Ode to a view

The Old View

Starting today, I have an office. And to be honest, I’m pretty happy about it.  At one point in my career, I would have killed for one. Now I am just glad I am inside the building. But since I looked out the same window for 16 years, I thought I’d tip my hat to my old view by recounting some of my top memories.

1. I saw a deer come back to life. A guy had one in the back of his truck that he had shot. It wasn’t dead.  MSWFP officers had to come and put it down.

2. I watched Hurricane Katrina blow through Jackson.  The parking garage on the Capitol Towers screams like bad brakes when the winds get above a certain speed. It screamed like a banshee that day.

3. Governor Fordice would walk past every day walking his dog Lance.  The governor, still pissed about Bert Case’s ambush, was packing a pistol.  I put a sign in my window that read, “Marshall Ramsey’s office” and had an arrow pointing to my old boss David Hampton’s window.

4. I’d watch people go back and forth to their jobs. I made up lives for them.  It was fun to watch them change, get older, get fatter and thinner and move on with their lives.

5. The little office across from me was the Christian Science Reading Room.  And then part of trial lawyer Don Evan’s office. And now it’s Scurlock’s donuts.

6. It was fun to watch Don Evans peek through the blinds when an ambulance would go past.

7. I saw traffic cops take down a man who was giving them lip.  One of the Meter Maids should have been a Navy SEAL.

8. I watched them brick Capitol Street one brick at a time. A dude that looked like he was from Swamp People cut every single brick.

9. I remember great conversations with David Hampton, Sid Salter, Jim Ewing, John Hammack , Eric Stringfellow and Joe White.  They’re all gone from the paper now. John has passed away. I miss them all.

10. I remember sitting back there by myself like I was in exile after being made part-time. By that time, I had cleaned all my personal belongings out. It was just a space at that point.

11. The old tornado siren used to go off and rattle my fillings. It doesn’t work any more. Being next to that much glass during a storm was unnerving at times.

12. I remember my kids driving by on the bus on the way to field trips. They’d love to see their dad at work. I felt like a fish in an aquarium, but it meant a lot to them.

13. From that spot, I created nearly 5,000 cartoons.  I was a Pulitzer Finalist twice. Named a top 100 employee of the company. And made a difference in the community. It was a good spot.

I wheeled my drawing table over to my new place yesterday and have set up shop. I love my new space and think it will be the start a new chapter of creativity. But as I move excitedly move forward, I look back one last time and say thanks to my old window for the world that it showed me.