Mark Masek:
CLASS OF 1975
Joliet West High SchoolClass of 1975
Joliet, IL
University of Illinois - JournalismClass of 1979
Urbana, IL
Hufford Junior High SchoolClass of 1971
Joliet, IL
Taft Elementary SchoolClass of 1969
Joliet, IL
Mark's Story
Greetings, childhood friends, former classmates, potential stalkers and people who stumbled in here by mistake because they were looking for the "other" Mark Masek. Sorry, but this one is me.
After high school, I went to the University of Illinois, got my degree in journalism and set off to change the world. I ended up in Elgin, Ill., at the Daily Courier-News as a reporter and editor for about 10 years. Then a couple of years at the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, then a few years at Argonne National Laboratory. Then I just got sick of it.
I was a free-lance writer for a few years, writing for the Chicago Tribune, and a few business and travel trade publications. But what did I REALLY want to do? Well, I wasn't sure yet -- I'm still not -- but I wrote a few screenplays, got some good responses, and moved out to California. Because it's not easy working in show biz in Illinois.
I spent a few years knocking on doors and getting them slammed in my face, and picking up a few more "life experiences" -- I worked as an extra on a few TV shows (remember that...Expand for more
particularly interesting orderly in the background in one episode of season 5 of "E.R."? That was me! I was hoping for a spin-off series, but it never happened), drove a cab in the San Fernando Valley and was a contestant on "Win Ben Stein's Money" (and didn't). I also wrote a book about Hollywood cemeteries which was actually published. I have my own number in the Dewey Decimal System!
Then I went back into the newspaper business, working as an editor in Riverside, then in West Covina. In November 2007, I started work as an editor at the L.A. Times, which is where I am now.
So, that's me, in a painfully depressing nutshell. The newspaper business is pretty lousy these days (what's with these kids and this new-fangled Internet thingee?), but I think it's probably too late in life for me to run off and join the circus. Plus, I think my best lion-taming days are behind me.
Anyway, it's been a fun journey. Probably not the exact journey I would have planned or expected, but still lots of fun. And I'm not dead yet, so there might be more to come. I hope.
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