“The average career of a major league baseball player
is 5.6 years.”

In July, a research team from the University of Colorado released the above statistic in a study by the Institute of Behavioral Science in Boulder. The study, which examined baseball careers from 1902 to 1993, also showed that one in five position players have major league careers lasting just one year.

Hopefully, this kind of information can remind our youth and adults, as parents and mentors, how highly competitive and short-lived jobs in any national sports are. This knowledge should encourage us to prepare our children with skills and expertise that will support more enduring ways of making a living. Those with dreams of reaching athletic greatness should not give them up, but they would be wise to develop a passion and plan for other types of work, which will sustain them and their families for the long run.

As schools and universities head back into session, our September issue always focuses on youth, education, and career options. This month, we have stories on the unique learning available at Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios, the variety of artist residencies offered by community organizations and art institutions, and two different but complementary leadership training programs.

We also do a little education of our own, by presenting you with the facts, the figures, and a little history behind current events. We update you on Hurricane Katrina victims in Colorado, the meaning of Sept. 11 for Ethiopians, the achievements of the Congressional Black Caucus, and a little-known event in Black American history at Washington Park.

And, then, there’s our cover story, where media leaders tell you about the newspaper industry – its current state and its future. As we wind down from celebrating the 20th anniversary of publishing the Denver Urban Spectrum, we are sharing with you the challenges presented by the changes in newspaper readership and advertising.

Be assured, no one is sitting around and waiting for those changes to put us out of business. We at the Spectrum are planning a big year of research, planning, and reorganization to better meet the needs of our contemporary community. We have tentatively named this effort Project 20-Plus to recognize our goal of thriving for many more than our current 20 years – for at least another 20!

It’s an exciting time to be in the community news business, and we recommend it to anyone – young or old – as a satisfying, mind-expanding career.

Thanks for reading and contributing.

Tanya Ishikawa
Editor

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