Starting next fall you can call him Professor David Giffels. The BJ columnist has accepted a buyout and is waiting for the paper work to clear.
He will begin a new career as professor in the English Department at the Universi
ty of Akron in the fall and is planning another book.Giffels said this afternoon he is happy he can remain in Akron. "That's where I want to be," he said. He has been at the Beacon Journal more than 14 years, beginning in June, 1994. He is among those who have top recognition among Beacon Journal readers.
Giffels' latest book is All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down Ho
use, which the New York Times called ''sweet and funny.'' He also has co-written Wheels of Fortune, a history of Akron's rubber industry, and Are We Not Men? We Are Devo.David and wife, Gina, who is a school teacher, are, proud owners of an exquisitely renovated 1913 Tudor house, with six fireplaces, a solarium and a billiards room. All The Way Home, which talks about their renovation exploits, got a large review in the New York Times.
It is best just to type Giffels in the search box at left above to see all of our posts about him.
The Beacon better start hiring some new columnists because pretty soon no one will be left.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info. We in the newsroom are the last to know. --Mrs. Anonymous
ReplyDeleteAgreed with anonymous. Kind of figured Giffels would always be one of the Beacon people that became a lifer. Guess not. Very sad times.
ReplyDelete1. Don't assume that the BJ is willing to pay for a columnist if he gets more than minimum maximum scale pay.
ReplyDelete2. Bob Dyer still is hanging on, by his fingernails maybe, but still there.
3. If there are any more layoffs and buyouts then all but one corner of the newsroom can be rented out to the homeless, solving two problems at once.
4. It's so sad what is happening to newspapers and newsrooms. I feel so bad for co-workers who were there when I retired, but that number is swindling so fast that we'll have to have our alumni reunion at Akron U.'s new stadium. Or you newly departed can join the rest of us at Papa Joe's in the Valley at 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month.
-- John Olesky, 1996 retiree (with the medical coverage gun held to my head that year; little did I know the job and the coverage both would be pretty much gone within 10 years)
I envy Giffels. I would have loved to have had the experience writing for "Beavis and Butt-head."
ReplyDelete