Society of the Silurians LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD BANQUET The Players Club 16 Gramercy Park South Tuesday, December 4, 2012 In Honor of GLORIA STEINEM Drinks: 6 p.m. Dinner: 7:15 p.m. Meet old friends Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Reservations: (212) 532-0887 of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 Members and One Guest $100 Each Non-Members $120 DECEMBER 2012 GLORIA STEINEM: A LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT Nina Zacuto for the Journalism & Women Symposium Gloria Steinem was the keynote speaker at the Journalism & Women Symposium in Albuquerque in October. By Betsy Wade Media Center. She looked at her watch, cabby said. “I know you, Gloria Steinem. Steinem to the short list of journalists hon- abandoned her chowder and mustered col- I’ve driven you a lot back home.” ored by one of the oldest press clubs in n October, Gloria Steinem flew leagues for a dash to the airport to pick Just one more proof that Gloria the United States. west to keep a long-postponed up Gloria. Humming south on I-25, their Steinem, recipient this year of the But as Silurians get to learn again at I date. She had been on the cam- auto was attacked by a huge ball of loose Silurians’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Award dinner, Steinem is a major paign trail nonstop most of the month, ar- rope, which tangled around the drive shaft. is one of the most recognizable people voice on big issues not just because she guing for women’s issues, most recently The Thom team cell-phoned Steinem at in the world. Like Eleanor Roosevelt, is recognizable. She is brainy and in Florida for a week. the airport with a message — “Take a who popped up everyplace, Steinem is thoughtful. She is tenacious. She mus- It was now 10 days before Election taxi.” driven by the same hopes and has like- ters her journalism and speaking skills – Day, and Steinem, who lives in New Then O. Henry got into the act. wise become iconic. For 40 years she with dozens of one-liners — and her York, was due in Albuquerque, N.M., to Steinem reported she grabbed a cab has materialized regularly in the center leadership and her determination, for speak to more than 200 at the annual con- and asked to go to the Hyatt Tamaya of news photos as she travels the globe issues that matter: women should be vention of the Journalism & Women Resort. with a message of equal rights, equal safeguarded in childhood, be educated Symposium. “Lots of women going out there,” the treatment. in youth and get equal access to good Everyone was geared up. I was sit- cabby said. And 40 years is no random number; tools for accomplishment. ting next to Mary Thom, one of Steinem’s “Journalists,” Steinem said. “Women she and her colleagues published the first She leans forward, always. Don’t for- inner circle and an original staff member who are journalists.” issue of Ms. magazine in 1972, which get she backed the Brooklyn Represen- at Ms. and now editor at the Women’s “Well, I’m from New York,” the makes this the perfect year to add Continued on Page 4 A Woman Correspondent in Vietnam: Fictionalized Truth By Theasa Tuohy ered no place for a woman. The Times so-called evening shifts, and quite a bit sent Gloria Emerson in 1970. The AP first on the lobster roll. ar correspondents don’t assigned a woman, Edie Lederer, to its And having spent my young years in seem inclined to write fic- Saigon bureau in late 1972. The AP had the 1960’s trenches of daily journalism W tion, and I’m sure I’ve figured sent Kelly Smith Tunney in 1967 for spe- where women were not all that welcome, out why – it isn’t that easy to make stuff cial feature assignments, one of which, I understood only too well the setting, up. And why bother? When the facts are according to Peter Arnett, embarrassed the working situation. Those gigs included horrific enough, they speak for them- General Westmoreland into giving up his the (Yonkers) Herald Statesman, the selves. So I had no idea what I was get- tennis membership at the posh Cercle (Newark) Star-Ledger and the Detroit ting into when I started out many long Sportif. Figures aren’t exact, but 70 or Free Press. years ago to write “The Five O’Clock Fol- so working female journalists seem to So getting this all right should have lies,” a fictionalized but historically accu- have been accredited in Vietnam during been a piece of cake, no? The rejection rate account of what life was like for a the 14 years from 1961-1975. During the letters were all the same: The setting, the reporter in 1968 Vietnam. The “Follies,” much shorter period of WWII, the num- characters, the feel of the place was so as many of us remember, is how the ber of accredited women was 127. The vivid, so real, my experiences were so Saigon press corps derisively referred to whys and wherefores of that disparity are compelling, why didn’t I just write this as the daily government briefings. interesting, but that’s another story. non-fiction? They didn’t want to publish My main character is a woman who For me, even pre-Google, the report- it, they said, because the story didn’t work. goes there freelance and has one heck of ing for my novel was easy – I just Huh? I didn’t get it. How could they say a time establishing herself until Tet comes haunted the History/Vietnam section of they loved it and it was compelling, but along. There were some women in Viet- the Mid-Manhattan Library on my days the “story” didn’t work? nam in those days, but few were sent by off, and when I say days, I’m serious. It The question people ask me most about major news organizations. It was consid- seems I spent more than half my life on Continued on Page 4 Follies cover President’s Letter PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS DECEMBER 2012 I’m pleased to report that the Society of Silurians is in excellent shape. Financially, we’re in good condition, after sev- eral years of teetering on the edge. We’re con- tinuing a strong run of speakers, with good turn- outs for both our lunches and dinners. And we have a strong lineup of officers and board mem- bers ready and able to step up to keep our Soci- ety running successfully well into the future. (We won’t have to call upon a retread like me to serve as president again.) I was willing to do it be- cause I am — like so many of you — committed to what our organization stands for, in terms of comaraderie, encouraging quality journalism and helping colleagues in need. We’re back at The Players, and they’re taking good care of us. My goal this year is to strengthen the frame- work of the Society. In that regard, we’re establishing backups for every major position, ranging from officerships to heads of commit- tees. As a result, there will be someone ready to step up to fill any vacancy that might occur. The one area that needs improvement is membership. While we have added some terrific people recently, we are lagging behind last year’s rate. There’s always some attrition, through deaths, relocations and resignations, so we need to add members to stay even. I’d like us to add even more in order to grow. Everyone of us must know a present or former journalist with at least 12 years of experience who would enjoy and treasure being a Silurian. So find an application blank on our web site, and sign them up. The work we do isn’t possible without major efforts by some of our members. To make ev- eryone better acquainted with our officers and Page 1 of the September 30, 2012, New York Times. governors, we’re providing thumbnail sketches of their professional careers in this issue. Tony Guida, our immediate past president, doesn’t need the emphasis on Punch’s role in boldly much of an introduction. But I want to note the How to Write Your Boss’s Obit publishing the Pentagon Papers and yeoman work he did over the last two years, keeping the paper thriving with new particularly in rounding up some great speakers. By Joseph Berger glimpsed Lyons passing behind him. He It’s a challenge for me to try to match that, but I hen he was asked to write thought he had seen a ghost. The sugges- lifestyle, science and weekend sections think the new lunch season got off to a strong the advance obituary of tion was that writing an advance obit can while other New York papers folded. start, with the threesome of Marlene Sanders, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, feel like presiding at a funeral. All the while, he said. “My biggest con- Gary Gates and Sandy Socolow sharing their W cern was that Punch would die while I early experiences working with Mike Wallace; Clyde Haberman decided he needed to in- Clyde said that he wrote the first draft then Clyde Haberman recounting how he re- terview him while still alive — as Clyde of the Sulzberger obituary 14 years ago, was still writing, and my second biggest searched and wrote The Times’s obit of Punch pointed out you can’t interview obituary sub- after Punch’s retirement as chairman of concern was that he would die after me,” Sulzberger, and finally, last month, the wife-and- jects after they’re dead.