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SPORTS
Catfish
catch
—
Photo Submitted
Loretta Mason, of Beechwood, caught this 18-pound catfish in June
at Elmer Davis Lake.
Hoop
receives award
Home
Field Advantage
Flying
high
On
the sidelines
Thanks for the memories
TIM
MANDELL
Often when you leave
a job, it’s on bad terms. Either you were forced out or
you couldn’t stand working there anymore and quit.
Sometimes, on those rare occasions, you leave a job you mostly
enjoy in an attempt to find something better.
That’s what I’m doing.
I dropped out of college, not once, not twice, but three times.
I went to school for creative writing, and each time quit to pursue
a career as a fiction writer — mostly because I was young
and arrogant and felt I knew more than my teachers and could do
it on my own.
I stumbled into journalism by accident when I was 25, and have
stuck with it for the better part of the past 10 years.
Now, I’m looking to pursue a different career route, and
have enrolled in the University of Louisville to finish my degree,
with the hope that a better, higher-paying job awaits on the horizon.
Journalism can be extremely rewarding — you get plenty of
feedback (good and bad), sometimes you get to interview famous
people (former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason, science fiction
writer Poul Anderson, MLB player Gary Sheffield) and you get to
go to interesting places (the Little League World Series, Spring
Training).
But working at a community newspaper isn’t about meeting
famous people and going to cool places.
Working at a community newspaper, is obviously, about the community.
And it’s easy to develop relationships with community members.
That’s the part of the job that’s the most rewarding.
Maybe I wasn’t in Owen County long enough to make too many
friends, but in one year, I feel like I’ve been accepted
into the community by most people, and even if they don’t
always know my name, they know I’m “that guy from
the newspaper.”
Which is fine.
Being recognized for being the guy who writes stories and takes
pictures is rewarding.
I like knowing that people think I’m trying to get the community
into the newspaper and appreciate it when I do a good job.
Unfortunately, journalism doesn’t pay well — at least
at the community newspaper level — and you’re often
required to work nights, travel all over, and deal with deadlines.
So, I’m moving on and trying something new.
I enjoyed my time in Owen County, and I hope everyone enjoyed
the work I did.
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