News to Me – Adventures of an Accidental Journalist is published by the University of Minnesota Press. Hertzel is coauthor of another book, They Took My Father: Finnish Americans in Stalin’s Russia, also available from the University of Minnesota Press. She will be at the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 16.
Although this reporter felt an immediate affinity with Laurie Hertzel upon reading that she started her own newspaper at age 11, there is much to offer in Hertzel’s book for folks who didn’t aspire to be journalists from an early age. News to Me – Adventures of an
Accidental Journalist
is more than the interesting memoir of a young woman finding her occupational niche; it is also a fascinating insider’s look at many historic Northland events.
There are many things writers of Hertzel’s age can relate to, such as typewriters whose keys jam if you type too fast. However, there are also great tips for writers of all ages, handed to Hertzel by seasoned reporters, such as “develop your own shorthand” and “carry a pencil because ink pens freeze in below zero weather.”
And every writer can relate to the thrill of seeing her words in print. When Hertzel took the job as newsroom clerk (who refused to make coffee) she was dazzled by seeing her short newsy items printed in the “Duluth Briefs.” No matter that there was no byline, Hertzel recalls “the magic of seeing words she had written put into print and distributed for the world to read.”
But there are many things non-writers can relate to. Hertzel worked at the Duluth
News-Tribune
for 18 years and was involved in stories familiar to all of us—the Congdon murders in Duluth, the conflict surrounding the establishment of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, and one story that continues to be local legend—the story of Harmon Seaver, who was arrested for shooting at a U.S. Forest Service helicopter because he didn’t want the herbicide 2,4-D on his property. Hertzel notes that the story was a “bellwether, an early glimpse of a new concern for the environment, of organic farming, of citizens challenging the government on land rights.”
It was also a bellwether for Hertzel, who realized this was more than just a “great story about a colorful guy.” It helped her realize that was the kind of story she wanted to write.
Another wonderful vignette is Hertzel’s tale of heading up the North Shore to talk to Hovland fisherman Helmer Aakvik, who was supposedly planning his own Viking funeral. It turns out Aakvik had no such plans, but Hertzel obtained a delightful story nonetheless.
Readers may have forgotten that Duluth has a sister city in Russia—Petrozavodsk— but memories of the work to form that bond come back as Hertzel describes her involvement in the story from her fight to make the trip to her discovery of the emotional connections between the cities.
Overall, News to Me
is a thoroughly entertaining look at not just journalism, but life. Anyone who reads the book will be happy that Hertzel took her along on the journey.
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