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Normally I am a modest sort of fellow, having much to be modest about. However,
the idea here is not only to introduce myself but to promote myself as well.
Here goes.
I am a travel columnist. For
more than a decade I have written a weekly piece for the travel section of the
newspaper Reforma; it is now syndicated.
In addition, I contribute reports on the hospitality industry to every issue of
Turistampa, Invertour and Dimensión Turistica, plus occasional
pieces for The News and Baja Traveler. On occasion I have been
referred to as the dean of travel writers in Mexico (which merely means I am the
oldest), and as the most widely-read and the most-respected, flattering but
possibly true.
What I do is write about
tourism, telling people where, in my opinion, they might like to vacation. True
travel writers, as I understand it, report on journeys only the daring or
foolhardy might be willing to take.
That I do what I do never
was planned. Fresh from the Pulitzer School of Journalism at Columbia
University, I came to Mexico City in 1958 with dreams of becoming a foreign
correspondent, inspired by Hemingway and films like “Roman Holiday” and “Love
is a Many Splendored Thing.” Considering the fate of the protagonists, this may
not have been a very bright idea, but the alternative was reporting on sewage
board meetings at some small town daily while I gained on-the-job experience.
Instead, I found employment at The News,
a small newspaper in a big city. I labored there for more than a dozen years, the
final six of them as editor.
From The News, I moved on to become editor of the then new
Spanish-language business magazine Expansión.
From there I went on to become the foreign correspondent I had dreamed about,
first for Copley News Service, then United Press International, next The New
York Times, and finally Time-Life. In
late 1976, I visited Nicaragua
on assignment for Time-Life and within months was employed by a public
relations firm to write nice things about Anastasio Somoza. The pay was better
than at Time-Life. Much better.
I lost that job when
Somoza lost his, but I managed to keep body and soul together – as well as to
support my Mexican family – with various public relations writing assignments. All
were related to tourism. Over the years, I had contributed to guide books and
written pieces for travel publications. In 1982 (if I remember correctly), Travel Weekly appointed me contributing
editor for Mexico
with a handsome monthly stipend. Not quite as handsome as what I received from Somoza,
but the perks were better. I remained at Travel
Weekly until 1995, when the publication, facing financial difficulties,
disposed of much of its staff, including me. Happily, by then, I had become
known among the travel and tourism press in Mexico. When Reforma instituted a travel section, I was summoned.
Reforma, which takes its name from the best known avenue in Mexico
City, brought from Monterrey to Mexico City a new form of journalism.
Editorial space no longer was for sale and reporters were not expected to
double as advertising salespeople. Accepting payment from sources – a common
practice in Mexico
-- was forbidden. This probably is why I was selected as a columnist. Perhaps
it was known that I never had accepted a bribe. Perhaps it was unknown that I
never had been offered one. In any event, the rules were spelled out: I might
not request free transportation or accommodations, although I could accept them
if offered. Acceptance did not guarantee publication and any report I wrote should
include mentions of any imperfections.
That said, I am including
in this site my column of the week, in English. The Spanish-language version
belongs to Reforma. Oh, yes. Why
Jimm? Thank AOL and the Internet. When AOL came to Mexico, they asked me to write an
on-line travel column for them. Since AOL already had a Jim Budd as a client;
they suggested Jimm. And when I went on to get my own domain name, Jim Budd had
been taken. Jimm Budd, however, stands alone.
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