Simple slogan evolves to truthful life mantra
Scott Figuerola
Issue date: 5/4/09 Section: Opinion
"Keep on keeping on."
I know I shouldn't start a column, story or any other piece of writing with an orphaned quote that few people will understand, but, in this instance, I couldn't resist.
I worked at the Brookhaven Courier for around three years and I heard this quote many times. Looking back, it wasn't just used to motivate us and it wasn't a throwaway line used by some professor or coach. It was a life lesson.
Larie Engles, newspaper adviser, said this to me so many times I probably lost count. When it was press night around 8 p.m. and we still didn't have a page out, Larie would tell us, "keep on keeping on."
When it was Wednesday of press week and I was still trying to get a source for my story, who had been ignoring my e-mails and calls, and I would get frustrated, Larie would say, "keep on keeping on."
I never thought about the saying very much. … Hell, I probably didn't even register what it really meant with all the other things floating in my head at those times.
But now, looking back on my time with the Courier, the thing I remember most is me getting frustrated about something and Larie always saying something that brought me back down to earth.
A moment that is cemented in my head, and one I hope never leaves, is one night when I was all mighty pissed at something or someone. I asked Larie to have a word, and we went to her office. I spilled my guts while she sat there patiently listening.
After I was through, she gave her opinion and we talked it out. I felt 10 times better.
"Scott," she said, "my job is to talk you back off the edge of that cliff."
And that's what she did for me, many times.
It was one thing to run a school paper and deal with the idiosyncrasies it involves, but it's a different story when you have someone who is so understanding and knowledgeable and who can listen to you, respect you and give you advice even when she might not agree. She made it more of a hobby than a job.
I know I shouldn't start a column, story or any other piece of writing with an orphaned quote that few people will understand, but, in this instance, I couldn't resist.
I worked at the Brookhaven Courier for around three years and I heard this quote many times. Looking back, it wasn't just used to motivate us and it wasn't a throwaway line used by some professor or coach. It was a life lesson.
Larie Engles, newspaper adviser, said this to me so many times I probably lost count. When it was press night around 8 p.m. and we still didn't have a page out, Larie would tell us, "keep on keeping on."
When it was Wednesday of press week and I was still trying to get a source for my story, who had been ignoring my e-mails and calls, and I would get frustrated, Larie would say, "keep on keeping on."
I never thought about the saying very much. … Hell, I probably didn't even register what it really meant with all the other things floating in my head at those times.
But now, looking back on my time with the Courier, the thing I remember most is me getting frustrated about something and Larie always saying something that brought me back down to earth.
A moment that is cemented in my head, and one I hope never leaves, is one night when I was all mighty pissed at something or someone. I asked Larie to have a word, and we went to her office. I spilled my guts while she sat there patiently listening.
After I was through, she gave her opinion and we talked it out. I felt 10 times better.
"Scott," she said, "my job is to talk you back off the edge of that cliff."
And that's what she did for me, many times.
It was one thing to run a school paper and deal with the idiosyncrasies it involves, but it's a different story when you have someone who is so understanding and knowledgeable and who can listen to you, respect you and give you advice even when she might not agree. She made it more of a hobby than a job.
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