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High Fives: Donna Korando

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, May 3, 2013 - For the Beacon's fifth birthday, we've asked people to share five favorite things from over the years.

  1. The number one thing that has made these five years zoom has no links and can’t be quantified. It’s a feeling -- of teamwork, collegiality and even family -- that has existed at the Beacon since the beginning. And that feeling of family extended to the reality of family in having my daughter join us as a photo intern. Our first summer was Rachel’s first summer home from college. The job she thought she had lined up changed at the last minute. Her loss; our gain. Even after that summer she has given us her time and talent - when her time permits.
  2. But having Rachel with us the first summer turned out to be especially useful, as our first writing intern, Joy Resmovits came to us from Barnard College and, being a New Yorker, she didn’t drive. Rachel often drove her around and the two of them discovered such things as Wicks Organ Co., Live OFF the Levee and the ongoing renovations of the Rock Church – and shared those findings with Beacon readers.
  3. Joy was just the first of many interns who have helped the Beacon tell St. Louis’ stories. Working with these students has helped maintain my faith in journalism – that it will find its way as media work through often difficult changes. I am grateful to all of them for what they brought to the Beacon and for giving me a chance to, I hope, help them hone their skills.
  4. Even though most of my time is spent editing and planning, the flexibility of the operation here has let me do some writing. This has ranged from fun little observations on the Cardinals with Mary Delach Leonard to more personal reflections (auction, trip to El Salvador, fundraisers) and even some reviews (Cosi and Potter).
  5. I have a most marvelous reporter covering the arts, Nancy Fowler, but I also have a team of freelancers and a host of contributors to our voices section. These writers make my work less of a chore and more of a process in bringing articles and ideas to publication.
Donna Korando started work in journalism at SIU’s Daily Egyptian in 1968. In between Carbondale and St. Louis Public Radio, she taught high school in Manitowoc, Wis., and worked at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She was the copy editor and letters editor for the editorial page from 1973-77. As an editorial writer from 1977-87, she covered Illinois and city politics, education, agriculture, family issues and sub-Saharan Africa. When she was editor of the Commentary Page from 1987-2003, the page won several awards from the Association of Opinion Page Editors. From 2003-07, she headed the features copy desk.