By Mary Jekielek Insprucker
August 2005

When I asked News and Observer long-time columnist Dennis Rogers how he would start this column if he were its writer, he replied. “Lord, Lord, Lord, first it wouldn’t be Fifty and Fabulous. It would be more like 62 and cranky. But, of course, you could start it talking about how charming and attractive I am.”

Dennis Rogers

Rogers has been starting columns for the News and Observer for almost 30 years. The job came to him by chance when its former writer quit and Rogers was named his replacement. “I didn’t really want it because it’s hard work
to come up with self-generated topics,” said Rogers, who acted
in a reporter capacity at newspapers in Chapel Hill, Fayetteville, and Charlotte.

In fact, Rogers didn’t really want to be in the newspaper business at all. Originally, he wanted to go into broadcasting. However, after taking some basic journalism courses he discovered writing was what interested him. “In journalism I am a writer, which is what I love to do. In broadcasting I would have been a personality and that didn’t interest me.”

Rogers always loved to write even as an angst ridden teen penning bad poetry. However, when he went to UNC and found out he had talent; it became a career, not just a joy.

"I try not to be predictable when I write because that’s the curse of death in this line of work. I want the reader to wonder, ‘What the hell is Rogers going to say about this?’ I refuse to be labeled. I’m neither conservative or liberal, republican or democrat, pro or anti anything. I take each issue as it comes up, and I may change my opinion on it years later.”

Such was the case for Rogers concerning the war in Iraq. “Two years ago, I believed what I was hearing from Washington, so I supported it. Now I don’t believe, so my opinion has changed.”

Rogers gets his material from everyday life. “I listen to what people are talking about at the diner and the grocery store and I write about what’s number one on their hit list.”

Rogers will admit that his commentaries sometimes lean toward southern culture and military issues. The 11-time North Carolina Press Association award winner was in the Army for eight years. “I’ll write about southern culture changing. Like, now there are more bagel shops than barbecue. I write about the military often because people who are willing to risk their lives for the small amount of money we pay them are interesting to me.”

It can take Rogers anywhere from twenty minutes to three days to write a column. If the process doesn’t flow, he’ll drop a topic, saying he “can’t fake it.” If he did, he would hear about it. Rogers receives over 100 emails a day. “Many of them say where I can stick it. It runs 70 to 30 in favor. But when I really get it wrong, I take the criticism seriously and learn from it.”

No column he’s written is a favorite, but he does recall a memorable one. He tells the story of a column he wrote for his daughter on her sixteenth birthday. Two months ago, a young woman called him to tell him that when she turned sixteen her father read that column to her. Later, when the father died, it was among the items found in his wallet.

Another memorable column was Rogers’ offering for 9-11. “I just sat at my desk watching the burning and the bodies on TV and just kept weeping. It happened during a difficult time after I lost my daughter in a wreck in December 2000 and a friend in January 2000. I didn’t know how much more of it I could stand and all my emotions poured out.”

When Rogers gets a visit from his four grandchildren he will joke, “I’m not sure it’s better to see their headlights up the driveway or their taillights going down.” Yet it is clear to see he is a proud grandpa who takes some of the grandkids on his motorcycle.

Rogers got into motorcycling at the age of forty. “I always wanted one and I thought it would help me not grow old.” Did it; I asked. “God no, nothing can stop you from getting old, but it makes the trip a lot more fun.”

Where did he think he’d be at 50? “I didn’t know where I’d be, but I knew where I wouldn’t be. My grandmother, who was poor and widowed, raised me on a tobacco farm. I did everything I could to make sure that I would never again be on a tobacco farm at 5 a.m. in July.”

Rogers has no plans to retire. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do. If I retired, I’d begin to rust.”

However, when that day does comes, Rogers says his last column will go something like this. “It would be a long thank you note to the people who read the column, even when it was not very good. If they didn’t read it, I would have had to go out and get a real job, and I’m not very good at selling shoes.”