A biz journalist in search of love

Tom Loewy, the columnist for the Galesburg Register-Mail in Illinois, eloquently writes Tuesday about the paper’s business editor, John Pulliam, who is leaving the paper and moving 2,000 miles away to chase love.

Loewy writes, “And along the way, the bruised and leathernecked old fullback showed some of his own jazz. This year he won a first-place award for the words he gave to a soldier’s funeral. He’d shared awards with other reporters, but never earned one with just his name on it.

“I’m sure John took a moment to savor his shiny new plaque. Then he ground out a few blogs on the weather, turned around a reaction story on the latest unemployment numbers and prepared the business section for the week.

“We all assumed he’d do that until he retired. But John had one last long run in him.

“He’s leaving this place for the best reason in the world. John’s goin’ to see about a girl. What guy — be he 22 or 82 — doesn’t understand the impulse. Most of us — entrenched in our jobs and burdened with all the things in life that own us — rarely drop what we’re doing to pursue something as ethereal as love. Not these days. Not in this economy.

“Our old fullback has the guts to try.”

Read more here. Pulliam’s final column, which is also worth reading, can be found here.