Quite an evocative photo from the archives of J.C. Burns, longtime friend of NN.C, as well as NN and everyone else in the co-prosperity sphere. You know, it occurs to me that some of you may doubt the stories I tell here: Oh yeah, she says she was a columnist. But was she really? Well, suckahs, here’s the proof. My own rack card. Note the awkward language: “Tuesdays, Thursdays, Friday and Saturdays.” (Only one Friday, evidently.) And that was an improvement; on my first rack card, they actually misspelled my name. But I wrote four days a week. Take that, Maureen Dowd.
It was so, so long ago: August 6, 1990, from J.C.’s Quicken records and the metadata, aka the headlines you can see in the window (“Bush disputes Iraqi pullout in Kuwait” and “Marines rescue Americans from Liberian capital”). And check out the rack card on the Journal’s box: “The fastest-growing daily newspaper in Indiana!” (Nowadays it would say, “Dying at a somewhat slower rate than the others.”)
Who was this person? I barely know her anymore. No wedding ring, liked neutral colors. Lived in a rented house on Buell Drive. Beyond that, hard to say.
Danny said on February 22, 2006 at 11:25 am
Well, suckahs, here’s the proof.
Unlikely. Photoshop, Cuban mingrants, a grassy knoll. I sense a vast modertate-to-left-of-center wing conspiracy.
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Carmella said on February 22, 2006 at 11:39 am
Not a conspiracy…I remember it well. It was the 2nd thing I read, right after Calvin & Hobbs. Saturdays column was a ‘this n’that’ type thing. Loved it!! Miss it!
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Andrew Jarosh said on February 22, 2006 at 12:28 pm
Notice the empty Sentinel box; those days, the paper was selling like hotcakes. Hotcakes, I say! Couldn’t find one in the rack.
Andrew
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firsttimecaller said on February 22, 2006 at 1:23 pm
What a jaunty pic! You don’t look like a 1990s chick in it, somehow. That stance, that outfit, somehow evokes a Life Magazine publicity still of an intrepid Gal Reporter off to give an account of one of those newfangled flying machines. Nellie Bly, eat Nance’s dust!
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Joe Kobiela said on February 22, 2006 at 4:29 pm
I remember a picture they had of you next to the old Greyhound bus depot. Guess that sticks in my mind because we had a rugby party in that old place right before they tore it down, If I remember it was and old art deco streamliner building. Pity they could’nt save it.
Joe
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jcburns said on February 22, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Speaking of locales…where are you exactly here, and what’s in those white boxes? (Yeah, I took the picture, but it’s been 15 years..)
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nancy said on February 22, 2006 at 5:04 pm
I’ve been thinking about that, too. I think it might be outside Cindy’s Diner, which might but doesn’t really explain the stacked boxes in the window. (They have a donut machine, but I don’t think they sell that many.) Also, I think their boxes are on the other side of the building.
It could also be Powers Hamburgers, too. Does the print smell like onions? That would explain it.
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John Good said on February 22, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Let’s not forget the provocative picture of you that ran over the top of, hmmm. . was it the Saturday comics? =)
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brian stouder said on February 22, 2006 at 6:26 pm
My oh my! That WAS a long time ago. Back then I still had hair, and had a huge crush on Madam Telling Tales (I know, I know – ‘get in line, Mac!’), who was the best thing about the News-Sentinel….well, her and Leo Morris….
see – we get a little older, and then all the cliches begin to transform into Simple Truths
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance forever and a day
We’d live the life we’d choose
We’d fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
LA LA LA Lalala – etc etc
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Dorothy said on February 22, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I’ve never been to the Fort so naturally I haven’t a clue where that photo was taken. But my first job was in a bakery and those white boxes look like donut or small (7″) cake boxes!
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Adrianne said on February 23, 2006 at 9:55 am
Nance:
I’ve got to dig up that comics shot, with your black pump dangling provocatively off one toe…
That Gap cardigan and khakis were the N-squared defacto outfit those days…what’s your version of it these days?
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harry near indy said on February 24, 2006 at 8:56 pm
i noticed that, in the picture, you’re wearing some sort of athletic shoes.
did the news-sentinel say it was ok if you did that? that’s very “non-professional,” as some newspaper dweebs would put it.
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Deborah said on February 26, 2006 at 7:23 pm
As a former (current?) columnist can you verify that this is a true statement:
It drives me crazy when people say opinion column writers are supposed to “research” other people’s point of view or things other people wrote about previously. Columnists are only obligated to write about their own opinions, not someone else’s. People who have information they believe the public should know, should express it themselves, not wait for a columnist to “research” it and express it for them.
My sister who writes a column for a small town (very small-town) paper in Minnesota responded with that statement to me when I questioned the facts in some of her columns. She’s a big time Republican Right Winger too. Can anyone give me some ammo to blast her. Or is this statement true about columnists?
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nancy said on February 26, 2006 at 8:41 pm
You don’t have to “research” other points of view, but facts are facts, and you ought to treat them as such. She’s correct that you don’t have to write about other opinions, but depending on the situation, it’s usually smarter to acknowledge that others’ mileage may vary.
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Kevin Knuth said on February 26, 2006 at 8:52 pm
Nancy,
Being an old FWN employee myself (I worked in Circulation), I do believe that those racks are sitting outside Tom’s Dounuts at State and Wells.
Kevin
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DJ Danger said on February 27, 2006 at 4:48 pm
Some way old N-S trivia: I always liked Nance’s column, and I also liked her predecessor. I can’t for the life of me, though, remember her name. Anyone, anyone?
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nancy said on February 27, 2006 at 4:51 pm
DJD — You’re thinking of Dan Luzadder, who was a him, not a her. And Kevin, I think you’re right. Thanks for the clarification.
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Andrew Jarosh said on February 27, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Nancy came up competing against Doug Haberland of the JG. Except all Doug was interested in columnizing about was a cross-country vintage fire truck race. The truck he was attached too kept on breaking down. He didn’t last; Nancy did.
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Kevin Knuth said on February 27, 2006 at 10:11 pm
I remember ONE particular Dan Luzzader column- he was recruited to kill a guy in a nursing home!
As I recall (and I could not have been more than 12 at the time) the person who tried to hire him was the intended victims son! What a slime.
Anyway, it ran in several parts and I could not tear myself away from reading it.
Oh, and Nancy: I only know it is Tom’s because I spend WAYYYY too much time eating donuts from there! That explains my current weight!
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