Every once in a while a piece of news comes to your attention without any prior heads-up, that causes you to put aside all of the preoccupations in your harried, day-to-day life and say: "Wait a minute, that's not fair."
The death of Darcy Pohland struck me that way Friday. She passed away in her sleep overnight. She obviously had serious health challenges because she was a paraplegic. But her death was something that I certainly didn't see coming.
I had only a fleeting contact with Darcy once, through email, but her death left a sudden void as if she had been a personal friend. She was a roving reporter for WCCO Television and always put heart into her work - her own personal stamp. She commanded attention when talking to you through that screen. And developed affinity. While she definitely wouldn't have wanted us to feel sorry for her based on her handicap, I always felt some sadness. If she could show this much energy as a paraplegic, how much more could she have offered, just in terms of ground she could cover, with no limitation?
Very rarely do I take the trouble to read an entire obituary in the Star Tribune. I read Darcy's on Saturday and found attributes attached to her that I was already well aware of. She was described as the "longtime, intrepid and popular reporter at WCCO."
I softly said "oh, no" when I read of the circumstances that forced her to become wheelchair-bound. She was in a diving accident in 1983. I did some quick math in my head and determined she was 21 years old at that time. She broke her neck. What a life-changing experience. She adjusted as best she could after that and climbed the ladder as a media professional.
She started at WCCO as an intern. She performed various duties there until getting the nod to become a reporter in 1994. She went out and about doing countless news and feature items. Her voice was of the type that suggested command of that day's topic.
She was the consummate professional, to be sure, but a tiny asterisk might be put next to that compliment. When Darcy did soft news stories in connection with the U of M Gophers or Minnesota Vikings, you could tell she had an emotional connection to these teams. In textbook terms this is a no-no, but who gives a rip about textbooks? So when Darcy showed on-air that she was emotionally let down after the Vikings' loss to New Orleans at the end of this past season, I emailed to compliment her and to share a link to this website on which I had a post publicly complimenting her. I wrote that there's nothing wrong with people in the media venting (a little) or showing gut level feelings after a significant sports event involving Minnesota.
In this post I also complimented Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen. My gesture toward Darcy included a hearty "congratulations Darcy," so I thought that if she could read this, it might put a smile on her face. I also teased her about how many people probably misspell her name "Pohlad" since Pohlad is such a prominent Twin Cities name.
I realized that people like Darcy get lots of email so I wasn't sure if my message would get her attention (or even get to her, as I had to email the 'CCO newsroom), or if she'd have time to reply. Three or four days later I had almost forgotten about that email I sent, when to my delight I saw her name in the "sender" column. I smiled. She thanked me for the "shout out" and added: "We die hard Vikes fans have to commiserate together!" I confess that "commiserate" is a word I'm not in the habit of using. I looked up a definition (and had to take a stab at the spelling, even): "To feel or express sympathy."
I'll try to use this word when occasioned in the future, and I'll remember Darcy every time.
Speaking of words outside my normal universe, the obituary reported that Darcy had "two Tonkinese cats." The only other time in my life that I've ever come across "Tonkinese" was in a comedy sketch in which the term was spoken by Tim Conway.
I'm a dog person myself but those of us who treasure pets are all brethren.
I was also a media person by career choice, so some affinity is felt there too. But the main affinity comes through remembering Darcy's humanity, how it was reflected in her sports allegiances and how that trait must have been extrapolated into all spheres of her life that she considered close.
WCCO Television isn't going to be the same now. We look back with appreciation to the energy and humanity that Darcy shared with us in such an unlimited, non-handicapped way.
We commiserate now and then forge ahead.
-Brian Williams - Morris Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
I had only a fleeting contact with Darcy once, through email, but her death left a sudden void as if she had been a personal friend. She was a roving reporter for WCCO Television and always put heart into her work - her own personal stamp. She commanded attention when talking to you through that screen. And developed affinity. While she definitely wouldn't have wanted us to feel sorry for her based on her handicap, I always felt some sadness. If she could show this much energy as a paraplegic, how much more could she have offered, just in terms of ground she could cover, with no limitation?
Very rarely do I take the trouble to read an entire obituary in the Star Tribune. I read Darcy's on Saturday and found attributes attached to her that I was already well aware of. She was described as the "longtime, intrepid and popular reporter at WCCO."
I softly said "oh, no" when I read of the circumstances that forced her to become wheelchair-bound. She was in a diving accident in 1983. I did some quick math in my head and determined she was 21 years old at that time. She broke her neck. What a life-changing experience. She adjusted as best she could after that and climbed the ladder as a media professional.
She started at WCCO as an intern. She performed various duties there until getting the nod to become a reporter in 1994. She went out and about doing countless news and feature items. Her voice was of the type that suggested command of that day's topic.
She was the consummate professional, to be sure, but a tiny asterisk might be put next to that compliment. When Darcy did soft news stories in connection with the U of M Gophers or Minnesota Vikings, you could tell she had an emotional connection to these teams. In textbook terms this is a no-no, but who gives a rip about textbooks? So when Darcy showed on-air that she was emotionally let down after the Vikings' loss to New Orleans at the end of this past season, I emailed to compliment her and to share a link to this website on which I had a post publicly complimenting her. I wrote that there's nothing wrong with people in the media venting (a little) or showing gut level feelings after a significant sports event involving Minnesota.
In this post I also complimented Vikings radio announcer Paul Allen. My gesture toward Darcy included a hearty "congratulations Darcy," so I thought that if she could read this, it might put a smile on her face. I also teased her about how many people probably misspell her name "Pohlad" since Pohlad is such a prominent Twin Cities name.
I realized that people like Darcy get lots of email so I wasn't sure if my message would get her attention (or even get to her, as I had to email the 'CCO newsroom), or if she'd have time to reply. Three or four days later I had almost forgotten about that email I sent, when to my delight I saw her name in the "sender" column. I smiled. She thanked me for the "shout out" and added: "We die hard Vikes fans have to commiserate together!" I confess that "commiserate" is a word I'm not in the habit of using. I looked up a definition (and had to take a stab at the spelling, even): "To feel or express sympathy."
I'll try to use this word when occasioned in the future, and I'll remember Darcy every time.
Speaking of words outside my normal universe, the obituary reported that Darcy had "two Tonkinese cats." The only other time in my life that I've ever come across "Tonkinese" was in a comedy sketch in which the term was spoken by Tim Conway.
I'm a dog person myself but those of us who treasure pets are all brethren.
I was also a media person by career choice, so some affinity is felt there too. But the main affinity comes through remembering Darcy's humanity, how it was reflected in her sports allegiances and how that trait must have been extrapolated into all spheres of her life that she considered close.
WCCO Television isn't going to be the same now. We look back with appreciation to the energy and humanity that Darcy shared with us in such an unlimited, non-handicapped way.
We commiserate now and then forge ahead.
-Brian Williams - Morris Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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