Freep’s Katharine Smith accepting a ‘voluntary layoff’
Katharine Smith is one of a reported small handful of people taking a voluntary buyout this week from the Detroit Free Press. Her last day will be Dec. 22, she says.
Katharine tells us:
My plans are to finish school ( I have two semesters left to get my bachelor’s in social work) and then get my master’s in social work. I have an unpaid social work internship lined up for Jan.-June. My kids are delighted that I will not be working weekends, and weekdays until 12:30 a.m., anymore, at least for now.
I don’t want to leave journalism because I don’t like it. I love it and I love copy editing. But social work is a new love and it’s exciting to be reinventing myself. Now I know why Madonna keeps doing it!
A 1990 graduate of Ohio University, Katharine spent a year as a reporter and designer for the Boca News of Boca Raton, Fla., a picture editor and designe for the Miami Herald and a photo editor for the News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. before joining the Free Press in 1996. She’s worked there ever since as a reporter, photographer, picture editor, designer and copy editor.
Katharine writes:
I so appreciate your essay/blog/whatever about getting laid off from the newsroom. If anyone asks if they can help, I’ll tell them money is the best thing you can give!
However, I’m not going to unsubsribe from the paper! The publisher has been great to me, and I’ll always love the Freep. I’m very happy.
Dec. 22 I start the new chapter of my life! Excitement! Nervousness! Anxiety! Confidence!
