go with their stories, and they almost always laugh at my
jokes. I call them ‘the girls.’
They’re either about to go to
university, just leaving university, or all done with it and on their way. They
do yoga and eat a lot of avocados. We live on Martha’s Vineyard and none of
them know who John Belushi is but they all know they should keep using the same
plastic cup for take out iced coffee over and over and over again. If they see
a bug, they think twice before killing it. Actually they leave it for me to
kill because they couldn’t possibly… and they know I won’t hesitate.
We get along just fine the
girls and me. Oh, there’s a little trouble when I insist on running the window
air conditioner up in our second floor office —ramshackle is too nice a word
for it. They probably aren’t a fan of artificial air circulating or something.
I like to tell them they’d be just fine with the AC if they weren’t always
dressed half-naked for summer.
I admire these young women
though. They wear what they want, they say what they want (within reason,
because I can tell when they’re being polite), they have strong opinions about
their ideas, and most of all they are game for just about any hair-brained idea
I come up with.
So far, they’ll write just
about any story I deem as “Wow, that’d be great! You can paddle a kayak at 5 am
on a pond full of shellfishermen and write a story about sunrises on the
Vineyard and the shellfish industry and a bit about your biceps after having
paddled so hard and we can fit this story in four sections of the newspaper if
we want? Thanks ladies.”
It’s important to me that
they come up with any idea to write about; if they like the idea, the writing
is going to be just fine. The more they like the subject matter the less I edit
has been my experience.
And best of all, every once
in a while one of them notices our little dynamic and says, “It’s really cool
that we have this room full of women we work with.”
I’m going to be sad when
summer’s over and most of these girls say goodbye. Like the restaurant business
on Martha’s Vineyard, the newspaper business needs summer help, and we’re
really lucky to have such talented young women with us. I just wish they’d stay,
but I know they’re on to China, London, Scotland and beyond. This old lady will
stay right where she is until next summer, when I hope to see them all again.
Comments