Award-winning columnist, photographer and news writer Ellen Leahy is editor of the City Eagle in Syracuse, NY. She is the former editor of the Skaneateles Press and the Marcellus Observer, also in Central New York and is a freelance photographer and adjunct professor in food service at Onondaga Community College.
Our newsroom here at the Eagle is similar to the catacombs of Ancient Rome – only with vending machines. There are open cubicles separating the various town’s editors. Then there is a random guy named Joe and the city editor, which is me. Joe and I are housed in what is more like a cubicle-slash-cave. It’s a special secluded place for two. The room is lit by fluorescence and we walk on ink stained carpet. The various employees shout out conversation or questions over the fabric covered walls.
In the epicenter sits our sports guy, Phil. He has a giant brain. He knows from an encyclopedic perspective all things sports, music and politics complete with names, dates, statistics, lyrics and speeches...
As reporters all over the nation are scurrying about for the scoop on what the public is doing in regard to gas prices, I kick back and rely on my own edgy style. “Edgy,” that’s me. Simply put, I go to the edge of life by asking mom and dad their take on the topic at hand? Married for 60 years and heading towards their 90s, they know a little something about gas, modes of transportation too. Do they have a thought, an idea, or a possible solution to America’s current high priced gas woes? Of course they do!
In the afternoon, father normally takes mother for a drive. She doesn’t really care where they go, often making up destinations just so he will take her out...
