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March 30, 2001/Nisan 6, 5761, Vol. 53, No.26
Evoking memories, creating dreams
FLORENCE ECKSTEIN
Publisher
When you get to a fork in the road, take it.
- Yogi Berra
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April 1, 2001, marks 20 years since I took on the job of editor and publisher of Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Looking back, I see clearly the road that led to the fateful decision I made with my husband, Paul, to acquire the biweekly community newspaper from my parents, Pearl and Cecil Newmark. They had bought it from its founder, M.B. (Bud) Goldman, Jr., who had published the first issue Jan. 15, 1948, just four months before Israel became a state.
My journey began when as a 9-year-old I made the first of many visits with my father to Bud's central Phoenix home. Bud's newspaper office, where he worked at a manual typewriter perched on a wooden desk, was in the garage. The men talked about Jewish community, Israel, politics, family - and work.
In 1961, my parents embarked on a two-decade team Jewish News venture to inform, unite and worry over the community they and their families had helped establish.
Mother was editor and bookkeeper. Father was publisher, advertising manager and janitor - selling ads, buying supplies and sweeping the floor. Nights and weekends, he pasted up stories and ads at the kitchen table, with scissors, ruler and Elmer's Glue as his tools. As the paper grew, my parents hired a full-time assistant and a few part-time writers and artists.
In 1981, I blew in, degrees in English and social work in hand - knowing a lot about grammar and punctuation, something about Jewish community, and not much about owning a business. I had an encouraging husband with an active career of his own; two growing sons; two dogs; a household - and now a deadline-driven company to run.
I'm still learning how to make it work. My mentors are the readers, advertisers, colleagues and friends who've helped us recognize and seize opportunity, keeping pace with our emerging community and embracing new technology.
We've built our staff to 24 skilled editors and reporters, salespeople, graphic artists and administrative personnel; and we've initiated change. The most important came in 1984, when we began publishing weekly, to deliver more timely information to readers.
Also in the 1980s, we bought our first computers. When one editor implored our computer installer not to take away her typewriter, he assured her that cold turkey was the way to go, that she would learn to love her new computer. She did.
We introduced a Community Directory that's now an annual tradition for longtime residents and newcomers alike. This fall we will publish our 13th information-filled edition. And in 1996 we launched www.jewishaz.com, placing our news and features within mouse-click range of thousands of Web-savvy new readers.
Over the past six months we have strengthened our coverage of local issues. Readers tell us they like what they see.
While retelling where we've been matters, what's most on my mind is where we're going. Yogi got it right: Don't just stand there. Choose. Get moving. In that spirit, we look forward to a creating a 21st-century newspaper ever more responsive to readers' high expectations and advertisers' needs. After all, they - you - are why we're here. Thanks for the memories - and the dreams.
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