I first heard of the Harrisburg Independent Press in the spring of 1972, when I spotted a help-wanted ad on the bulletin board of the Daily Collegian, the student newspaper at Penn State where I’d worked prior to my graduation that March. I was hanging around State College, papering my apartment with rejection letters from various news organizations that had decided they somehow could function quite well, thank you, without my services. For rent and beer money, I’d taken a night janitorial job at the university, where I would spend the hours after midnight doing such things as dusting the long fluorescent ceiling lights in various liberal arts classrooms. The irony of this was not lost on me. The HIP ad read something like: “Wanted, editor for weekly community newspaper. Must be experienced and knowledgeable in all aspects of publishing a weekly newspaper.  Compensation: $50/week.”  This, I thought, is the job for me. I called the number in the ad, spoke to either Anita Harris or Ed Zuckerman, I forget exactly whom, and set up an interview for the following week.  In preparation, I lined up my neatest clothing (a suit and tie) and transformed my shaggy and unkempt appearance with a serious haircut. Big miscalculation!        >>>