A life seen through offices

In my first career, my only “office” was a dressing room, usually shared with several other actors. At other occupations, I’ve worked on factory floors, in warehouses, cubicles, open office spaces or whatever classroom had been assigned to me. During a jaunt in Italy, nearly a decade before Covid-19, I worked a tech job remotely from cafes and pubs. I’ve been carrying a laptop around with me everywhere for 12 years. For better and worse, the world has been my office and vice-versa.

At New Mexico State University, my “office” in the now-demolished Regents Row building was actually a storage room where I met with students who had to sit next to a large, bright red popcorn maker on a cart.

I’ve never been a “corner office” guy, but as of this week here I am, looking through windows to the west and the north of the Electronic Caregiver building in downtown Las Cruces.

After six years at the Las Cruces/Mesilla town line, the Las Cruces Bulletin moved its offices last Friday back to S. Main Street, just a few blocks from its original location in 1969. I marked the occasion, of course, with lunch at Abraham’s on the fourth floor, partaking of a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

Change is stressful, yet our new space is bathed in natural light, surrounded by windows lending a feeling of spaciousness. It is probably a good sign that a reporter and I lingered in the new space long after the Sunday unpacking-and-pizza party had broken up, looking out over the city and talking shop in a place that felt more like a newsroom than our previous space.

Local news requires people, and through my open door I hear Bulletin staff bustling, laughing, talking to each other, more than I could in the other building.

I may be a corner office guy for the moment, but I’ll keep that door open.