An old friend, who used to be a good friend, got in a lot of trouble recently.
Pat Smith, who long ago worked at the Chicago Daily News and later at the Chicago Sun-Times, was asked to resign from her job as a columnist for the Boston Globe when it was revealed that she had invented people and quotes in four columns.
The news created a flurry of phone calls within the Chicago newspaper world.
“It finally happened,” said one reporter who had known Smith. “She got what she deserved.”
No argument there. You can’t make up stories and put them in the paper.
But it was sadly stunning how some people took delight in Smith’s troubles.
Said one reporter, “This was bound to happen. She really had an attitude.”
Perhaps he’s right.
But Smith was highly admired by some in Chicago and in Boston, in part for the poetry she writes. She routinely won the Poetry Slam years ago here at the Green Mill.
Her newspaper column was good. She was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize this year.
She was allowed to write a final column of apology in the Globe. It was all attitude and not a fitting end to a bright, short career.
