|
|
|
|
By Julie Pfitzinger During his years as a “cops and courts” reporter for the Minneapolis Star (now the Star Tribune) and then later at WCCO-TV as a general assignment reporter, Dave Nimmer typically found himself looking at all the angles and always in pursuit of the truth buried at the heart of a story. In his second career, Nimmer was a member of the journalism faculty at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul before retiring in 2001. Today, he finds himself in the position of being a relentless seeker not of the truth of someone else’s story, but of his own. “This part of life is a spiritual journey,” says Nimmer, 67. “It’s a quest to put some meaning to my life. I’m making a picture that I can look at and it is one that means something to me. I didn’t spend a lot of time doing that before, but I do now.” Rather than examining the value of daily work as he did in the past, Nimmer has discovered that these years are more about finding ways to spend time in other pursuits, or as he puts it, an opportunity to pay attention to the “different rhythms” of life. Retirement is something that causes the landscape to shift, says Nimmer, who believes that “life without a business card” can be somewhat difficult. “I’m not sure if it is more important for men to have that working identity than it is for women,” he says. “I just know the value of what it meant to lay your card down on the bar counter and say ‘this is who I am’. We ascribed importance to that.” Being half of a married couple is yet another way Nimmer used to identify himself, but that also changed when he and his wife of 18 years divorced in 2003. “Sometimes you have to confront change and that can be a challenge,” he admits.” You find yourself having to be more self-aware.” After many years spent living on a farm outside the metro area, Nimmer is also preparing for another step along the journey as he will be moving into a townhouse later this year. “I’ve been on the lake for about twenty years and spent a lot of time fishing on it,” he recalls fondly. “That’s another soulful experience, like seeing the eagles fly over the St. Croix River on a good day. I’ll miss it, but I know I will be hooking up my boat and fishing in other places.” Traveling also occupies an important place on Nimmer’s agenda, including a return visit to Alaska this summer with one of his best friends. “We were there together about ten years ago, and it was a great adventure,” Nimmer says. “It’s important to make time for some new adventures.” Spending time with friends is a significant part of Nimmer’s life right now. “You know, there are some of them that I have to help in and out of the car and that’s okay,” he says. “I’m really proud of how we are all making time for one another. We’re doing a good job of staying in touch.” Another connection that Nimmer is passionate about is his work with journalism students, now on a volunteer basis, through the University of St. Thomas ThreeSixty Journalism program. Founded in 1970 (then known as the Urban Journalism Workshop), ThreeSixty offers journalism training in the form of seminars and summer camps to low income and minority high school students. Knowing that his students in ThreeSixty are learning about journalism in a very different way than he did, Nimmer says that despite the technological assists they get from Internet search engines and the like, crafting a great story requires the same attention to detail as it did when he was a young reporter. “Someone still has to pick up the phone and ask the questions. Find out what’s going on,” he explains. “The basics are still the same. You have to be literate, you have to be curious and you have to be a good writer.” The time he spends in the classroom with students has always felt “as important to me as walking into a newsroom.” Interacting and engaging students in meaningful dialogue about storytelling, writing and reporting remains his favorite aspect of his role as teacher. During his years on the local news beat, Nimmer covered everything from the riots on the north side of Minneapolis in the late 1960’s to the massive flooding in the Red River Valley. When the 35W bridge collapsed last August, Nimmer was riveted by the details and found himself reminiscing about his life as a reporter. “Sometimes when one of those big stories comes along, you want to be out there, maybe just one more time,” he says. “I would have liked to have been part of the first television crew on the scene at the bridge, trying to put that story together.” The memory of the passion he felt for his job isn’t far from his mind. “In those experiences, you feel more alive than you ever have felt before,” Nimmer admits. “There’s exhilaration. It’s just what we do.” Although he has been off the air for several years now (he and friend Marcia Fleur were co-hosts of the daily newsmagazine called “Newsday” until, in Nimmer’s words, “Oprah sank us like a rock” in the timeslot), he is still occasionally recognized when he is out in public. “Most of the time, people say they recognize my voice,” he says, adding with a laugh,“I am unduly flattered by that. There was a time in my life when that kind of attention meant a lot to me.” Nimmer also has a lot to say about music – another passion—and claims that his tastes vary from Norah Jones to Vince Gill to Vladimir Horowitz. He recently saw Bruce Springsteen in concert for the first time, marveling at the dynamic stage presence of “an old guy of 58”. The hymn “Amazing Grace” affects Nimmer in a way he finds hard to describe and he says that he attends church, liking it best when “it gets good” and when he can raise his own voice and “sing out loud”. Living the examined life is what Dave Nimmer is all about right now and he is at peace with the many discoveries he’s making about himself as he fine-tunes his own story. “I am imperfect and flawed, but I’m getting more comfortable with those flaws,” he says, “Half the secret to doing well in this life is to just show up. Be interested and just be there.”
|
Dave Nimmer