Mary Schmich

On a beautiful summer afternoon, Mary Schmich and I sat near the top of Tribune Tower and talked about her life in journalism: Mary’s discovery, at an early age, that you could have fun with words (“Fuse confusion”). Her memories of working at the LA Times, where she worked on a typewriter in the fog of cigarette smoke and learned to write for newspapers by going through copy sheets. Why she believes being a journalist is being “in the business of connecting people to each other.” We talk about returning to the South, where she grew up, as a Tribune national correspondent, her time covering Jim Bakker’s trial and Tammy Fay Bakker, and her earliest days writing a column in Orlando. “Never be afraid to look stupid.” A fun talk with a great newswoman.