Charles Apple

It’s been a week since my last post here. It’s way past time for an update, I suppose.

You’ll forgive me, I hope, for not feeling much like blogging lately. This makes twice in a year I’ve had a job cut out from under me. It’s not much fun — as all too many of you know.

The worst part about it is this: The possibility that I’ll find a new job is very, very slim. Not many papers are hiring right now. Those that are seem to be looking for entry-level employees. I have no clue what I’m going to do.

The comments attached to my last post were very comforting. As were the comments posted to my FaceBook account and the e-mails I’ve received. Thanks so much for all the support.

To answer some of the questions you’ve posed:

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Within one minute (!) of my updating my Facebook status last Wednesday, Angie Muhs of the Portland Press Herald became the first to ask:

Q. What happened??

A. Call me old-school, but I don’t believe in trashing a former employer. Potential new employers, in particular, really hate to read stuff like that.

But basically, I was fired, very suddenly and without warning, just before the end of my 90-day probationary period.

I don’t think this was a good decision and I don’t think it was carried out in an appropriate manner. The reasons cited to me were quite bogus. I was told, however, that before that 90-day period ended, they didn’t need any reasons.

In all fairness to myself, I think I did a great job for the Sporting News. Others there seemed to think so, too. I certainly worked hard. And up until the day they cut me loose, they gave me every indication that they liked the work I was doing.

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Brandon Dingess of the Richmond Times-Dispatch asked:

Q. Was the newspaper-as-PDF format not working out for them as they had hoped, or what?

A. We had been assured Sporting News Today was doing quite well. I have no reason to think otherwise.

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John Garcia of the Ventura County Star was the first of several to ask:

Q. Who do I call to cancel my subscription?

A. Oh, please don’t.

The Sporting News puts out quality products: the yearbooks, their new biweekly magazine and especially the daily PDF newspaper. If you’re a sports fan, these are must-reads. Despite what I now think of the management.

If I’m not canceling my subscription, then you shouldn’t, either.

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Several folks asked via e-mail:

Q. Are you still in South Carolina?

A. No. We never managed to sell our condo in Virginia Beach, so luckily, I have a home to go back to.

Heh. Until the mortgage payments stop, that is.

We immediately pulled our daughter out of Rock Hill High. Tuesday, she resumed classes at her former high school, here in Virginia Beach. Because of incompatibilities between schedules, she lost a lot of ground in two months. She’ll have to go to night or summer school in order to get caught up.

I’ve spent the last few days reorganizing my home office, which we had reconverted into a guest bedroom in order to help our place sell. I still have quite a way to go with it. But it’s coming along.

Photo by Elizabeth Apple.
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We officially pulled the condo off the market Sunday. Tuesday morning, the calls started — from real estate agents, hoping to talk us into relisting with them. Because despite the mortgage meltdown and an enormous glut of houses on the market in Virginia Beach, they each can do what our own very good, brilliant agent couldn’t do in nearly three months, right?

I guess it really could be worse. Instead of an unemployed journalist, I could be a real estate agent.

We’ll make another trip to Rock Hill this weekend to retrieve what little furniture we had moved there.

After that…

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My old Virginian-Pilot colleague Sam Hundley wrote:

Q. I honestly believe that something better awaits. Hang in there, pal.

A. Thanks for the good wishes. But “something better”? I’d settle for simply being able to support my family.

Right now, I have no clue how to do that.

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A number of people asked what Javier Torres of the Fort Myers News-Press voiced:

Q. You are great with students and mentoring. Have you considered teaching? 

A. I have. I’ve applied for many teaching jobs over the past two or three years. I’ve had no luck landing one. Even at schools that assured me I didn’t need a master’s degree to teach there and urged me to apply, I didn’t even make the first cut.

A number of folks have sent me links to teaching jobs. Most of those teaching jobs require either a master’s degree or multimedia experience. I have neither.

I’ll keep trying, though. Because I agree: I think I’d make a great teacher.

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Jay Carr of the Houston Chronicle posted at Facebook:

Q. Maybe you could become a full-time blogger. The visual Romenesko?

A. Heh. Well, hell, if you count the hours I put into it, I wouldn’t have far to go to make blogging a full-time job!

But there’s no money in blogging. At least not in blogging about news design.

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Kevin Koehler of Wake Forest University wrote:

Q. Stunning. If even Charles Apple is getting laid off, what hope is there for the rest of us?

A. Heh. You’re very kind. But hell, I said the same thing back in June about Martin Gee.

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Joe Greco of Gatehouse Media wrote:

Q. It’s often hard to understand why things like this happen, but stay as positive as we all know you can be. 

A. Yes, well. Staying positive isn’t easy for me right now.

I’ll do the best I can. And I’ll try to pick up the blogging again soon.

Thanks, everybody, for all the support. You’re all too kind.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Job changes, Industry woes, Charles Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.