Gotta love corporate America

Everyone knows the economy is in a sorry state at the moment, and layoffs are becoming all too common across many industries. But I don't think any have been hit quite as hard as my lifeblood, the newspaper industry. My 401(k), with its lovely employee stock sharing plan, has lost so much money I don't even bother looking at the balance anymore. 

And now, my employer is laying off 600 people, with the ever-present threat of more job cuts to come. There are some people who say newspapers are dying – that this is their last gasp, and some of my colleagues are desperate to jump off the sinking ship. 

I don't know if I'm ready to do that yet. For one thing, I absolutely love my job, and I honestly can't imagine finding that kind of fulfillment in any other career path. For another thing, I don't think there are any other career paths open to me unless I go back to school, which would be a significant and financially painful undertaking.

So what's a potentially unemployed journalist to do? For now, I'm sticking with waiting, praying and hoping for the best – not just for me, but for my co-workers, all of whom have been doing this far longer than I have and therefore have even more limited post-newspaper career options.

My half-second of fame

I'm a big fan of Comedy Central in general, so I've been watching the whole Canton "controversy" from the beginning – when Stephen Colbert casually dissed Canton, Ga., as "the crappy Canton."

And I was watching yesterday when Colbert issued his apology to Canton, S.D., and was thrilled to see a screen shot of the Argus web site in the background as Colbert read off some quotes from our story about the original Canton, S.D., insult (North Dakota's dirty ashtray – hilarious). 

But the most exciting part, of course, was the fact that I wrote the headline that appeared on the screen shot above Colbert's shoulder. Yes, "Comedic spotlight shines on Canton" – that was my handiwork. If only I'd known that was going to be my 0.05 seconds of fame, I would've put more time into it. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. 

Watch the Colbert episode with the Canton "apology" and my world-famous headline here.