From Anderson to the Wall Street Journal

It's not every day that one of your relatives has an article published in the Wall Street Journal. Or Barron's.

My cousin, Curt Thacker, grew up in Anderson like the rest of us. Then he went to Purdue. He wanted to become a vet. One small problem... he was allergic to the animals... steered him in another direction. He left Purdue with an Ag degree and went to work in the great midwest (we used to think of Indiana as the midwest) at Wilson Packing Company, a major meat producer. Then he switched to reporting on the industry.

I hope this very brief and inaccurate story will be expanded upon by Curt so you can read a very interesting tale about preparing for the unknown and making the most of a lucky break. Curt's interview in Chicago with a prospective employer is a great story.

He works for Dow Jones, which owns the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. Actually, Rupert Murdoch now owns it all. That Rupert Murdoch... the one who owns Fox News, the Dodgers, and most of the world's newspapers. (Since my daugher Sarah works for the NY Times Company, we pretty well cover the waterfront when it comes to journalism!)

Curt has reported on Ag markets for years now. He probably knows as much about the pork industry and markets as anyone in the country.

He recently wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal about Swine Flu. He also wrote one for Barron's, the magazine for investors.

I called Curt recently to let him know that I had found a book that described the WWII experiences of his dad's unit (including a couple of pictures of his dad and buddies). After we talked about the book for awhile, Curt mentioned the articles he had just written. Then I got him to recount his career moves, including the Chicago interview story. I didn't take notes, and after all... he's a professional writer... so I'll keep hounding him until he writes up the whole pre-vet, meat business, Ag markets reporter story so we can all read about it.

And did you get that teaser about the WWII book featuring Warren Thacker and his Scouts and Raiders unit?