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Mike
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Mike Burke’s professional life is divided into three parts: First, there is Mike Burke, advocate for disadvantaged children and their families. Mike is the Public Affairs Director for the Bounce Learning Network, which develops early education programs for low-income families.
Ask him about the mornings he spent a few years back helping child-care counselors make their way through the Robert Taylor Homes. “Rival street gangs would shoot at each other from across the buildings, and we would sometimes find ourselves in the crossfire,” Mike said. “I never took it personal.” Burke quickly mentions stories about the devoted young mothers he met and counseled.
Next comes Mike Burke, chairman of the board of directors of the Community Media Workshop in Chicago, an organization devoted to teaching grassroots groups how to get their stories told by the mainstream media. “It’s surprising what we can learn from people who’ve never found a voice before,” Mike said.
And then there is Mike Burke, fiction writer. If there were just a few more hours in the day, Mike would be as well-known for his poetry, plays and short stories as he is for his public advocacy. He has been published in numerous magazines and has seen several of his plays produced on Chicago stages.
Mike credits the Northern Star for much of his experience and success. “I learned to write at the Star, and more importantly, I learned to love writing,” he said. “And as any journalist will tell you, falling in love with writing is a sucker bet.”
Mike joined the Star in 1980 as a reporter, covering the Student Association. He soon moved to the city beat, and later was editorial editor. “I just learned so much from (former Star adviser) Jerry Thompson,” Mike says. “Not just about being a reporter, but about politics and people, and how to tell a story.”
As an alumnus, Mike helped the Northern Star in 1986 after university president Clyde Wingfield fired Thompson in an attempt to stop the paper from telling the truth about Wingfield’s exuberant inaugural spending and his abrasive management style. Mike organized hundreds of Star alums into what became known as “Alumni for a Free Press,” headed by Mike, Jim Slonoff (’80) and Ed Underhill (’81). Wingfield eventually resigned and Thompson got his job back.
The group lobbied lawmakers in Springfield and even organized a protest at NIU to coincide with Gov. James Thompson speaking to the College of Law. “The highlight came when Mike buttonholed Gov. Thompson at the law school’s front doors to tell him to fire Wingfield,” Slonoff said. “I thought the governor was going to deck him.”
- Ed Underhill, '81
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Gerald
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When Jerry DiPego was 12, he realized he wanted to write. The self-described shy loner from Round Lake, Ill., found a whole new life in the world of books and film.
“I loved to read and watch movies, as most of them took me away,” he said. “They opened up my mind and imagination and I knew I wanted to tell stories.”
Little did Jerry know one day the words escaping Hollywood stars’ mouths on-screen would come from his pen and paper. During his more than three decades in southern California, he’s written numerous TV shows, and movies including “Phenomenon,” “Instinct,” “Message in a Bottle,” and “The Forgotten,” not to mention several novels.
Jerry graduated from NIU in 1963, then dabbled in several areas of journalism including writing for The Joliet Spectator, working in public relations for the Elgin State Hospital and teaching journalism and English in Menominee, Mich. When he took graduate courses at the University of Missouri in 1967, Jerry found what he was looking for, though almost by accident. He soon would give up on the masters program, in order to enroll in creative writing, film and television courses that had perked his interests. By 1970, he was westward bound.
“Going to California was a freeing experience and I was amazed by the sunlight and color,” Jerry said. “It was a bright and strange kind of wonderful mix of people. It opened me up more.”
Which isn’t to say he hasn’t lost that boyish sense of wonder about the work he does.
“There’s an excitement about working with stars you’ve seen on the big screen,” Jerry said. “At times, I became that 12-year-old again and I didn’t know what to say to them.”
Jerry still keeps tabs on his writing and his credits, most notably by checking his profile on the Internet Movie Database.
“Part of your brain is that 12-year-old kid from Round Lake saying, ‘Wow, I have a profile [on IMDb]?’” DiPego said. “But the other part adds up all the scars and successes and in the end, you take it all with a grain of salt.”
Through it all, Jerry has remembered his Northern Star days.
“The Star for me was really the center of my college life,” he said. “Even though it was hard work, it was rewarding.” Jerry lives in the Santa Yncz Valley with his wife, Christine. They have two sons, Justin and Zachary.
- Collin Quick '07
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Diane
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Want to know how the convergence of television, the Internet and digital technologies ultimately will play out? So do the powerful people behind media and entertainment conglomerates.
And they all read Diane Mermigas. As a contributing editor and columnist for The Hollywood Reporter (VNU Business Media), and editor of her own Mermigas on Media subscription newsletter, Diane writes about media’s transformation from a big-picture business and economic perspective. She speaks at industry conventions and is a frequent guest on national TV business-news shows.
“I’ve become a student of the media over the years,” she said. “I’ve been able to get the big interviews, but we are at a point now where that isn’t enough. … I’m functioning more now not only as the objective journalist, but as the analytical writer who poses questions and then sorts through what could be some of the innovative answers.”
All of this from a mother of four who lives in Chicago’s western suburbs--not in New York or Los Angeles, where she frequently travels.
Diane always has been one to make her own breaks. As the Northern Star’s arts editor in spring 1972, she and a Star photographer were denied their official request to interview Elton John, who was performing at Chick Evans Field House. So, they sneaked backstage, hid in lockers and “just kind of stepped out at the right time,” she said. “We introduced ourselves and asked for a short interview, and he very graciously agreed.
“That experience empowered me as a journalist, and made me realize I could interview anybody as long as I did my homework and went about it in the right way.”
After graduating from NIU and earning a Masters degree in English from DePaul University, Diane worked as a news reporter for The Daily Herald, (Paddock Publications). She eventually was asked to cover media: write a column, attend press tours and interview stars.
“It was so boring. The entertainers were more impressed with themselves than I was,” she said.
After filing the required stories, she would hang around the studios to interview executives with the real power, and write about media’s business side. A self-created beat was born.
She honed her niche as a nationally syndicated columnist and editor-at-large for Crain Communications for more than a decade. She was an early telecommuter, working as both full-time journalist and mom because of the unique role she’d fashioned for herself.
-- Jim Killam
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Jim
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Headline writers many times use the word “first” as it not only gets attention but it becomes historical. After all, one of the tenets of journalism is the recording of historical events. At this point, his name should be revealed but without the temptation to headline his last name …Price. Even the nomination submittal was headlined “The Write Price.” And so he is … James “Jim” Price.
To his surprise back in 1961, Jim was informed by Dr. Donald R. Grubb, founder of NIU journalism department, that he was the first NIU graduate to major in journalism.
Of course, being first usually means that thereafter the eyes will be upon that person as one goes forth. And he has traveled like a native Freeport “Pretzel” intertwining and winning his way in and out of journalism jobs in Illinois, Iowa and Texas. That included Rockford; San Antonio, Texas; Princeton, Ill.; Dubuque, Iowa; and then he was stopped on a return to San Antonio where he met a Texas gal named Suzette and became wedded to his job.
For those who may still remember his days at Northern, Jim was known to use alliteration in his headlines. He says his newspaper coverage during his career also included the use of four “P’s” which will not be re-alliterated here. Instead, let’s just use, “Print for the Public of People and Politics.”
The Texas stint was for the San Antonio Light, and later the San Antonio Express-News.
He has held positions as general assignment reporter, senior county courthouse reporter, (which had some life scares), senior reporter, investigative reporter, rewrite reporter, assistant city editor, first state and regional editor, first deputy city editor and finally city editor.
For the Northern Star he began as a sports reporter. And each year took on the Homecoming Bulletin, Alpha Phi Gamma, associate editor then editor, besides adding various awards for himself and for Northern. Graduating in 1961, he became a full-time reporter until 1963 when he entered the Army … in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
Jim and Suzette still live in San Antonio where they raised two sons who have also become successful. Now retired, he continues his bent for journalism and writes and edits releases for goodwill organizations including his church.
Before last fall, Jim had not been back to NIU since 1965. Both the campus and his Northern Star have grown a bit. So for another headline: HERE’S A PRICE FOR A HALL OF FAMER.
- Tom Woodstrup '49
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Greg
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Greg Rivara’s memories of his work are vivid, colored with details torn from paperback crime novels.
He remembers the shirt his wife, Joelle McGinnis, was wearing when he first caught sight of her in the Campbell Hall newsroom; he even remembers the length and style of her hair. He quotes not only the familiar “Print the News and Raise Hell” but mentions it was printed on green-lined paper and tacked to the western wall.
While the cops-and-courts reporter for the Northwest Herald, Greg witnessed the execution of triple-murderer Charles Albanese. His recollections spill quickly, randomly and almost in whispers.
“Charles Albanese. A-L-B-A-N-E-S-E. He smoked Kool cigarettes. There was not a lot of question of whether he was guilty, although he maintained his innocence,” Greg says. “There was so much food there for the media. I found it out of place, because they were going to take a man’s life. I was so nervous I couldn’t eat. I thought I was going to throw up. Everyone else was eating.”
Interviewed afterward by TV reporters kept outside, he called the process “humane.”
“I regret that,” he says a decade later. “It was very clinical. I don’t know if it was humane or not, but it was clinical.”
The Oglesby native came to NIU to study law. A family friend (and attorney) advised him to learn to write. He’d already strung sports for the LaSalle News Tribune, and applied at the Star on a wager with Hallie Hamilton.
“I bet him a Coke I wouldn’t be hired,” Greg says, “and I was.”
In journalism, he found an opportunity to attack hypocrisy.
“I liked exposing people for who they were, and invariably that’s always about someone doing something to someone who can’t fight for themselves,” he says. “I get that rush. I get excited about a good news story, a good job of reporting.”
After NIU, Greg worked the crime beat at the Ottawa Daily Times and the Kane County Chronicle. After seven years in Crystal Lake, half of those in the courthouse, he returned to Kane County as managing editor in 2001. Under his watch, circulation has been growing 4 percent annually, and the paper has launched a Sunday edition.
He’s also found two good reasons to leave the cops and courts to others: son Quintin, 2, and 4-month-old daughter Gianna.
- Mark McGowan '92
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Gary
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When Gary Stein arrived at NIU and applied to be a sports writer at the Northern Star, he told editors of his qualifications: sports editor of his high school paper and winner of several writing awards. They hired him on the spot.
Now the truth can be revealed: None of it was true. Before he came to the Star, Gary hadn’t had a word published in his life.
“I hope they check their facts better now,” he joked.
What Gary hadn’t lied about was his ability to write. The Chicago native quickly started amassing clips, covering NIU sports and falling in love with journalism. The Star was located in Kishwaukee Hall then, and populated by students who would go on to journalistic greatness: people like Gene Mustain, Allan Zullo, Gary Watson, Mike Korcek and Ray Gibson. Gary made $5 a week, but gladly would have paid his editors to work there.
“You couldn’t wait to get to work every day at the Star,” he said. “It was electric, what we had down there.”
A stint in the Army Reserves interrupted Gary’s senior year for a semester. He returned with a shaved head – not exactly fashionable on campus during the Vietnam era. “It was like having a target on you,” he said. “So I didn’t have a lot of dates but I wrote a lot of columns.”
After graduating from NIU in 1969, Gary worked as a sports writer and columnist for the Gannett-owned Rockford Register Star for 11 years. In 1980, Gannett moved him to Westchester, N.Y., as a national sports columnist for the entire chain. But his sports days were numbered. A year later, he accepted a job at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., writing metro columns. He felt ready for the switch.
“Sports was always my heart, but I felt I done everything in sports,” he said. “I had covered the Olympics and the World Series. I’m still the biggest sports fan I know – but I’m not sorry I did it.
He would write 3,000 metro columns over the next 15 years, establishing himself as an institution in south Florida. Then in 1996, he became the paper’s West Broward editor – the position he holds today. He was ready for that move, too.
“My family (wife Jackie and son Mark, 14) is my No. 1 priority, and in this satellite office I’m a little closer to home if I’m needed.”
- Jim Killam