Gate City Journal
“I think she does a great job of not reducing people to a job or activity or event in their life.” So far, through eight issues, readers have responded favorably. Sally’s across-the-street neighbor, Marianne Gingher, a professor of English and comparative literature at UNC-Chapel Hill, sends notes of support regularly. “I like getting fan mail from her,” Sally says. She perches on a comfortable chair in the lobby of her editorial office, also known as the living room of the family’s bungalow. “I’ve lived in this house all my life,” Sally says, tugging at the sleeve of her cardigan. When she’s not churning out copy, she explains, she likes to swim for fun and play violin and ukulele. She enjoys crafting with beads. A few feet away, her brother Will, who’s 8, wiggles on a couch between his parents. “My dad wants Sally to ask me to write an opinion piece about school lockdowns,” says Will. The look on Sally’s face says she’s heard this story idea before, and she’s not sold on it. “Maybe the next issue,” she offers. Will presses. He brings up her refusal to run a free ad for the leaf-raking business he operates with a buddy. “I don’t want to do advertising,” she says cleanly. The kid is a born editor. But she nixes her current gig as a career. She’d rather be a doctor, like both of her parents are, or maybe help immigrants by working at FaithAction, she says. Still, her stint in journalism is teaching her a few things. No. 1, it’s not easy work, she says. It takes a lot of planning to conduct interviews and put together an interesting paper, especially when your news hole has doubled from two to four pages. Also, she’s found out, being a reporter introduces you to all kinds of people, including people you don’t agree with. In Sally’s opinion, that’s not a bad practice. “It makes me a better person to listen and learn,” she says. OH Maria Johnson is a contributing editor of O.Henry. She wants to be like Sally Nagappan
44 O.Henry
August 2019
The Art & Soul of Greensboro