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It’s Nice Being Acknowledged

I was very honored to win the following awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE):

  • Best Group Profile (Legal Rebels: “No Turning Back”). National (Silver) and Regional (Silver).
  • Best Web Microsite (Legal Rebels). Regional (Silver).
  • Best Case History (State of the Profession: “Slow Going”). Regional (Bronze).
  • Best Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Story (State of the Profession). Regional (Bronze).

I was especially proud to see my section (Business of Law) win a National Bronze and Regional Gold award for Best Regular Print Department. This was our second National Bronze award in a row. Hopefully next year, we’ll get the gold! I’m grateful to my colleagues and reporters for helping make that happen.

And, we won Magazine of the Year (Fewer Than 11 Issues)! The last time we won Magazine of the Year was right after I joined the Journal, so I never really felt like I had been part of it. It’s nice to be a part of this one!

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Let Me Take You On a Trip

Victor, you just tested negative for COVID. What are you going to do now?

I’m going to see Depeche Mode at the United Center!

Overall, it was a good show. It wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be, considering Fletch’s absence. Perhaps it helped that the song designated as a memorial to him, “World in My Eyes,” is an upbeat crowd pleaser. It’s not easy feeling sad when that song is playing.

As with other DM shows I’ve been to, the new songs were decidedly hit-or-miss and the older numbers were definitely the highlight (including an incredibly fun rendition of “Everything Counts”). I don’t think I needed to hear three songs from Playing the Angel, and I’m not quite sure what “Sister of Night” or “Wrong” were doing on the setlist. But it was cool hearing “Condemnation,” one of my favorites and a song they’ve only played a handful of times since 2001.

Mostly, it was just nice seeing them live again. Depeche Mode was the last concert my wife and I went to before the pandemic and the first one we’ve gone to since. After Fletch died, we assumed we’d never see them perform again since they would surely break up.

As Dave would say: “Wrong!”

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Welcome to the 1,000 Club!

Less than a year after I hit 500 libraries, I’m pleased to announce Nixon in New York has now hit the 1,000 mark (I’ve enclosed the screenshot for posterity).

  • Still waiting to get into Dartmouth to complete the Ivy League sweep. Same with Wesleyan so I can finally call “bingo” on the Little Three.
  • I’m now in Southern New Hampshire University — so the next time I see one of their many commercials on TV, I can say “Thanks for putting my book in your library!” Your move, University of Phoenix.
  • I’m in several public libraries now, including those in Boston, Toronto, Greenville, SC, Cleveland, New York City, Skokie, Oklahoma City, Fairbanks, AK, Preston, UK, Dubai and Shanghai. What do all of those cities have in common? Easy. They all have my book now.
  • I’m only in two university libraries in my hometown of Pittsburgh: Carlow College and Robert Morris University. Here’s hoping I can get into Pitt, CMU and Duquesne soon.
  • I’m in the All Saints Library in Manchester, UK. I didn’t know Manchester had a library named after the second most successful girl-group of the late 90s in the UK. Too band they couldn’t have named it the Take That Library.
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Things I Wish I Had Known About IVF

I really thought it was going to be easy.

Sure, natural conception hadn’t worked out for us, but I figured IVF would be a piece of cake. After all, lots of people have babies that way, right? All I’d have to do is show up to the fertility doctor’s office and use their porn room to produce a semen sample (Hollywood has taught me that every office has a porn room). They’d mix it with my wife’s eggs, freeze them, and then we’d show up one day and they would simply implant one or two in my wife’s uterus. Nine months later, we’d be parents.

Boy, was I naive.

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Joining the 500 Club

Woohoo! Happy to report that Nixon in New York has hit 500 libraries (501, actually) throughout the world! (I took a screenshot for posterity). Some of the highlights:

  • All of three of my alma maters have the book in their libraries (in the interests of full disclosure, I requested it at two of the three schools).
  • I’m in seven out of eight Ivy League schools. (Come on, Dartmouth! What are you waiting for?)
  • I’m in two out of the three “Little Three” schools. (Thanks for nothing, Wesleyan!)
  • Other than the U.S, I’m in libraries in Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Curaçao, Cyprus, Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
  • I’m in community colleges, theological/biblical seminaries, military academies, historical societies, public and private universities and law schools.
  • I’m in both of Richard Nixon’s alma maters: Whittier College, which is where he went for undergrad, and Duke University, which is where he went for law school.
  • I’m in Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at NYU, which is appropriate, given how important Bobst was for Nixon during his Wilderness Years.

Anyway, it’s nice to see — especially since I was at 125 a couple of months ago. Here’s to the next 500!

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Farewell Fletch

“Martin’s the songwriter, Alan [Wilder]’s the good musician, Dave’s the vocalist and I bum around,” Andy Fletcher on his role in the band, taken from the Depeche Mode concert film 101.

“Depeche Mode’s unique division of labor has been long established, with each of the three remaining members having a distinct role: Martin Gore writes the songs, Dave Gahan sings them and Andy Fletcher shows up for photo shoots and cashes the checks,” Gavin Edwards, wrote in Rolling Stone in 2005. 

That wasn’t entirely true.

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Winning Time

I was very honored to win the following awards from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE):

I was especially proud to see my section (Business of Law) win a National Bronze and Regional Silver award for Best Regular Print Department. I’m very grateful to my colleagues and reporters for helping make that happen.

Plus, we won honorable mention for Magazine of the Year (11 or Fewer Issues). Woohoo!

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Two Long Years

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since we lost Bernie. In many ways, it still feels like yesterday. I’m trying not to be sad today, but haven’t been very successful. Nevertheless, seeing these photos of BB and some of his (many, many) toys actually made me smile. Here’s hoping the toys are even better up there. We love you, BB and miss you! 

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We Are The Champions!

Very proud to win several Azbee Awards of Excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors this year. I think this might have been my biggest haul yet.

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The Long Goodbye

“The photograph reflects. Every streetlight a reminder.” — “Nightswimming,” R.E.M.

“These wheels keep turning but they’re running out of steam. Keep me in your heart for a while.” — “Keep Me In Your Heart,” Warren Zevon

These are some of the last photographs I took of Bernie. Looking back, I can’t help but wonder if he was saying a long goodbye by doing certain things one last time.

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The Finger of Destiny

What will you do when the finger of Destiny points at you?

For us, we decided to adopt her. Maybe it was destiny (pun intended) that she came to us. She arrived in Chicago the same week that Bernie passed. And she joined us right as we were about to embark on a particularly difficult period without him and helped us through it.

Plus, she’s been such a sweetheart that we just couldn’t let her go. She took to us from the moment she arrived home, and we definitely fell for her. Looks like we’ve failed as foster parents.

However, we just couldn’t abide by her name. So from henceforth, she will be known as Dessie Lisa Vito. First of her name. Queen of all she surveys. Barker at other dogs. Killer of rodents. Conquerer of bed space.

Welcome to the family, Dessie. Thank you for helping heal our broken hearts. Now if you’d only stop trying to kill all those possums.

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About Me:

- Former Lawyer.
- Current Journalist/Writer/Editor.
- Author of "Nixon in New York: How Wall Street Helped Richard Nixon Win the White House," published in 2018.
- Husband, father and dog-lover.
- Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Manchester United supporter.
- Chicago via Pittsburgh, New York City and several others.

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