How do you say goodbye to a community that has welcomed you with open arms at every turn?
With great difficulty and many mixed feelings.
I鈥檒l be leaving for Yellowknife soon to work for a news organization there, covering business, economy, and natural resource news for the city and the North West Territories.
It鈥檚 an exciting opportunity, but it means drawing to a close the best experience I鈥檝e had in my life, which has been serving as your reporter and editor with the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 in 亚洲天堂 Lake.
When I arrived in 亚洲天堂 Lake I didn鈥檛 know what to expect, but I leave with the greatest respect and affection for what I found. I still fail to properly convey to others what it is that makes 亚洲天堂 Lake a great place to live.
It鈥檚 a small municipality, yes, and most outsiders have a hard time getting past that. Without living here it鈥檚 impossible to understand the size and generosity of its many vibrant communities and the individuals who form them. It has been an honour to be included in the life of so many of these local communities. If I started to list the individuals, organizations and businesses that have trusted me to tell their story to the community-at-large, the list would outstrip the space I have available here.
I鈥檝e stumbled along the way, there鈥檚 no doubt about that. Nobody strikes a nail perfectly every time, and my mistakes have the unfortunate consequence of living on in the pages of the local journal of record for 亚洲天堂 Lake and area.
It speaks to the generosity of LD 亚洲天堂 readers that none of those errors have been held against me, and I鈥檝e always appreciated that. Thank you.
I am very happy to thank my publisher, Laura Blackwell, for her support and guidance over the past 18 months. She cares deeply about the function of the local paper, and her hand on the tiller sets a course the combines a focus on community with a constant eye on the hard issues that form the important undercurrent of life in 亚洲天堂 Lake.
A community paper has to focus on the sunshine, but it can鈥檛 ignore shifting winds and the storms they bring. The Lakes District 亚洲天堂 has never shied away from its duty to stand sentinel and bring to the fore sometimes unpalatable and controversial subjects.
At every turn in 亚洲天堂 Lake - whether it has been with village council and staff, the regional district, business people, community organizers, staff at the local ministry of environment, or individual citizens - all have been exceptionally cooperative and supportive of the newspaper鈥檚 function, even where disagreements may have existed between the public鈥檚 right-to-know and the need for confidentiality.
That kind of openness from public officials and personalities made my job easier, but there is another kind of openness in 亚洲天堂 Lake that made my job a pleasure.
I was invited to and attended so many amazing community events that I began to worry people would soon tire of seeing me there with my camera. Covering your community events has been the highlight of my time in 亚洲天堂 Lake. Even though there have been hundreds of events and stories I鈥檝e had the privilege of covering, there are hundreds more I was unable to get to.
Every story I鈥檝e done about people and volunteer groups in 亚洲天堂 Lake and area has had to have been cut short of all I wanted to say. As soon as I would tap into what seemed like a small event, the stories of the people behind the scenes would morph into pages of notes that just can鈥檛 all make it into print.
Those notes become ideas for future stories, but they will have to be written by someone else.
I truly envy the journalist who follows me here. He or she will have found the richest vein of community, political, environmental, sports, and cultural news to bring back to you, the reader-at-large.
If you have had a good editor here at the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 during my time, it is only because he has had the greatest readers to inspire him. Thank you 亚洲天堂 Lake.
