Dan Shannon, Creator of Durham Magazine

Posted: September 27, 2024 | Author: dana lange | Filed under: Uncategorized |Leave a comment

One day in 2008 I got an e-mail from a man I didn’t know, named Dan Shannon. He wrote that he was the publisher of Durham Magazine and wanted to talk to me. I had just received the first issue of this new Magazine in my mailbox not three days before. I had read it cover to cover and thought it was a nice idea, but thought it felt like it was missing a real connection to Durham.

Apparently that is why Dan was contacting me. I called him in reply to his email and he asked if I would come over to his office in Chapel Hill, where he had been publishing Chapel Hill Magazine for over five years. Not exactly sure why he wanted to talk to me, but curious, I went to meet him.

The Dan I met that first meeting was a gregarious yankee transplant a few years older than me. He told me about moving to Chapel Hill and starting that Magazine. He realized that Durham was a bigger fish and also needed a city magazine so he put out the first issue using the Chapel Hill Magazine Staff. He asked me what I had thought of the first issue.

Still not sure why I was there, and being myself, as I always I am, “I told him the cover photo of Scott Howell, owner of Nana’s eating a biscuit in front of Biscuitville, was a cute twist, but a terrible photo. I went on to critique some of the articles that had nothing to do with Durham.

When I had finished he told me that my friend Nata Boyzemski, had similar thoughts about the first issue. He was friends with Nata and as she was a Durham native he wanted her opinion. I was glad that as a Durham transplant I had the same reaction as Nata and was not the first to tell this guy the truth.

That was when Dan revealed the reason he wanted to meet me. “Nata told me I should hire you.” I was a little taken aback. Hire me for what I thought? I had retired from my consulting job to stay home with Carter. What did this guy know about me.

“I want to hire you to be the Durham voice of the magazine.” Not exactly sure what that meant, or even if I wanted to work again I said, “Look, I am very busy. I have a nine yer old daughter and I am very involved at her school. My husband has a company in Durham and works internationally and travels all the time and I travel too. I am on two non-profit boards and about to be chair of one of them and they take up a lot of my time…and I am a real bitch.”

“Now, I definitely want to hire you, “ Dan said.

I was not quite sure what the job would be, nor was Dan. We talked a little longer and I told him I would get back to him the next day. When I didn’t call by three in the afternoon he called me. He decided that I so would make a great editor. He had no idea if I had one bit of skill as an editor, which I did not. I told him that. We talked some more and eventually he talked me into being the community events editor, which really was a nebulous title. He gave me a writing assignment for the second issue of the magazine to write about my work at the Food Bank.

I turned it in and I thought someone would heavily edit it. It was printed word for word in the magazine. Dan and I would have a lot of back and forth about how much I would work and exactly what I would do. Sometimes I would go to the office and work with the kids who really worked there, be in pitch meetings suggesting article ideas and making Durham connections which is really what I was hired for and then I would go weeks, not seeing anyone and just turning in assignments. I mostly got to pick my own subjects and interview people who were doing good works in Durham.

Dan would tell me he wanted me to write about something and then when the magazine came out I would discover it was the cover story. This went on for many years. My favorite story was one I had to fight to even get to write, my interview with Colin Firth.

A movie was being filmed in Durham that starred Orlando Bloom, Amber Tamblyn, Ellen Burstyn and Collin Firth. The production company’s communication director had put a press release out saying that there was not going to be any press interviews with the cast during filming, just during the press tour when the movie was released.

I argued that the cast was not going to return to Durham for the press tour and we only had this one shot. Just to shut me up, Dan and the Head editor Matt told me to see what I could dig up. Through a very convoluted way I befriended the communications guy, had him to our house for dinner, and asked for the interview. He told me I could interview Orlando and I told him only Colin would do. It happened and was the biggest selling issue of Durham Magazine thanks to the international Colin Firth Fan Club who kept contacting the magazine to buy issues. Dan complained to me about all the international shipping they were having to do, but was still thrilled with my get as no other media outlet got anything from the movie. For the record the movie, called Main Street, was terrible, as Colin had predicted in our interview, but he still really liked the town of Durham. Just what the magazine wanted.

It was never exactly clear when I stopped working for Dan. My Mah Jongg career was taking all my time. I was listed in the mast head of the magazine for years when I had not done a thing. Every once in a while I would get a call from some young editor who I didn’t know and they would say, “Dan suggested I call you…”.

Two years ago Dan asked me to write a column for one issue. I went in to the office to see him and his wonderful wife Ellen who eventually came to work there with him after leaving her big corporate job. It was clear to me something was not right with Dan. Ellen told me he was dealing with an illness. He was still sweet as he could be.

The staff photographer took a picture or us to go in the issue with my column. I was so glad he did so I have this picture of Dan, Ellen and myself, along with Amanda and Rory who I also worked with at the magazine.

I found out today, that Dan Shannon passed away. I had just seen him this summer and was hopeful that he was beating his illness. He always gave me a big hug and said wonderful things to me when I saw him. I could tell from Ellen that it was not all good.

Dan was a man with big ideas. He loved Ellen and their three kids. He hired lots of young talent and in my case, old. He was a great cheerleader for the communities he published about. He always told us we were not investigative journalists, but promoters of our city.

I loved the work I got to do with him. We had a mutual admiration for each other and I will miss him. Thankfully his vision lives on in his company, and Ellen who is the backbone and Rory who grew up in the business and runs it how with Ellen. Dan was the heart.

I would not be the writer I am now if it weren’t for Dan. He rarely edited my work because he said, “You have a special voice.” I’m sure he could have edited me heavily, lord knows we all need a good editor, but I love him for always letting me be me. Durham is better because of him. I will miss him.

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