first news interview - Max

It was black and silver and heavier than I thought it would be. I could not remember ever holding a microphone in my hand. Now I had to shove it at just the right angle toward someone's face. I was both thrilled and terrified.

"Go interview Jim McConn," the assignment editor had told me. "Don't be shy!"

And so I went.

He was giving a speech at a luncheon in a downtown Houston hotel. I waited outside the room until I heard the applause, signifying the speech was over. My heart raced within me. I went to the door, poised for my question. He was wearing a grey business suit with a gaudy orange tie. His medium brown hair was heavily sprayed. I nervously held out the microphone.

"Mr. Pecan," I said, then realized it was a huge gaffe.

Jim McConn said to me, People will think I'm some kind of nut."

It was my first interview on my first day as a news reporter, and I called our future mayor a pecan.