Standards and The Sun: Why I'll Miss It

Many of you may remember that one of the first articles I wrote for a national newspaper was this one in The New York Sun, the now defunct conservative publication. It was written last February during the run up to Super Tuesday and I went about campus interviewing students on their thoughts about the election.

After getting an invitation to work at the Sun from Ms. Shlaes after he talk, I was initially apprehensive. It wasn't paid and my parents said that I should take a well-paying job with the Kauffman Foundation instead. Then, as now, we didn't have a lot of money and the cost of living in New York was too high to justify. Still, the Kauffman position ended in early August, and so I resolved to do both of them, and the Sun graciously agreed. So I spent some of the summer's last three weeks at the New York Sun where I worked on the op-ed page fact-checking and putting sentences into "Sun Stytle."

For me, the New York Sun was a great -- if brief -- experience and I'm sorry to see such a paper fade from the scene. As a conservative/libertarian from a state that is the deepest shade of blue, I enjoyed the kind of underdog feel to the paper.

The Sun's illustrious editor, Seth Lipsky, invited me into his office the first day I arrived and set me up right next door for my first week there. Lipsky, it should be noted, is the nearest approximation of the Platonic idea of a newspaper editor. With the great works in his office and paintings of great statesmen on his walls, his love of the printed word and civilization was self-evident. I knew that when I first met him I had to be more than my best. I had to be excellent for Lipsky would accept nothing else.

Seth Lipsky, for those who know, is a Cold Warrior, conservative of the highest variety. He cut his journalistic teeth as a combat reporter in Vietnam for the Pacific Stars and Stripes and when we were writing articles on the Chinese Olympics, Lipsky insisted that we call them by their name --"communists." In a profession awash in political correctness, Lipsky's willingess to call evil by its name was refreshing and encouraging.

After Lipsky and I spoke for a few minutes about my resume and Claremont, he started asking me about the election and my own political views. He seemed relieved when I said I was a conservative/libertarian, though he reminded me that I shouldn't say I was a libertarian, as they don't support Israel. I said that I supported Israel and mentioned that my Mom lived and worked there. I suspect that was because few of the other interns were conservative and most were Obama fans.

When we turned to leave the office, he noticed that I didn't have on a tie. "Do you have a necktie?" he asked, gruffly. When I was about to respond, that no, I didn't own any. "It's about standards," he said. "It's all about standards. You do have a necktie, don't you?"
Before I could answer, he also pointed to the diner across the street, reminding me of the importance of eating a good breakfast, and sent me out the door with an assistant to buy a necktie and to get something to eat.

As a (very) small business owner, my dad owns few neckties and the few that I own I have won in card games (yes, really) or been given by sympathetic neighbors. So Mr. Lipsky's New York Sun bought my first work tie at a small stand off of Chambers Street. I wear it proudly.

Work at the Sun was difficult and the hours were long. New York is one of the toughest, meanest cities around and it was beginning to take a toll on my wallet and psyche, but I never forget what Mr. Lipsky said to me on my first day.

Mr. Lipsky's right. It -- by which I took to mean work -- is all about standards and I worked to exceed them whenever I could, taking my cue from his editorial leadership. A mutual friend once described him as one of the "greatest living editorialists" and I agree. His editorials seemed to relish the interplay of foreign policy, economics, local and national politics. That Mr. Lipsky's pen will be silent, at least for the moment, is a loss, indeed. Few will hold the U.N. to task for its shenanigans or illuminate the life of daily New York politics in quite the same way. By taking me, a no-name kid into the daily 1PM meetings, I got a sense for just how much work good journalism is.

The Sun has many critics, to be sure, but it raised a whole new generation of smart, clever journalists who punched way above their weight. So whenever I write an article for The Claremont Independent, the first thing I do is dust off The Sun Style Book, which I've saved on my computer. A newspaper lives on in what it teaches and I had a great teacher. To Mr. Lipsky and all the members of the Sun, thank you for the short time we had together.