Like the Dew

Important to me as is the subject of hearing loss, I try to not let it dominate this blog. There are others better at specializing. I applaud their work and depend on it. Nonetheless, I have detailed my hearing loss and cochlear implant in an article entitled "One Leg at a Time," which appears in the the on-line journal of southern culture and politics, Like the Dew.

http://likethedew.com/2012/03/12/one-leg-at-a-time/

I was recently in touch with writer Bill Hedgepeth for the first time in many years. We attended Henry W. Grady High School together, and for a while, he had a desk in front of mine in the city room of The Atlanta Journal. Bill went on to become the youngest Senior Editor at Look Magazine, where he wrote the first national story about San Francisco hippies in the 1960’s. I was in the U.S. Army at the time, and another soldier handed me the magazine article and said, “I think you will be interested in reading this.” The first thing that caught my eye was the By-Line. After reading Bills article about hippies, I knew for certain that I would become one when I got out of the army.

My recent reconnection with Bill Hedgepeth came from an article he had written in Like the Dew, which includes among its writers several former co-workers of mine from Atlanta Journal-Constitution days at 10 Forsyth St. Bill suggested I write something for The Dew. “It doesn't pay anything (but then neither does Huffington Post,” he said. “The story about your hearing loss would be a good start.”

Another AJC alumnus Jim Bentley wrote to me, “Well, Billy, I’m glad to see that you followed Bill Hedgepeth’s advice.” Bentley is a former city editor of The Atlanta Constitution. Fifty years ago, he was Religion Editor of The Constitution at the same time I carried that title with The Journal. Competition between the two newspapers was friendly to familial. My current article "One Leg at a Time" in Like the Dew, according to Bentley, “Told people with similar devastating tragedies that guts and perseverance (maybe bone-headed stubbornness) can make a bad situation better... and offers more hope – to people suffering similar mule-kicks to the head.” Several comments on my article are from just such readers.

Frequently Asked Questions at Like the Dew include:

SO IT IS ABOUT OLD AND RETIRED JOURNALISTS?
No. LikeTheDew.com is a community of people writing, sharing, reading and commenting on the South. The not-so-old and retired journalists do regularly submit great stories and will always be a huge part of LikeTheDew.com, but they also mentor the quality of young (and old) and aspiring web-based journalists.

IS JUST ANYONE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT A STORY?
Yes. You are required to register and log in on this site with a valid email address (we are not going to sell or give your email to anyone). Login is found at the top right of every page and the bottom-left of our home page. Once you login, you will be offered links to submit a story. If you are not registered, you may request registration by emailingwebmaster@LikeTheDew.com – please include your name and some way for us to tell that you are real. We will send you a password via email to the address you provide. You might also need to add “webmaster@likethedew.com” to your address book. If you have problems or other questions, please contact webmaster@likethedew.com.

http://likethedew.com/q_and_a_plus_discussion/how-to-submit-a-story-to-the-dew/