Always Have a Speech Handy. Or, Drop the Gun, Motherf*cker!

First, I’d like to thank the Academy. And congratulations to my fellow honorees at the New York Times, Bloomberg News, The City, and Newsday.

The Academy is really the Silurians Press Club, which has only been around since 1924. Everyone wears a name tag. This club of veteran journalists, many of them retired, meets monthly for newsworthy luncheons and an annual awards dinner.

Two of my stories won Merit awards this June. I may have been the only freelancer. Freelancers are often overlooked. Mostly no budget, no office lunches, no colleagues sitting across from you in air conditioned offices, no health benefits, no IT department except for the neighbor’s kid. One of this year’s awardees said he hadn’t looked for a job in 28 years. Many of us look for one every day or hold other jobs to pay the bills. My awards are dedicated to those journalists and those in other fields who freelance by circumstance or by choice.

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Once a Girl Scout, always a Girl Scout. Bring me some Thin Mints!