Naptown 13 - July Fireworks - Prologue. Prologue

July Fireworks

A Naptown Tale by Altimexis and David of Hope

Prologue

It didn’t take me long after I graduated from college and entered the world of journalism that I realized a story about life could come from any source and at any time. It may come from just an overheard fragment of conversation or a few key words you absent-mindedly hear on the radio and zone into while you concentrate on your drive to work.

That’s the job of the reporter. Always be curious and be a good listener. Curiosity always brings out the right questions to ask so that a story becomes full and meaningful to the reader. As opposed to being confrontational, my technique is to show interest and concern toward the person being interviewed. I’d always been lucky with that approach; a person that likes your approach wants to volunteer more information than required by a yes or no answer.

Such was the case with one of my assignments at the Star, the newspaper I’d worked at for more years than I care to admit. The assignment came out of the “Metro, State and Business” daily briefing, a meeting at which the “team leaders” for various departments that made up the core of the main “newsroom” at the paper stories that would be run in today’s issue and future assignments that we were working on.

When a lot of people think about the goings on in a major city newspaper, they think of the popular 1980’s TV drama series, Lou Grant, but a real big city newspaper is a much more complex operation than that, with so many more components. There is no “City Desk” at the Star. In addition to our “Metro, State and Business” newsroom, there are newsrooms for sports, for features, and there is a whole newsroom devoted just to the editorial pages. Most people have no idea just how much effort is devoted to a measly few pages of newsprint! On top of that, there are newsrooms for administration, for digital operations, for visuals, and there is a “newsroom” dedicated to all of the community editions of The Star.

“Metro-Biz”, as we call ourselves, is truly the heart of the paper. There are no doubt a lot of people, mostly men, who live and die by the Sports Section, and many others, mostly women, who can’t get by without their weekly fix of the Lifestyle Section, but a newspaper isn’t a newspaper without news - especially local news. Because of our location in the state capitol, we also cover just about anything and everything going on in the state government, particularly when there’s a scandal.

Our biggest role, however, is in deciding what goes on the front page. It’s the front page that sells newspapers. Since “Section A” contains local, state, national and world news, we have to work closely with reporters from all of the divisions of the newspaper. Indeed, on more days than not, we find ourselves including a human interest story on page one, further blurring the boundaries of what constitutes news.

This often leads to intense battles over turf in which the Metro-Biz reporters have to fight for the right to cover their assigned stories . . . stories that reporters from other newsrooms or from divisions within our own newsroom feel are theirs to cover, and sometimes rightfully so.

Many old-timers sometimes yearn for the simpler days when the paper was locally owned, but even I have to admit that the paper we deliver today is a much better product. It might be more generic and a lot flashier and more colorful, but thankfully we still have been allowed to keep much of the same original look and feel that made The Star uniquely ours in the first place. Because so much of the paper’s content comes prepackaged from “National”, it also allows us to focus our efforts on local stories.

But getting back to our daily briefing, my name’s Harold Warren, and I’ve been with the Star since I got my degree in Journalism a couple of decades ago. Landing a job with the Star right out of college was sweet, but I started at the bottom and had to work my way up, just like everyone else.

About a year ago, I became the Associate Team Leader for Education, Courts and Religion, one of the four teams that make up Metro-Biz. Jerry Cohen, my boss, is the team leader, and has been a personal friend practically since I joined the paper all those years ago. We both got promoted to our current positions when Sam Weisenstein retired as senior editor of Metro-Biz, resulting in a series promotions across the newsroom.

I hated to see Jerry promoted to team leader, as it meant he was now largely tied down to a desk and rarely went out in the field any more, but if it was between the two of us, I was glad it was him that got the job. There was no doubt that he was the better manager, and I was definitely the better person to ferret out a good story - even he would admit it.

In any case, it was at our June 17th meeting, after we’d all put the issues of day’s publication to rest, that Steve Templeton started asking about our other assignments. Steve was the new senior editor of Metro-Biz. He was a no-nonsense type of guy who demanded the best from all of us. Steve primarily spoke to each team leader, first, expecting the team leaders to assign responsibilities to the members of their team.

It was thus Jerry who asked me, “Harold, how’s that piece on the plans for the Fourth coming?”

“I’ll have it wrapped up by the end of the day,” I answered.

“Good,” he continued, “because there’s another subject I’d like you to get ready, too. It’s kind of a sixth month anniversary thing as a follow-up to that gay teen interview you did last December.”

“Yeah, that article did boost our readership,” Steve said thoughtfully, “in fact, that happens every time we run a gay story.”

“Let’s face it, sex sells,” Jane Weatherby, the team leader for Night Police and General Assignment threw in.

“Definitely,” chimed in Ralph Lowe, the assistant team leader for Business, with a chuckle. He continued, “Sex sells, gay sex sells, teen sex sells, and gay teen sex sells more than anything. That was a real winner all right.”

“Must we stoop so low?” Karen Winters said in exasperation. “It’s bad enough the courts ruled our gay marriage ban unconstitutional, but now we have to rub salt into the wound by covering the worst elements of our society?”

You could almost hear the silent groans around the room. Karen was a real fundamentalist, and a bit of a throwback to the days when the paper was run by the most conservative family in the state.

“It wasn’t ruled unconstitutional, it was ruled constitutionally inconsistent . . . there is a difference,” Allen Goldstein, the team leader of State Government and Social Services corrected her, “and besides, how can you refer to a group of kids as the worst elements of our society? No matter how perverse you may think they are, they’re still children, for God’s sake.”

“Children who’ve chosen the path of the devil,” Karen replied.

“Karen, Allen, don’t either of you go there,” Steve Templeton exclaimed, effectively putting an end to any argument on the moral aspects of homosexuality.

Steve continued, “When they were having that student election for sophomore president Harold, you wrote that interview with David Reynolds and his boyfriend, Jeremy Kimball, it was a nice human interest thing that we tucked away on page four. But then it was you Jane, that covered the protests that took place as a result of that story. That turned into quite a circus.”

“Yeah boss it did,” Jane smiled. “I got the story and I taped David Reynold’s speech. Harold, if we decide to do a follow-up story, you may want to listen to it before you interview him again. It gives a pretty good insight into his maturity and it may give you something to go on when you’re asking him some of those anniversary questions.”

“I know a question I’d liked answered,” Herb Douglass, our liaison from the “sports newsroom”, jumped in. “Harold, I know both David and his boyfriend Jeremy are good athletes, and I’ve interviewed them about their wins and losses on the soccer field, at swim meets and cross country, but I never got into a personal level with them. I’d like to know what their feelings and thoughts are towards young boys. I often think about the safety of my two little girls and the dangers that our youngsters face from sexual predators?”

“There’s a good point,” Jerry said, “It’s not necessarily a gay issue, but I think the whole tone of the thing could be great.”

“Does this have something to do with your son being gay?” I asked him, completely in a joking manner. The staff were all giggling, but knew that Jerry Cohen and I went way back. We both were wearing quite a few more pounds than we wore when we were younger, and we had quite a few gray hairs on our heads, but we still joked around like a couple of teenagers most of the time.

“For the twentieth time, my son is not gay,” he replied. “Not that it would matter to me if he were, but Lance is very much attracted to girls. In fact, we’ve had to discipline him more than once for going over his cell phone allowance. It’s just that David Reynolds, who happens to be one of his best friends, is gay.”

“Speaking of which, David placed second in cross-country for the central region.” Herb interjected. “Next year, I bet he places at the state level. He’s tall . . . very tall for a fifteen-year-old. Too bad he doesn’t play basketball.”

“Yeah, and as I remember that kid,” I replied, “He has a thousand watt smile and can think on his feet better than most professional politicians. He’s good looking, too. Handsome . . . doesn’t look gay at all. That kid’s going places. It’s no wonder he won class president . . . and that the Evangelists wanted to bring him down.”

“Good thing our kids are smarter than that,” Jane commented.

“Definitely,” I agreed.

“His boyfriend’s good looking, too,” Jerry added.

“Oh yeah,” I remembered. “Jeremy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Jeremy Kimball.” Herb confirmed. “Placed first in the state swimming championship overall, and in his freshman year, no less. Quite an athlete . . . and just as smart. Seeing the two boys together is quite a show. I mean, sometimes you see a teenage couple and you just know they’re going to be together forever. It’s a rarity, but it happens. With these two, it’s just so obvious. They complete each others’ sentences. They anticipate each others’ thoughts. It’s kinda cute. Of course as young as they are, anything could still happen. . . .”

“Yes, I agree with you,” I said. “Some couples are just meant to be together. It’s a rarity and it sounds like such a cliché, but those two seem to be really made for each other. I’m really looking forward to interviewing them again.”

“Another thought I’d like to see brought out,” Jerry said. “They belong to their school’s Gay-Straight Alliance. I know Lance belongs to it and he rarely says anything about its members, so I’ve never gone into with him. What I’d like to see brought out in the article is something about the maturity of the straight youngsters that belong to the group. Usually a straight kid would shun, scorn, or humiliate or at best just ignore any kid that’s gay at every turn of the coin. However, these straight youngsters are showing a lot of tolerance, understanding, but even more . . . acceptance and consideration for their gay peers. I think we should find out why and what maybe their thoughts are about that. . . .

“I know with Lance, we’ve inherently taught him the value of non-discrimination, but that’s not true of all of them. Lance aside, it brings to mind that young lad, Barry Smith whose father hated gays. Last Halloween was certainly evidence of that. Yet, he also attends many of the gay-straight celebrations.”

“That was a great story,” Herb exclaimed. “He took quite a risk, confronting his father and disarming him all by himself. It’s amazing as you say Boss, those two boys Jamie Wilson and Will Smith, great football players, and then there’s Barry, straight, yet a hero who stood up for his gay brother and his brother’s boyfriend at great risk to himself. I didn’t have such tolerance when I was growing up in high school. With all that conflict in his life, I’d be interested in his take on the gay-straight support he’s received and given. As you said boss, why?”

“That brings to mind,” Jerry said, “Lance mentioned that Barry dated another girl a few times . . . uh . . . Carrie and now she’s going out with the basketball player . . . uh . . .”

“Yeah, Lyle Herndon,” Herb confirmed. “He’s going for varsity, that kid. He’s great on the court. Man, I’ve seen that kid play. He has, like, 100% accuracy from three-point range. He’s another Larry Byrd in the making. There’s another indication of that maturity and acceptance you’re talkin’ about.”

“Right! Apparently her connection to the GSA is her brother who’s gay. Another couple that Lance mentioned . . . gay,” Jerry continued, “a Jewish American boy and a Pakistani boy, now that’s an strange combination . . . a Jew and a Muslim. That should make interesting reading if they’re still together.”

All this rhetoric back and forth was giving me some good ideas. Then I did some recall of my own. I was copying down names and events in point form so I wouldn’t forget someone.

“Remember that story we did about Kurt DeWitt, the pastor’s son. We got the exclusive on that. That was what brought out that whole thing at New Years after Pastor DeWitt outed that boy Trevor Austin. That was an outstanding piece of luck to get a phone call from Kurt after I did that group interview.”

“OK, who else was at that New Year’s interview?” Jerry asked.

“I’d definitely like to interview Debbie and Cathy,” I replied. “They’re a couple of entering seniors, a lesbian couple, who are very much in the closet, even to their parents. At least they were at the time of the last interview. Getting a signed release without tipping our hand last time was incredibly difficult, but we managed it . . . at least I think we did. There was also Brian, a very shy and introverted, closeted boy who was seriously thinking about suicide. The article was his way of opening up and letting his feelings out. I only hope it worked in the end.

“I’m going to start with Paul Levine, the president of the GSA to find out how the membership of the GSA has changed since New Years. It might make an interesting stat to include, assuming he hasn’t left town since he graduated.”

“Harry, take as much time as you need and do it right. You can even have a week if you need it,” Jerry said with a chuckle. “Seriously, I’d like to get this into the paper in time for the July 4 edition. Technically, July 1 would be the 6-month anniversary, but I think we should make it a 6-month holiday anniversary article. This way, it’ll get a much wider audience.”

“That it will, beyond a doubt,” I agreed. “Do you think I should expand it to include other school districts?” I added as an afterthought. I’ve heard that Broad Ripple High School’s Arts and Humanities Magnet Program attracts quite a few of the city school’s gay students.”

“Harold, I think you have more than enough on your plate with what you have already,” Steve answered. “I like the idea of the Broad Ripple interview, though, but that’s another story for another time.”

With that, the meeting broke up and I returned to my desk. I began jotting down the questions I wanted answered and thinking of how I wanted to do the interviews - individually and a wrap up as a group. I’d have to be careful that I didn’t give any secrets away for those that wanted to stay in the closet - but maybe their thoughts could contribute to the background of the story.

Jane dropped off the tape of her interview with David Reynolds and I listened to it with interest. Although I’d seen it on television some months ago, I sat there absorbing the personality and zeal of his unique personality. I had a feeling his thoughts would be key to the theme of the article.

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