The new ME.

Arthur, you're doing Up Front this month."

Such was the assignment given the new guy on his second day on the job as managing editor of BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA. "Just tell them who you are," said David Kinney, editor and publisher of the magazine and my boss, as way of instruction.

Who am I? I'm a short (5-6, although I say I'm 5-7), middle-aged (43), overweight (not telling) man with no background in magazines or in business journalism. I'm not even North Carolina native.

So what do I bring to BNC? My work, until this week, had been in newspapers. For more than 20 years, since graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I've written and edited on a daily cycle. Thirteen of those years were spent on the coast, in Jacksonville. Four more were spent near Charlotte, in Gastonia, where I bounced between news and sports, between the newspaper and its ancillary projects, between the traditional and the new media. The past three-plus years were spent as editor of The Daily Dispatch in Henderson.

I've covered war, peace and the struggles in between. I've interviewed governors, a senator, beachfront developers, turkey farmers and World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon. I've written or edited stories on criminals, law officers and a chicken that thought it was a cat -- according to its owner. I've directed coverage as uplifting as the return of a Vietnam War veteran's remains to his family after nearly 25 years and as depressing as the case of twin 11-year-old boys who killed their father.

Who else am I? I'm a son. I'm a husband. I'm a father. As I write this, my wife and sons (ages 5 and 2) have yet to join me in Charlotte. I love sports...