Throwback Thursday: Here I am enjoying a clove cigarette in 1993 (age 32) outside of my cousins' house in Babylon, Long Island, New York. At the time, I was a reporter, writer, editor, and soon-to-be researcher for "Chemical Marketing Reporter" ("CMR"), a New York City-based international weekly magazine on the financial and technical aspects of the chemical industry. The magazine, initially titled "Oil, Paint, and Drug Reporter," and later titled "Chemical Market Report," was first published in 1871.
With my long, dark-blue peacoat, I would humorously pretend to be one of those cool, hot-shot reporters in the big city, when, in reality, I was just a nerdy journalist working for a trade publication. While that job was absolutely terrific, and I was certainly elated to have it, I have never been one to take my professional status seriously.
After all, during my four-year stint (1992-1996), I wrote about chemicals and everything related to chemicals: castor oil, grease (both yellow AND white), carnauba wax, salicylic acid (aspirin), penicillin, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, the plastic used to make soda bottles), titanium dioxide (known as the "Great White Pigment"), menthol, sandalwood oil, linalool, benzene, xylene, toluene, hydrogen peroxide, sodium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, and diammonium phosphate (DAP, a popular fertilizer), to name a few, uh, several.
When I was writing about fertilizer, I was living about a mile from a toilet paper factory (Marcal) in north-central New Jersey. I still consider that to be somewhat humorous, even though DAP and toilet paper are seemingly related, but in reality are not.
My life at that time wasn't exactly glamorous, except that I was working in the Financial District of "The City." I absolutely loved that job. It was always interesting, and, as I (still) half jokingly say: It made me appear smarter than I actually was.
I have been interested in chemicals since I was a kid with my chemistry set in the 1960s. I studied chemistry in high school and at university. I remember being extremely excited when I got this gig, and that excitement strengthened throughout my four years there. As you can determine, I still get excited about chemistry.
I am in the midst of writing an autobiographical novel based on this time of my life.
By the way, I left "CMR" to take a job as a reporter, writer, and researcher for "Futures World News" ("FWN"), a wire service where I covered commodities trading (futures and options) in real time, specifically "Softs" (coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton, orange juice, and sometimes whole milk). It was a dream of mine to write for a wire service, so I grabbed that gig, but "CMR" still ranks as my favorite out of my many journalistic gigs.
Ranking second favorite is my gig with American Media Inc. from 2002 to 2011 as a copy editor and page designer with Star, Globe, National Examiner, and National Enquirer magazines ... but that a story for another time.
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