Hi this is Cathy from Jesse Helms’s office. I’m phoning to see if a decision has been made on his letter.

I put Cathy on hold, and ask an editor if we have any plans on the Helms letter. She makes a face like she can smell something I can’t.

"What was that on?" she thinks out loud.

"Iraq," says another editor, without looking up from his computer.

The smell has apparently gotten more sour. "Pass," she says shaking her head. I break the news to Cathy, who takes the news in stride, and thanks me for my time. Before I am done being amused with how casually a US Senator is dismissed, another call comes in.

New York Times? You take opinions there?

I start to explain the policy, that OpEd pieces should be no longer than 650-words and could be faxed, mailed, or emailed.

Can't I just tell you my opinion?
Um...

Now I do not consider myself liberal, but I respect other opinions.
Sir, if you have an opinion you would like to submit you can mail, fax or email.

You can't just take notes?
No.

Well can you at least write down that Maureen Dowd sucks?
No problem.

He takes the news as pleasantly as the Senator’s office.

As far as temp gigs go, this is a pretty good one. The money isn’t quite what the larger corporations pay, but in trade I get a real steeping of Old New York. The halls of the Times Building are shadowy and pale yellow, and the smoked glass doors are marked with department names ("Letters to the Editor" etc.) that call back to a different era of copy boys and women in lined stockings. I half expect Spencer Tracy to burst in, smoking a cigar in his shirtsleeves, and shout "HEY BOY! TAKE THIS DOWN TO THE COPY ROOM, TOOT SWEET!" At this command I would explode through the double doors of the copy room and yell "STOP THE PRESSES!" But of course the printing isn’t done on 43rd Street anymore, and a lit cigar would probably result in criminal charges.

My day here begins in the mail room. I pick up the bundles for the editors in OpEd and Letters. Each contains The Washington Post, The L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune, and local treasures, The Daily News and The Post. I then gather the letters and run them through the "automatic letter opener," which in practice really only roughs them up a bit.

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