Plane talk

by Joe Hoshaw

Based on everything I've seen or heard in the local media over the last several months, my impressions of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, honestly, were not wonderful.

The seemingly relentless reports about all the problems related to the January snowstorm, the latest security breech and the perpetual shortage of convenient on-site parking made Metro seem like a place best avoided.

But, drawing on the experience I've accumulated from working nearly 18 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, I have come to understand that there is great truth in the time-worn expression, "You can't believe everything you read in the newspapers."

More importantly, perhaps, you have to be conscious to how newspapers and the nightly news can easily skew your sense of reality if you allow them to.

The "other side" of the Metro story, just like anything else that smacks of "good news," doesn't get nearly as much attention as the things that go wrong. I don't know that that is necessarily anybody's "fault," per se, but that is the reality of the news business these days.

So, it has come as a great pleasure over these past few weeks to get an up-close view of the news behind the daily headlines. Oddly, the thing that struck me the most in my first few visits here was the genuine enthusiasm and excitement I sensed from airport and airlines managers and employees alike.

As someone who previously relied on media reports for my airport news, I think I was expecting to run into a legion of brow-beaten public relations people and downtrodden, demoralized workers - all ready to toss in the towel and succumb to the overwhelming forces of negative news reports.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. Despite the great challenges presented by the airport's rapid growth and massive expansion plans, it seems as if people who work here, for the most part, are able to focus on the reality that this is a pretty exciting phase in the airport's history - one that offers great hope for the future once all the growing pains subside. As the new editor of Metro Detroit Connections, I'm looking forward to being a part of that.

Writer, adventurer and animal lover Anne Ter Meer with her greyhound, Indy.

***

I'd be remiss if I didn't pass along a special "thank you" to Anne Ter Meer, the only editor Metro Detroit Connections ever had up until the end of last month. Sometime shortly after her departure from the newspaper's office she was planning on heading off to a warmer climate in search of new adventures.

Her considerate nature and the great pride she took in her role with this newspaper were very evident in the way she so carefully guided the transition from her tenure to mine. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to follow in the footsteps of an editor so conscientious and well organized. Thank you, Anne - and best wishes, wherever the next adventure leads.

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