The albums I listened to while working on the Feb. 3 edition of The Island News:
Aaron Neville — The Best of Aaron Neville
George Harrison — The Best of George Harrison
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals — Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Crystal Gayle — Classic Crystal
Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ — Mystery Road
Kasey Chambers — Barricades & Brick Walls
The Commodores — 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection
Without delay, here are the albums I listened to while putting together the Jan. 27 issue of The Island News:
Jimmy Buffett — Son of a Son of a Sailor
John Denver — An Evening With John Denver
Son Volt — Union
Each week when I collect edit, organize and prioritize the pieces that a couple days later will come together as the next edition of The Island News, the weekly, ultra-local newspaper in Beaufort, S.C., of which I am editor, I do so with music in the background.
Sometimes, I listen to a lot of music over the couple of days I’m putting the paper together. Other weeks, not nearly as much, especially if I’m spending a lot of time on the phone.
And quite often, the music will follow obvious trends or themes, depending on what I may be in the mood to hear that particular week, or maybe based on other things that are happening. But other times, the music might be totally random and follow no pattern at all. Just a longing to hear things I may not have heard in a while.
Anyway, wasting no more time, here are the albums I listened to while putting together the Jan. 20 issue of The Island News:
Bruce Robison — It Came From San Antonio
Bruce Robison, Charlie Robison, Jack Ingram — Unleashed Live
Jackson Browne — Running On Empty
Billy Pilgrim — Words Like Numbers
Steve Earle — Transcendental Blues
I look like a disgruntled something or other.
In my relatively new gig as the editor of The Island News, I wrote a column last week about the way we celebrate Memorial Day and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we might be free.
I figured I might as well start sharing my columns here. And this is the first one.
The premise is this … why do we celebrate our fallen patriots only one day a year? Shouldn’t we do better to honor them?
I make that argument here …
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.”
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Raising Two Americans 