The trip to the mountains was refreshing and I went back to Charlotte feeling well rested. My girlfriend didn’t ask how Joe and I spent the weekend, she already knew.
A few weeks passed and I eventually heard from Charles about his contact with VIV. He called me one evening after work.
“I reached out after we met and I got a response back this past weekend.” He told me. “I asked if it was possible to get together, just to catch up, but it’s a no go. They said it was good to hear from me, but things were pretty busy for them right now.”
It was disappointing to hear and I let Charles know.
“I thought you’d say that but I might have some good news.” He said. “They said they would be busy with a conference in Charlotte for southern journalists. It’s next weekend at some fancy hotel in downtown. Maybe you can run into them there.”
“Thanks Charles,” I said full of gratitude. “You’re a good man.”
I had never heard of the Southern Conference of Journalists when Charles told me about it, but apparently they got together every year to discuss the state of journalism in the south. It was an annual event where organizers congratulated excellence in journalism. I wondered if it meant that VIV was a bona fide journalist or a professional writer. And when I researched the conference, I got worried that I would have trouble accessing it without credentials. Even if I were lucky enough to get inside, finding VIV would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
I thought to call my friend Wes because he was likely to have actual press credentials that could get him into the conference.
“I’ve never heard of the conference,” Wes said, “and I’m freelance nowadays. I don’t even have a press pass. But let me see what I can do.”
Wes lives near Asheville and he has been a journalist for all of his professional career. He used to live in Washington DC and he wrote a lot about politics. Since he moved to the Asheville area, he has written about a lot of different things that capture his imagination, from the moral Mondays protests of the state legislature in Raleigh, to the impact the proposed toll roads would have on commuters in the Charlotte metro area. He usually writes what interests him and shops it around to local papers. He’s been very successful at it.
I met with Wes later in the week after we talked and he explained that he was able to get an invitation but he brought up many of the concerns that I had already started to worry about.
“Do we just go in and talk to as many people as possible?” He asked.
“I guess so. I don’t know. Maybe we can do something to smoke VIV out. Like if we go as reporters for Ladoga’s paper, maybe VIV will come to us.” It was a longshot, but it was the only sensible plan that we could devise. But the plan presented its own set of challenges. We would have to figure out if reporters from the Ladoga paper would be at the conference.
We took a trip to the Ladoga paper and I talked with the editor, a woman named Sylvia Yanez. I was surprised that she was latina.
“It’s always good to meet with passionate readers of our paper.” She said when Wes and I went to her office. “It’s rare, but good.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Yanez.” I said graciously. “I’m sorry, but how long have you had this job? I was sure everyone at the Daily was pasty white.”
Yanez laughed. “I was only promoted recently, but you are not the first person to say that. I grew up in Matthews and I moved to Ladoga when I was still in high school. I’ve always wanted to be a writer and it’s inspiring what a well written piece of journalism can do for a community. I’m sure you know as well as I do that the Latin American population is very underserved by English language publications. They hardly cover anything related to latinos because they assume that they prefer the Spanish language publications. And that might be true, but the stories that matter to latinos, matter to everyone in their community usually. I wanted this job so I could address that. And here I am.”
Yanez was impressive and I told her so. “How is it going so far?” I asked her.
“Its everything you would expect. Lots of stress, dealing with reporters and readers and then the higher ups, but the quality of the paper has definitely improved. Wouldn’t you say?”
I was embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t pick up a copy of the Daily in a very long time.
“That’s fine, but check it out. Get back to me.”
“I was hoping that you could help us,” I said changing the subject to my mission and I launched into the details of my investigation of VIV and TAOT and she interrupted me before I could finish.
“I have to say that I am a huge fan of that little newsletter.” Yanez said with a smile. “It’s part of the reason that I fought so hard for this position, so I could curate that type of reporting for our paper. I always wondered who did it.”
“That’s where we could use your help.” I explained. “If we can get into the conference this weekend in Charlotte as Ladoga reporters, we might be able to meet the man or woman behind the paper.”
“Why do you think going as a Ladoga reporter would be helpful?” Yanez asked.
“We know that VIV loves Ladoga.” Wes said. “You don’t spend as much time writing about a city as VIV has and not care about it. Max has a good source that says VIV should be at this conference and we’re hoping they see us from the local paper and start conversation. Maybe we can get some insight into who it is.”
Yanez considered the plan. “I can give you guys press passes, but I want your story. Do a piece for me about VIV and I’ll do everything I can to help you guys.”
Wes was eager to accept right then, but I asked for a day to consider it. I hadn’t plan to write anything exposing the identity of VIV and it was clear that the expose is what Yanez wanted. But I had promised Charles that the expose wasn’t the point of the whole thing. And my conversation with Mr. Smith was also nagging me. I couldn’t just promise a story not knowing how my meeting with VIV, if it ever happened, would go.
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