Throwback Thursday: "CMR"

August 11, 2022

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 that 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.

My first job title there was humorous. I was the "Oils, Fats & Waxes Editor," writing a weekly column on the industrial uses of, well, oils, fats, and waxes. Some of my articles were cited in governmental reports by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), plus by a university student in this thesis.

I soon made a lateral move to "Flavors & Fragrances Editor." I was soon promoted to "Heavy & Agricultural Chemicals Editor." I was later promoted to "Market Research Editor," which was more of a research position than a writing position. Around that time, it was decided that three of the editors would take turns writing the Oils, Fats & Waxes column, which I did every three weeks. I also wrote four or five in-depth articles throughout the year for our many special sections.

When I was writing about fertilizer, I was living about a mile from a toilet paper factory (Marcal) in northern-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 the "CMR" gig, and that excitement strengthened throughout my four years working for the magazine. As you can determine, I still get excited about chemistry.

By the way, I left "CMR" to take a job as a reporter, writer, and researcher for "Futures World News" ("FWN"), a wire service broadcast via satellite to 93 countries. I covered commodities trading (futures and options) in real time, specifically "Softs" (coffee, sugar, cocoa, cotton, orange juice, and sometimes whole milk). I also covered money-supply meetings at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It was a dream of mine to write for a wire service, so I grabbed that gig, but "CMR" still ranks as my favorite gig out of my many journalistic gigs.

Ranking second favorite is my gig with American Media Inc. in Boca Raton, Florida, from 2002 to 2011. I was a copy editor and page designñer with Star, Globe, National Examiner, and National Enquirer magazines ... but that's a story for another time.

As for me now, I am (still) in the midst of writing an autobiographical novel loosely based on my time at "CMR," as well as (still) in the preliminary stages of self-publishing a book of my self-penned poetry. I have written more than 300 poems since 1986, so I need to choose 75 of my subjectively best poems for inclusion. I have had several poems published in national anthologies, mostly in the 1990s. I am having a poem published this year in Eber & Wein Publishing's "Best Poets of 2021" anthology. I also had a poem published last year in this company's anthology titled "Best Poets of 2020."