Back in the saddle again

I forgot how much fun it is to be a community journalist. As a journalist for a small-town paper like the Lovell Chronicle, I’m called upon to report on a wide range of subjects at any time. Be it a high crime, a sporting event, school board meeting or something more deeply personal like a young boy’s struggle with cerebral palsy or a hardworking kid who won a full-ride scholarship to the college of her dreams, there’s never a shortage of news here in the north end of Big Horn County. 

As many of you know, I retired about five years ago, but I was called recently and asked if I could “help out” for a short time. My answer was an absolute “yes.” Then the doubts came flooding in, “Can I really do this after all these years of retirement?” “Am I too old for this?” “Will my sluggish memory and failing hearing be good enough to get the job done?” Despite those doubts, I dusted off my favorite ink pens, writing pad and my trusty tape recorder, and I was off to the races.

So far, it’s been a great ride. By the grace of God and with the help of this amazing community, I’ve been getting the job done for about a month now. One thing about retirement is, it’s easy to become isolated and to forget about all the interesting and wonderful people in the community. Reporting forces me out of that bubble.

I couldn’t get this done without the generous help of the many people who have been supplying me with photos, identifying people in the photos and allowing me a chunk of their time for an interview during the past weeks. It is this community spirit that led to the decision of making Lovell my home around 12 years ago.

By definition, community journalism is hyper-local coverage of news. It’s about the people, the place and the things that matter most to those who have made the choice to live in a small town. The local newspaper covers the beating heart of those small towns in our service area. I’ve worked for a couple different newspapers in the past, but I’ve never seen one deliver local news quite like the Chronicle.

A reporter friend of mine who works for a much larger corporate news outlet once asked how I could come up with ideas for news stories in such a sparsely populated, quiet place. Well, first, it’s not a quiet place. It’s a vibrant community with plenty of newsworthy activity happening every day. News that is important to the citizens who have made this their home. News that’s important to those of us at the Chronicle who live and work here, too. News that is not reported by any other news outlet. So, if anything, it’s hard to keep up with the constant flow of newsworthy people and events.

Though I’m only doing this temporarily, it has been fun. Fun to be in the know about goings on around town and fun to be in contact with so many of the wonderful people I’ve lost touch with in the past five years. 

It’s a challenging job for sure, with irregular hours and plenty of deadlines to fret about. It’s also one of the most rewarding careers I ever could have hoped for, though I am looking forward to the luxury of afternoon naps again someday soon.