When my last writing job in Greenwood came to an end, I was devastated to say the least.
I mean you work somewhere off and on since high school and it goes away overnight, you have a tendency to blame yourself. I remember vividly (a few months ago) taking my camera, putting it in my bison skin bag along with my voice recorder and notepads and placing it all in the bottom of my closet. I knew that my journalism days were at an end.
I mourned for a long time, I really did. The way you mourn for a lost pet or when a friend moves away. I know that many in the community did too. I would go to the grocery store and people would approach me with that sad empathic look on their faces. “Are you going to be ok?” they would say. I forced a smile and reassured them that I was fine, but really a piece of my heart was missing.
After losing my last job, I still attended events around town like the car show and see a photographer and miss the feeling of having a camera around my neck. Sometimes, I would drive by City Hall on the first Monday of the month around 9 pm and see that the City Council was still in session and laugh at the poor souls enduring a three hour meeting.
Then a few weeks ago, I met with Jason Baggett, the owner of this paper, at The Dari about the possibility of starting a new venture here. I met his family and we connected immediately. I was drawn in by his personality and enthusiasm for what he wants to accomplish here and from what I have seen he is working hard to make this paper something the town can be proud of.
In the time that I have known him, Jason has seen what I know about Greenwood and that is that this is a growing and dynamic community that deserves a news source dedicated solely to it.
I am so happy that this opportunity has come about and I look forward to once again telling the story of Greenwood, my home, my passion.
