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Sept. 19, 2007

Wonderful news, one of our tiny editors has returned home!

On Monday, Mel wearily tumbled out of a manila envelop bedecked with pins and full of stories. He can't stop talking about the wonderful editors he met around the country while he was talking up the merits of the upcoming APME Conference Oct. 3–6 in Washington, D.C.

Mel was quite struck by the fact that regardless of where he landed, the challenges each of the managing editors he met were exactly the same. From Wilmington, Del., to Wichita, and all the newsrooms in between, he heard editors saying they wanted to learn how to build audiences on-line, how to lead change and most of all, how badly they need a big fat notebook full of fresh ideas.

"I kept telling them that they would find all that and more at the APME Conference," Mel said, making a rattling sound each time he moved because of all the paraphernalia he had picked up during his travels. (And, don't mention this to him if you see him, but when he raises his arm to make a point, that strange water mark he picked up in New Orleans is quite apparent.)

Exhausted, Mel plans to sleep for the next two weeks and is happy his traveling days have come to a close. "You have no idea how hot it gets in a Mississippi mailbox in July," he said.