JP:
An Appreciation
By V. Cullum Rogers
This issue of the Notebook is the first since
2002 that hasn’t been edited by J.P. Trostle, who grabbed the torch from my
failing hand eight years ago and passed it on to Stephanie McMillan this
summer. (Congratulations, Stephanie; also, good luck.) For those keeping score,
that works out to 32 consecutive quarterly issues, a record for a single editor
that is not likely to be broken, at least not by a sane person.
J.P. added color to the Notebook, switched to
better paper and created a PDF edition with embedded videos, website links and
other interactive features; somehow, he found a way to do all this while
cutting production costs. He single-handedly designed and laid out the biggest
issue ever, the 112-page Golden Notebook, which is virtually an official
history of the AAEC’s first fifty years. And he did it on schedule, a talent
possessed by few if any of his predecessors.
No tribute like this would be complete without a few
sentences designed to make its subject squirm, so here are a few obscure facts
that J.P. might wish would stay that way:
* He loves pussycats. There are usually at least a
couple lounging around the home he and his wife Maura McLaughlin share in
Durham.
* He can grow a full beard, or head of hair, or both,
in about two weeks.
* He is the world’s leading expert on Rollerball, a
game that doesn’t exist outside science-fiction movies.
* He still has his childhood collection of Wacky
Packages stickers.
* Once, when the two of us got lost driving to
Columbus, Ohio, and found ourselves in a greasy spoon in some godforsaken town
in Kentucky, he heard a waitress ask if I was his father. No one should be
subjected to that. (For the record, I’m not.)
*
Finally, and most important, his favorite drink is the dry Martini. Order him
one next time you see him. He’s earned it.
______________________________
The Prez Salutes JP
It’s
hard to believe back when JP took over as Notebook Editor that the role
was basically just that — editing our
humble B&W quarterly newsletter.
During
JP’s tenure the information business transformed itself with the emergence of
the blogosphere and its need for almost constant feeding. JP property recognized
the necessity for the AAEC to keep up with that demand. His involvement with
our website allowed us the opportunity to post more news items in a more timely
manner and with more frequency.
JP
took on that challenge and his efforts have helped our organization often
control the narrative on issues important to us. Whether they be the AAEC eBay
auction or Black Ink Monday, he has been instrumental in moving AAEC
initiatives forward and made sure the word got out.
So
vital has been his input that he has been informally invited by AAEC presidents
past and present to help strategize on virtually every pressing issue facing
the AAEC. In the process, he earned his title of Minister of Information (said
title which he himself rediscovered hidden in the Association bylaws), or as I
refer to him, Special Advisor to the President. Let us thank him for his
valuable years of service and wish him luck starting up that lucrative lobbying
firm of his.
