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Patricia Dumas Printer's Ink in my Veins "I'm like John Glenn", I told Janette Kaddo Marino, President of Troy United INK's Board of Directorsłand she promptly asked me to expand that remark into a feature article for TUI. I compared myself to Astronaut Glenn because, like him, I have been given the opportunity to return to an early career choice. That choice was journalism, a field that I worked in for many years . There is an old saying that once printer's ink is in your veins, it's there forever. In this technological age of computer word processing, the reference to printer's ink has lost its literal meaning, but the expression remains valid to describe that urge to write that never leaves men and women who have ever written for newspapers. Print journalists love their work and no other occupation gives them that same satisfaction. A chance meeting with Janette and Clem, the couple who founded and head Troy United Ink, led last year to me becoming a writer for this publication. I bring to that volunteer post a career background that started when I was a college sophomore, thrilled to be hired as a summer replacement reporter for a small city daily. There was a heat wave that summer of my nineteenth year so my first assignment dealt with how people were coping with the extraordinary heat. As the summer wore on, I became the reporter assigned to write all the obituaries, an assignment that gave me valuable experience in the importance of spelling names correctly and carefully checking pertinent data. At the end of that summer, I had a scrapbook full of stories I had written. Most of them were obituaries of people I had never known. That scrapbook, though, held other stories, each proof of my growing experience. There were the news items that grew out of my stint covering City Hall when the reporter assigned to that beat was on vacation. Then there was the very special feature storyłthe story that carried my first byline. Every print journalist recalls the joy of seeing for the first time a news or feature article written under his or her nameła byline earned with an exclusive story. During two summers and two years after college, I worked on that small city daily. Then, I was hired by Gannett News Service to join its staff at the New York State Capitol building where I worked with top journalists covering the legislature, the governor's office, and various government agencies. The job was exciting and demanding. My work hours were long and my bylines were many. I loved every moment of the 12 years I spent writing out of the Gannett Capitol News Bureau for 22 upstate New York newspapers. Later, after marriage, I entered the teaching profession, a career move that allowed me to be instrumental in the education of many young people. It was a good career move, but the old urge to write persisted. So from time to time, I have done some free-lance writing and worked as a part-time reporter for a weekly newspaper. Those career years are long gone but, thanks to TUI, I am again sifting through data and interviewing people in order to develop news stories. The reporter returns! In cooperation with Troy United Ink Corp., a not-for-profit corporation 
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