From the Editor
Into the wind
We write to you now coming to the close of this, our seventh year in publication. This past year saw a transition to new ownership for The Independent, but a transition not to outside folks with more mercenary interests, but to local people who live here, work here, struggle here, and once in a while, succeed here. And among the successes that we count as most important on our list is the simple fact that we are still here writing this paper with plans in store for many more issues to come.Certainly, it has not been the easiest year we can remember. Only two months into our transition serious illness hit our small staff and we wondered, from our hospital beds, what would become of things. Financial potholes followed as we tried to make up for lost time and income, and there was a moment when, in retrospect, things almost came to an end. But collectively we put our heads down, stepped out, and when we finally put them up again it was fall, and we were through it, and it was clear we would go on.
When writing here of "we", it is not meant in the editorial sense, but in the real sense. All of our writers, staff and contributors, most of whom live right here and for whom having a local paper, one written with a focus on the honest long term interests and needs of our towns, is a worthwhile task. Their patience and support is what allowed us to make it through, and it is what gives us confidence coming into the new year.
When people have asked us what it has been like, keeping a legitimate small town paper afloat in the face of competition from huge and distantly owned corporations on the one hand, and freebie advertising circulars masquerading as local news on the other, we have often responded that it is like owning a wooden boat. There is no practical reason to do it, you are often throwing money into it, and it takes constant care and attention. So why then do you do it?
You do it because, as with saving a good wooden boat, you know that it is a worthwhile thing in and of itself. That in saving the boat, you are acting more as its steward than its owner. That maybe you are saying you just want be a part of preserving something good, rather than the other alternatives. And so you keep at it, and your neighbors and friends help out a bit, and people you thought could never have cared less drop a kind word when you need it most, and damned if you don't find yourself soon enough sailing close hauled, straight into the chop, the spray hitting you on the face pretty good now, smiling as you feel the honest sting of it all.
Our boat still needs some more work, in some areas maybe a lot of it. We will be hauling her out now to do some scraping and painting, maybe look at that keel a little, reset the tiller a bit, see about a new jib, although the mainsail seems still pretty good to us. In any case, you can be sure we will put a critical eye to her, fore and aft.
Meanwhile, we wish a happy new year to all of you out there who help to keep us afloat, readers, writers, contributors, vendors and advertisers alike. As with all good wooden boats, we are a constant work in progress, and without your patience, encouragement and support we would be just another rotting hull that got hauled aside and abandoned for something newer and faster. We hope there is some shared satisfaction in that for you all.
