A former co-worker, Dave Carrillo, died recently of a heart attack at 41. He was a great person and journalist, and Ollie Reed, a reporter for The Albuquerque Tribune, put together a wonderful tribute to Dave. He quotes a lot of people I worked with at The Trib, probably the “golden age” of my journalism career. The talent in that newsroom was astounding. Ollie also included a quote from me. The one he couldn’t print, however, is actually pretty funny.
Dave and my wife, Lara, were constantly engaged in good-natured sparring. Both worked on the design desk, and I was on the copy desk. Lara came up to me, knowing I was studying Spanish, and asked for some invective in espanol. I told her to tell Carrillo, “Coma Mierda,” which means “eat shit.”
So she saunters from the copy desk to the design desk, repeating the phrase along the way so she wouldn’t forget it. But in customary Lara fashion, she managed to mangle it.
“Como mierda,” she barked at Carrillo, who at first looked bewildered, then launched into a characteristic Carrillo fit of hysterics at this designer who had just come up and announced: “I eat shit.”