I hope you enjoy today’s paper and read every word because the staff and all of our contributors have been pouring their hearts into the work these last two weeks.
Last week’s 30-page edition was the longest we’ve published since January. We’re not quite sure how many pages we’ll have this week, but I suspect it will be at least that many pages this week.
Someone counted this week’s photos and there are 87 to use, but all may not make it in this week.
We’ve given our interns Raymonda Parchment and Olivia Saras on-the-job training as copy and layout editors, tasks they’ve been excelling at.
Parchment, a summer intern, who found her own funding through the Vermont State University system to pay for her internship and will continue with us through December, is now doing copy editing for VTSU-Johnson’s “Basement Medicine,” its student-run community newspaper. Needless to say, we’re very proud of her.
Both Parchment and Saras from People’s Academy, who has joined us this semester, are writing stories for us too; Parchment’s report on the September 19 Hardwick Select Board meeting is on the front page. Saras’ second ever story for us is about Sunday’s upcoming Pumpkin Walk. We expect we’ll have another story from her next week about the walk itself.
We’ve got stories this week by three UVM Community News Service journalists. Kate Lewton took on the task of deciphering the seemingly complicated requirements for voting. From registering to getting an absentee ballot and learning about the candidates, she spells out what’s involved in one article, making it easier for someone new to the process to find their way.
Our final student piece this week is a collaborative effort from Natalie Bankman who gathered information and interviews to write the story and Catherine Morrissey who visited the Food Venture Center and shares her photos showing how peanut butter gets made and distributed.
In addition to those five students, Megan Cane, who’s now a senior at Green Mountain Technology and Career Center, plans to write for us again this year as part of her business class.
While we’re recognizing contributors, let’s also remember our weekly regulars, Vanessa Fournier with photos from all around the neighborhood; Ken Brown, who’s so connected with area coaches that he manages to write his sports stories from Texas; Tyler Molleur’s almost always accurate weather; Julie Atwood’s exclusive-to-us cartoon and Willem Lange’s “Yankee Notebook.” More occasional contributions include Hal Gray’s photo stories, Henry Homeyer’s “In The Garden,” Trish Alley’s “Monthly Musings,” Brendan Buckley’s “I Heard it Through the Jeudevine,” Elizabeth Dow’s historical pieces, Patrick Hussey’s golf and alumni pieces, Eric Hanson’s winter outdoor pieces and contributions by Cheryl Luther Michaels, Liz Steel and John Walters.
We also share stories from The UVM Extension Service, Northern Woodlands Magazine, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, VTDigger and the Cabot Chronicle.
All of those people have their names on what you read. Always in the background, but without whom nothing would ever make it to you, are our production staff, Sandy Akins, Dawn Gustafson and most recently volunteer, Dave Mitchell. We also have volunteer board members and some volunteers helping us with keeping track of and thanking donors.
So, looking at the paper now, I hope you see it as a cooperative effort that brings together many in our communities who share their talents and curiosity with you to share what we all hope is important to you.
Paul Fixx, editor
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
