It’s not often a newspaper becomes the news, but that’s exactly what’s happened recently around Middletown, Odessa and Townsend.
If you read Jibber Jabber in last week’s Transcript, you know Jessica Sturgis is no longer with our company.
And if you didn’t know she was leaving, now you do.
Jessica leaves a good impression on many people in M.O.T. who will miss her greatly, but I promise you no one will miss her more than me… well maybe my co-workers at the Transcript. See Page 14A for my first “Letter to the editor,” which fittingly is in tribute to her.
I got a little choked up when Jessica first told us she was leaving, and a little more when she actually left April 1.
It’s hard to say “goodbye” to a great boss, with whom I’ve shared countless hours hammering out Transcript after Transcript, and collaborating on the intricate style of writing, grammar and punctuation you’ve read week after week. She did, however, make good on her promise to call me Thursday morning to discuss “Lost.”
I couldn’t dwell on her departure because the minute she pulled away from the back of our Main Street building, the many hats she wore over the last 2 1/2 years were handed down to me, along with her email account with a never-ending stream of new messages.
The title “editor” carries a lot of weight. At this community weekly, Sports Editor Craig Anderson and I are the writers, photographers, videographers, copy editors and page designers. We do just about everything but sell ads and print the paper ourselves.
I’m lucky Jessica prepared me well for this new position. She spent her last two weeks (and a few days after April 1) tying up loose ends and answering all the questions I had about the job.
I have had some help from the other papers in the Dover Post family to produce this edition, as well, and it is much appreciated. You’ll notice a variety of bylines this week, and probably next week, too.
I am happy to report that I’ve survived the last week and produced my first edition of the Transcript as its new editor, although my dog has missed my undivided attention, as has my pillow, my washer, my dryer and my stove.
I have a mental list of things I things I’ve neglected around the office, too – mainly organizational tasks. I have to get my own system going (a lot of computer folders say “Jess” on them) and I’m looking forward to upgrading to a window seat with a lovely view of the siding on the building next door.
In time, I’ll put my own personal touch on these pages.
You will see some changes in upcoming editions of the paper – some my ideas, some not, some soon, some later in the year – and I look forward to your input along the way.
One thing I’d like to add, if space allows, is a small section called “What’s M.O.T. reading?” featuring titles of the books local residents just can’t put down. If you’d like to tell me what you’re reading so I can get it going, please do.
I’m looking forward to whomever fills the staff reporter position here at the Transcript. I hope that person enjoys the job as much as I did. I also hope they get here soon!
Even with my seemingly endless workload these past eight days, I successfully pulled off a surprise going away party (for Jess, of course), did my part to stimulate the economy at Kohl’s, correctly guessed the number of Hershey Kisses in a baby bottle-shaped container at a baby shower (it was 200), and took my 4-year-old niece and 1-year-old nephew into the mall and made it back out alive. That last one I do not recommend attempting.
I am now fairly confident I can make it through just about anything coming my way.
I’m also confident this newspaper will continue to serve as the beloved news source for the residents of the M.O.T. area.
I realize I’ll never produce a paper I am 100 percent pleased with, and I won’t make 100 percent of you happy, but I am armed with a bunch of Hershey Kisses to help win you over.
Becoming editor of this paper is not something I expected to happen at my ripe age of 25. Being hired as a writer here was a dream job, and this is the “icing on the cake,” for lack of a better cliché.
My relationship with the Transcript started about the same time I learned to read, and it’s an honor to lead the newspaper I grew up with.
Middletown, Del. —
