Friday was a pinch me moment. As Bill, Lorita, and I sat at the long conference table, in the plushy decorated library room on the first floor of the Fawcett Center, I must admit I felt like the Tin Man, The Lion, and The Scarecrow on the Yellow Brick Road. Pinch me Dorthy; we aren't in Kansas anymore.
We were talking about Kansas though. Kansas City to be exact. Birthplace of Bill Myles. Bill and I were being interviewed by Libby Sander, a sports reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education. As we sat for almost two hours, and talked about our book project, Myles Traveled, I reflected on how many miles Bill and I had traveled together since we started this nearly two and a half years ago. We are not to the end of our journey and there are some hills yet to climb, but much more of the road is behind us than lies ahead, and the destination is now in sight.
What made Friday's interview so satisfying was twofold. Utmost is that we didn't go to The Chronicle, but rather Ms. Sander found us. The Chronicle is a national publication, published weekly in news print and daily on the web. With a staff of more than 70 writers, editors, and international correspondents, it describes itself as the No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. With a newsprint readership of 245,000 individuals, and web traffic of 1.7 million unique visitors per month, it, well, leaves my website stats in the dust.
Even more satisfying though was sitting there watching the interest Ms. Sanders took as Bill shared his life story, and the meaning of our writings. During our discussions, as Libby would make an observation, ask a question, or bring out a point, I would sit there and think, "Yea, we have a passage on that in the book. We cover that in the book. That's a theme of the book. That's a message of the book." When you have poured your heart, soul, and all your time into something you believe in, it is so encouraging to have someone of her stature see interest and significance in what you are doing.
It won't be a huge story, yet someday I hope we can look back and say it was the first. It will be a couple of weeks before her story is up and I will post when it is. In the meantime, you can take a peek at The Chronicle and at Libby's work.