My first issue as editor of The Island News.
I posted something akin to this on Facebook a little more than a week ago, I guess, but I’m just getting around to posting it here.
The name of my blog is Raising Two Americans, a reference to my two kids. The subhead of sorts initially read “Tackling life as a husband, a father and a journalist.”
Funny thing is that in the almost 10 years since I started, everything about those headers has been shaken up.
I am not a husband. My wife informed me almost 5 years ago that she was no longer interested in being married. Of course, that’s no longer mentioned on the masthead above this post.
I am still a father, of course. How good of one I am, some people may call into question. But nonetheless, my children reside with their mother.
And, practically, I ceased being a journalist on Feb. 22, 2016 when I was laid off at my McClatchy newspaper. Though, in spirit, I have remained a journalist, even if I was not being paid as such.
(Working or not, I will gladly embrace the Donald Trump title “enemy of the people.” Opposing Trump is a badge of honor I will wear proudly until the day I leave this life.)
Currently, the top of the page reads “and former journalist.” It’s safe to say that’s no longer accurate.
I am now the editor of The Island News, a weekly newspaper that covers northern Beaufort County in South Carolina.
It pays but won’t pay the bills. It’s not a full-time gig. I’m still employed at Randel’s Lawnmowers Equipment Sales and Service to make ends meet. But it’s a nice bump.
And I’m back in the game.
The Island News is a typical small-town weekly. At the small end of the small-town spectrum.
There are a lot of community event pictures and rewritten press releases. But the new owners have goals of something bigger — filling the void left when the local paper, The Beaufort Gazette, basically abandoned its hometown.
And there is a lot of potential. But there is little staff.
Also, I’ll admit I like the job. Almost too much. While I needed a break after getting laid off, I will admit I may not have realized how much I missed the grind. It was time to get back.
Given the landscape, I’ll never get back into newspapers. Not in the big sense. But this job gives me the opportunity to play a constructive role in the community I have chosen to make my own.
And maybe one day, it’ll be more than a part-time gig.
But right now, it’s a positive. And given the way 2019 has gone for me personally, I needed it. It’s given me a little hope I have been lacking.
And a reason to change “former journalist” back to “journalist.”
Raising Two Americans 