They always say to start with the news, so here it is: Starting in August, I'll be gone from the Observer for about a year on a journalism fellowship.
That's the news. Here's the story.
Several universities across the country offer journalism fellowships of one kind or another. Three universities -- Harvard, Michigan and Stanford -- award fellowships specially designed for journalists in the middle of their careers.
You get to take classes, go to seminars, just hang out on campus -- most of what you do is up to you.
The idea is that a year without deadlines, among the minds of a great university, can refresh you and load you up with ideas to take back home.
You apply for the fellowships and on a Monday morning, if you got into one, they give you a call.
Last year I applied and the phone didn't ring. This year it did.
My wife and I are going to Harvard. Which of course is the prestigious Ivy League school often described around these parts as "almost as good as Duke."
Part of me is still waiting for somebody to come around a corner and inform me that I'm the star of a very special episode of "Punk'd."
So far that hasn't happened. So for now I assume we're actually going. I've been working on my Boston accent. The bah is not fah from the cah.
We're also apparently required to memorize the starting lineup for the Red Sox. And from what I've been told, it is occasionally cold up there. I might have to invest in a couple of shirts with long sleeves.
Still, we are thrilled beyond words.
My wife, Alix Felsing, also works here -- she edits Neighbors of University City and Neighbors of Western Mecklenburg. We love the Observer and we love Charlotte. But a chance to go back to college for a year, to read books and go to concerts and maybe just play Frisbee on the lawn, is something we've both dreamed about.
In some ways, of course, this is totally not fair.
My dad was a carpenter. No such thing as a carpenter fellowship. My mom was a waitress. No such thing as a waitress fellowship. Millions of people work themselves to a nub over the years, at least partly so their kids won't have to.
This kid, for one, is grateful.
Writing this column is a great job, but sometimes I still gripe about it. I suspect everyone who has a job gripes about it sometimes, up to and including Hugh Hefner.
At the core, though, Alix and I love doing what we do. We believe in finding news and telling stories. And we hope that some time off will make us love our jobs and believe in journalism even more.
I'll be around at least a couple more months, then I'll be back sometime toward the middle of next year. We're still figuring out the schedule.
And we promise to give deep thought and study to at least one question: which sauce, eastern-style or western-style, goes better with lobster.
IN MY OPINION Tommy Tomlinson
