MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | JANUARY 2002

Linda Cruse: AWC JOBS CHAIR KEEPS HER BALANCE

By Kim Broers

Neither rain nor snow nor blustering citizens keep this reporter from calmly completing last-minute assignments.

The editor was in a fury. He pounded the desk, shouting, as a vein throbbed ominously in his temple. His newest employee looked on, terrified. Linda Stewart, cub reporter, vowed she'd quit then and there.

Such was Linda's introduction to the world of professional journalism. She made it through the fire, weathering the editor's tantrums without walking out the door - the first post-college demonstration of a valuable occupational ability to detach herself from others' emotional reactions.

That first job was at The Parsons Sun, a newspaper in the small town of Parsons, Kansas, where she worked for a year as the feature editor. A highlight of that year was the time AP picked up her article on a local joint where one could still get a nickel cup of coffee - a thrill for anyone, and doubly so for someone just out of school.

During her years at the University of Kansas, Linda worked on the University Daily Kansan. Following her instructive stint in Parsons, she did 10 years of corporate writing for various firms, including DST and Sprint, and served as an editor for The Johnson County Sun. At that time, she recalls, she required the structure of routine. "I needed to go to an office, and be told what to do."

Ah, but age breeds discipline, the discipline it takes to be one's own boss. For six years, Linda Cruse has worked as an independent reporter for the Johnson County section of The Kansas City Star. A lifelong Johnson County resident, she is eminently qualified to cover that turf, pitching ideas for articles and gathering stories at the behest of the four area editors. Often, that "behest" takes the form of a quick phone call instructing her to go to a certain place, a certain event, that very evening and to have the story about said event turned in by the following morning.

Her current job suits Linda. She likes variety, is accustomed to immediate deadlines and enjoys hearing off-the-record, behind-the-scenes details of a story that do not make the newspaper. A benign example: the town hall meeting to approve limited bow-hunting of deer - just a small story, a few paragraphs in print. But Linda paints a humorous picture of the clash between avid hunters and animal rights advocates, with one woman at the meeting rising to suggest that a nursery prevent deer from nibbling on trees by rubbing the bark with Irish Spring soap ... or urine. "What urine?" Linda thought. "Whose urine? How?"

Less humorous are the threats Linda receives as a result of her work, a byline appearing to the disgruntled or imbalanced as an invitation to harangue. Such threats are shrugged off by the veteran journalist: Either the apoplectic callers do not know the full story or they are simply "crazy," as she puts it. She doesn't lose sleep over it.

As a freelancer, Linda praises the networking, resources and camaraderie available through AWC. "Joining Women in Communications was one of the best things I ever did," she avers.

Over the past two months, Linda has been exceptionally busy, tackling a humongous assignment from fellow AWC member Kelly Scanlon, editor of the Kansas City Small Business Monthly. For a 10th anniversary edition, Linda has been attempting to track down and interview 100 business owners previously profiled in the publication. (At the time of this writing, she was up to the "S's," with the end finally in sight.)

With all that experience, Linda qualifies as an interview expert. Indeed, I tried to talk her into interviewing herself for this profile ... but she declined. Too busy, apparently.

Wise woman that she is, Linda has designed her life, and her professional work, to fit the needs of her family. She keeps an office at home, a designated room that creates the mindset she needs to get started working. She has two sons, ages 9 and 19, and she has structured her schedule around them.

"I love to write," she hastens to explain. "I'll always write." As hard as it is for a professional communicator to admit, there ARE things more important than writing. Or at least ONE thing: family.
One more story about Linda, which she initially told me NOT to include in this profile. (I had my fingers crossed, Linda. And besides, you didn't say "off the record."): Asked why she chose to major in journalism, she explained that she enjoyed so many subjects she couldn't decide on her major. History, sociology, communications ... what to do, what to do?

Linda called her mother. Mom suggested journalism, "since you're so good at writing."

And there you have it: Mom was right.