when your competition contemplates bankruptcy...

and you're completely devastated.

I found out two photographers I admire, respect and genuinely like, were victims of more layoffs at the Trib this week. Despite what people might believe, photographers from both downtown papers generally get along great and are more like co-workers than enemies.

Jim and Milbert are outstanding people. Milbert has a child the same age as my younger daughter, and we always had plenty of notes to compare when, as we say in the business, "saw each other on the street." Jim is one of the finest sports photographers I've ever met. Both are stand-up guys.

I felt like crying when I heard the news. And then, while I can't sleep in these wee hours, I see that the Tribune Company is considering filing for bankruptcy. It's a sign of these very trying times, and the impending end of an era for news in its paper form.

It's a hard pill to swallow for someone whose entire career has been in newspapers. The saddest thing is there are thousands like me across the country, just sitting and waiting for what comes next. And there are people in the business for at least twice as long as me who are close to retirement and counting on a job to make it through the next couple of months or years.

I remember discussing this very issue way back in college in the 80s. My journalism professors at U of I spoke often of the up and coming computer technology with guarded optimism, talking about the enhancing, but possible destructive qualities of the medium.

Back then, it was just a concept, and no one was quite sure how everything would play out. The picture is clearer now, and the news is not good for the papers.

For someone who grew up reading the Sun-Times as the only paper in their Southside home and then actually got to work in the crappy little building on the river, it's absolutely heartbreaking.

So, the news about the Trib is almost as bad as hearing about my own newsroom. The uncertainty of the future is difficult at best. The only option is to hang on and see what happens.