The day of nine eleven, I was actually off and had to go in my husband's also reporter. We were both working in the National Press Building. The rumors were that the Press building was also under attack, and so that was pretty scary, thinking, you know, we could be leaving our kids orphans. Imagine having the kind of job where you always have to run toward rather than away from danger. That's the kind of job Karen Macpherson had on nine eleven. But that day changed everything for Karen.
Her story in a moment. First, here's Sean Hannity to introduce you to our new podcast on the Job, from Hired to Retired, brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. Hey, jobs connect us to our community and allow our families to thrive, and jobs reward us, of course with a sense of meaning and help establish our identity. There are multiple milestones in our employment lives and many types of
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I'm Steve Mencher. Karen Macpherson wanted to be a journalist her whole life, and she had found steady and meaningful work in that profession until the day she realized there was one thing more important than her success in the newspaper business. But we're getting ahead of the story, which starts ironically, as you'll see, with a children's book called
Harriet the Spy. Harriet the Spy had a very interesting life, taking notes and spying on her neighbors and friends, and then sort of writing things up, and she at one point ends up being part of the newspaper at her school. And I thought, wow, that's so interesting. And I had thought that I wanted to be a writer. And my mother, ever practical, would say, you know, you need to think of something kind of writing if you're interested in writing that you can make a living from. And I thought, well,
in this book, there's this news paper. Now she's just it's just a school newspaper. But that started me thinking about newspapers in general. So it was about then that I started thinking that I might want to be a newspaper reporter. Talking about her work got Karen thinking about her dad's career. She imagined that his parents had a path picked out for him. He was a rather wild and crazy person. He went to Catholic high school and was destined by his parents. They decided he would be
the priest. His older brother was going to be the doctor. To be a priest, he'd have to get through seminary, and it wasn't very long before he was kicked out for drinking and women. So so I think the army and the para troops particularly was a good place for my dad because you can do that kind of sort of wild and crazy stuff, but it's for the army
unless it's sanctioned. My dad died very young at age fifty two, and towards the end of his life he really came to the conclusion that he really wanted to be doing something different. So he actually changed careers at the end of his life and he became a teacher, high school teacher. Now, tell me about your mom. Did she work outside the home, Did she have a profession? Did she go to school for something in particular? Yes, my mom actually was one of the original people working,
at least in my neighborhood, working outside the home. She at one time she was the only one working out, the only mom working outside the home. My mother had taken one year off when I was born, and my father basically said, you need to go back to work. My mother was a teacher and she started She loved teaching high school, but um, as she had me and then later my sister, she ended up teaching kindergarten for a while because it was really no daycare near us
because most moms were home. If your mom was the only one working outside the home, did the other wives look at her askance or do you have any sense of any of that? Oh? Yeah, definitely. The My mom was regarded as sort of an oddity, and she was a little hard for I think it was hard for her.
It was a little hard for me. And then later some of the women in that neighborhoods started going out to work for pay, and they said, wasn't like they weren't working, They just were working in the house, and certainly that was regarded as as uh, you know, what women should do at that time. As Karen went through school, first high school, then college, she was on the path to becoming a journalist, something she had longed for since
her Harriet the Spy days. Her path was clear. From Trinity College in Washington, d C. She'd go to the most respected journalism school in the country, Columbia University. But there was one small problem. There was a lot of competition to get in and in fact, um I missed this sort of one step, and that when I was in college, that's when the Watergate hearings were held, and there was Bernstein and Woodward and everybody wanted to be
a reporter. Carl and I were on the Metropolitan staff, and when we were first told that looks like the dimensions of this or greater that there had been wired tapping, maybe lives were in danger. Carl said, We've got to go see Bradley skip the chain of command totally. And you called him it am at home. We have to come see you. That's Bob Woodward talking about Watergate and his work with Carl Bernstein at an event commemorating the thirty fifth anniversary of the film All the President's Men.
The discussion took place at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas. Bradley is Ben Bradley at the time, the executive editor of the Washington Post. And so we go to his house and he comes to the door and his jammies or bathrobe or something, and then we say, you can't, we can't talk in the house. We have to.
We're totally crazy, right, And it was, you know, in the middle of the night, you're gonna take me out on a lot of my underwear, and you know, you kind of think, is he going to call the guys with the white coats to have these guys hauled off? And we start, we tell him that this is all going to explode, you know. The rest Ben Bradley and Post owner Katherine Graham backed the reporting duo the Watergate
hearing's deep throat. Suddenly it was as if everyone was heating the lessons of Harriet the Spy, wanting to write things down and change the world. So my little clear path of me going into Columbia was almost disrupted because I remember the Dean of students at Columbia saying to me when I interviewed with him that while you certainly would be a perfect candidate, but now we're thinking about letting people have never had any interest in journalism more
suddenly inspired because we feel like that's important too. And I remember just being crestfallen that that might, like somebody like that might take a place for me when I really had wanted this all, you know, for all these years,
but there was competition for sure. Now let's talk a little bit more about Watergate, because it must have inspired you as well, there is a generation of reporters, Unfortunately they're getting well, for better or words, they're getting a little older now who were held to go into journalism by Watergate. I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Vice President for will be sworn in as president at
that hour. In this office, you know, kids throw around the word my kids awesome all the time, which and I remember feeling this incredible awe that I will not be here. And Bob and I were in the office and we watched that speech and the Catherine handed sandwiches those who wanted to stay that night. Catherine the first thing, Katherine Graham came downstairs and she said, no gloating. Let
me tell you there was no reason to gloat. It was a moment of such awe that that that the system, the system had worked, and we had been a part of that working. Uh, and the right thing had happened. You know, Woodward Bernstein became kind of heroes. But what specifically about what they did do you think made people want to go into the newspaper business People found that there was a way of truth telling that they hadn't
really seen before. I think that for many people, and I would say myself included, it was exciting to see that something you wrote could actually make this kind of thing happen, and all this drama and you know, some tragedy and it all, it's just it's just compelling h in that way, the way that the story came about.
And I for me, because I was already in wash in d C, I could go to some of the hearings and in fact, with some teachers blessings, they would say let's just skip class and head off to the hearings. You could hang out in the back of the room whatever. And to see that up close and in person was pretty amazing, frankly. And then the sonalities for me, the personalities was were very interested. Why did somebody you know,
want to do what they did in Watergate? And then how did somebody like Bernsteining Woodward who in some ways just sort of fell into a lot of this It's almost, i don't know, like a Greek drama that was happening right in front of us. So I think that really helped um interest. A lot of people are kind of eleven Climate table about three five girl. If Watergate brought tons of people into journalism. The other headline story of
Karen's generation happened on September eleventh, two thousand one. Everything on their plane, that's so. Can you look at you window right now? Can you see God about four thousands feet about five fearful right now looks like he's yeah, I can't okay, really what this is? What I foresee that we probably need to do. We need to talk to f A. We need to tell them if this stuff is gonna keep on going, we need to take those fighters, put them over Manhattan. There is a or
of the black smoke. In the last position, I gave you good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. Karen Macpherson was on the job that day and on September twelve to my editors said, I want what they wanted me to go into the Pentagon and get the story in there. So quit. The metro into the Pentagon was closed, so we had to
take a bus to the outskirts of the Pentagon. And as I was walking from the bus to the through the parking lot, people were running, dozens of people running towards me, away from the Pentagon because it was a rumor again that it was under attack, and it was sort of like, at that moment, I thought, you know, I'm not really sure why I'm doing this. There are hundreds, if not thousands of journalists who are writing the same story right now about nine eleven, and why is it
that I should be jeopardizing my family for this? And I also the other part of this is in fairness to my employers. If you are a reporter and you're really committed, you run towards danger. That's the nature of the business. And I decided I just really didn't want to do that anymore. It wasn't important to me to
do that anymore. So that's when I started thinking about it um and that day, I'll just say it was a very eerie experience because I did end up obviously that was a false rumor, and I did go into the Pentagon and where I had been it's like a city over there, and I was wandering around quarters where there was no one, no one, and it was it was an eerie feeling. So that sort of added to my feeling that I'm just, you know, I just don't think I should be here. Now. Let's unpack that just
a little bit. Uh, you're off, it's it's your nine eleven, it's the day you're not working. You how did you first get news that there were these airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center. Well, my husband was also a reporter, and he was at work and he said he called me and said, turn on the television and something awful is happening. And that's how I first saw. And then my beer chief called and said, we need you in here. You say you didn't really have a choice, But you
did have a choice, didn't you. I mean, obviously you loved your job. You were used to responding, you were used to that person telling you you know what you needed to do. Um, but you did have a choice. I guess I had a choice, but I didn't feel like I had a choice because my job was the one that we had were all on my job, my health benefits on for my job, and I wasn't sure, you know, what would happen if I didn't go in. And you know, I just I think in an emergency
like that, you just think, Okay, I'll go in. And I knew that we did have a good friend who would take care of the kids. And would make sure that they did not see the things on TV. And I think, you know, would would comfort them and would be with them. So I wasn't too worried about the kids at that point. I was worried about the press building thing. And before I went into the press building, I did understand. I did hear from somebody just outside that that had been a rumor, so I felt okay
about going in. But still the adrenaline must have kicked in at some point, and also, you know, the journalist part of you must have kicked in and said, I have this job to do. This is obviously the biggest story of my lifetime. Definitely, I mean, I think that was definitely part of it. You're right, the adrenaline does kick in, and of course, you know what was heartbreaking.
I mean, it was so hard to cover because you know, my story is nothing compared to what people whose love loved ones died, and what's the suffering that happened that day. It's incredible to think of, you know, and I think you know, you just you just in a way of responding to it as a reporter, you just your only response is basically to try to bring out the story and maybe hope it doesn't happen again. What did you write that day? What was what was important to the
folks that you were writing for that day? Basically was an atmospheric piece. I talked to people who were still working there, um, you know. And then it was also I remember there was an element there's with daycare, uh, Pentagon daycare, and there was I remember trying to find more information about that. I don't think I was able to find too much information about that, but luckily that wasn't not in the line of attack. Good Morning in different languages, and see if you can hear me with
your ears. Okay, here we go one to three. Good morning. So that was English. Let's try Spanish. Here we go one to three. Let's try French, my other language. We're going to take a short break, and when we return, Karen's decision to go back to school, her new career, how it meshes with everything she's done up until now, and how this chapter of her life is different from the one that put her in harm's way. You're listening to On the Job from Hired to Retired, brought to
you by Express Employment Professionals. I'm Steve Mencher. If you are searching for a job. Express Employment Professionals can help access free video training on what skills are in demand in today's job market, resume writing, interview tips, and more. Visit Express pros dot com slash job Genius. You can become a job genius today Express pros dot com slash job Genius. Express is on a mission to put a
million people to work each year. Let us help you get informed with the job market Forecast, part of the free job Genius video series from Express Employment Professionals. Watch it now at Express pros dot com slash job Genius. Welcome back to on the Job from Hired to Retired, brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. Karen Macpherson is now the children's librarian at the Tacoma Park, Maryland Public Library.
Her decision to try a new career was accelerated by the feeling that her job as a reporter put her in danger sometimes and that her role as a member of her family was more important than the glory of continuing to face that potential danger. In order to make the switch, she needed to go back to school. It took me five and a half years to get my master's degree, which is a long time. Um, I had to get permission to go for that last half of a year because you are supposed to have gotten your
degree by five years. But they did give me permission because I just needed to take one more class. So now, what are one or two of the classes that that you did take, especially ones that might have been of the highest interest for you, right, okay, Well I have to tell you. When I first and like many people who go to a library school, at first you're thinking, oh, books and all that, but it's it's these days, it's
mostly technology. It's it's called information studies information science. But the classes I like the best of course where I took a class and Children's litt Nature. That was an elective. I took a class in Young Adult Literature, another elective, and then the one that I want to switched tracks part way through. Uh, it was Children's Services in the Public Library, and that was probably the most important class I took because it's really related directly to what I
do now. Whenever you're the milkshake, here we go, you news he a little milk, poor milk, and you take a little cream, pour some cream. Eventually, Karen figured out where her main interests were and she headed down the path she's on now. Guys, ready, yip, shake, shake, shake up,
Shake up. Now, just to look backwards over your shoulder a little bit the the years in which this is happening, and starting with your interest in going through nine eleven up to the current time, approximately I've read sixty of newspaper jobs in the country went away. Yes, and so was that any part of your decision making process that looking around and thinking that this is not a growth
opportunity here? It was starting to be as I as I was continuing through school, but more towards the end of it, because I guess I always felt that, well, I could get a job because of all the experience I had as a newspaper reporter. But you know, it turned out that, you know, my job didn't go away, and the jobs were not that easy to as a journalist, and we're not that easy to get. Running. Circle time
is a very different thing than story time. Circle time is when you have a group of kids, usually a pretty large group of kids and adults, and the kids are anywhere from birth through age five live, so you don't there's no way if you're having fifty or sixty kids and adults in a space. There's no way that you can have everybody sit and quietly read books. A book that's going to work for everybody, it's just not
going to happen. So the idea of circle time is that you are doing a lot of kinesthetic learning with your body, and you're learning rhymes, and you're doing finger plays and songs and that is all very valid ways to learn um early literacy concepts and sort of building on that even a baby. You're doing this and they are getting your getting your baby ready to read. We know that now from the brain research you shake it all about, that's what your right. So several time becomes
it's a very common unity building thing. But we are also learning and helping our kids get ready for reading. And it's not just the kids who are learning. The adults are learning how to do this kind of thing with their child or the children they care for. We have a number of caregivers to come to circle time as well. When I first started this job, I really didn't quite understand how much of our performer I had
to be. I mean, I'm saying I dance the hokey pokey, I speak, you know, I it's a it's a whole thing which I was used to being a reporter and asking people questions and they were the performer basically in that sense. And here I am now up on the stage whatever, and I become a public persona because as as children's librarians are everywhere in any community, there they be. You know, you walk down the street and you see little kids and they're like, oh, there's miss Santo. Yeah,
you are of you. You are a public persona. So when you're most philosophical, how do you how do you see your role? Well? I guess I see my role as sort of a guide or a shepherd perhaps maybe sort of shepherding both the kids, uh and at first kids in their adults they're grown ups, um. And then later on more the kids you know, into um sort of the world of books, the world of ideas uh, and then sort of empowering them to sort of become their best person out in the world and to grow.
I feel like it's a gift uh and a huge responsibility that to be if you do it right, I mean, you can really have have an impact on the next generation. There is he following me? Oh my goodness, are going to see this? Okay? Now do you have a timeline about retiring from this role. I know you live in this community, uh nine miles from the White House where we're sitting, where all of the people in town who
are have government jobs are starting to retire. Lots of friends, I'm sure, and other people that you know, what does all of that look like for you? Well, you know, I haven't. I have thought about it a little bit, but I love my job so much. It's hard, you know, I'm not. I still have a few years before turning sixty five, and I feel like I feel that I really enjoy it so much that I don't want to stop. I do see a lot of my friends who have worked in the same career for so many years. They're
tired and they're ready to retire. But I actually had that sort of ten years ago, got to change careers, and that has given sort of new life to my interest in my you know, in what I'm doing. At the same time, I realized, you know, we all have a finite amount of time here on the earth, and it's like, well, I don't want to miss my opportunity to have some time totally to myself with my husband
and family and travel and do things like that. So I'm still it's still in the future, so I'm still very much weighing, you know, what I would do, But I feel like I have to be smart and think about some kind of an end date at some point, because I do feel like I might run out of time before that. What would you do if the boss came in today and said she's gotten some bad news from the city council. Uh, we're not really able to
have a children's librarian anymore. What would you do? Wow, I guess I would say I would say, let's let's figure out how we can convince them. Otherwise, give me some advice. I'm someone who has had a career. I'm in my forties, maybe early fifties. The career I have, I realize, is not the exact thing that I really
want to be doing. How do I get started going toward the light, you know, going toward that place where you are at where where one could say, gosh, she's really doing what she wants to do, and I envy that, and that's what a great place to be, right, I guess I would think about start by thinking about what you like to do that that gives you happiness and fulfillment that your job currently is not, and so what's that?
What is that? So for me, way back when, that was children's literally chure writing that I was doing that as a sideline, so that was what and I like working with kids. So okay, so what careers? What could you do with that? And start sort of researching things you might work with a career coach some I know some people who have done that recently, and uh, then I guess I would start. Once you decide what you're interested in, then start thinking about, well, okay, how could
I do that? What are the obstacles towards doing it? For example, you know, having to still work and go to school, and then see how you could get past those obstacles or at least get over those obstacles. Also be willing to take help in any form from your friends and family. Really, it does take a feel lege. It took a village for me to get to change careers to get this master's degree, and I, you know, really looking at it um at first, I wasn't sure
I could do it. I was pretty daunted by the idea of having to get another master's but with a family and working, But you can do it. If you, I think you just need to accept help, and I also do I think you have to be realistic about how hard it may be. That's all for this edition of I'm the Job from Hired to Retire, brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. Find out more at Express prose dot com. This podcast is produced by Steve Mencher
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