My very first column in this space was published three years ago this week. The idea for it came as Kris Olson, a Lawyers Weekly journalist who lends his experience as the Current’s contributing editor, and I manned our shift at a table outside Shubie’s. The so-called weekend “tabling” event was meant to introduce our then-online but soon- to-be in-print nonprofit newspaper to the town.
Kris and I were not the ideal partners for the task which essentially was to stop folks coming in and out of the door to tell them about our new news endeavor and ask for an email so we could build our contact list. For Kris and me, introverts despite our public facing professions, this modest solicitation felt almost akin to having to stand naked and make a speech in front of an audience of our biggest heroes (MLB stars for him, governors and presidents for me). I exaggerate, sort of. So instead, we turned and talked quietly to each other as other Current volunteers stepped in and wielded the clipboard like pros, adding emails and shaking their heads affectionately at our ineptitude.
“Maybe,” I said, a little timidly, “I could write a column for the paper.” “Yeah, that might be good,” Kris answered. “Okay,” I answered. “Okay,” he replied. And this “Everything Will Be Okay” column was born. Also born was a three-year odyssey to bring you the 16 pages of newsprint you hold in your hands today and each week, along with an always-on social media presence and 24/7 website breaking news and the stories of our community, delivered to your homes for free. And yes, free only because of the hundreds and hundreds of you who have donated and advertised and the uncountable hours the all-volunteer board and small staff puts in. (I stepped down from the board in September to work on my second book.) “You should write for the Globe,” someone recently said to me. The comment was meant as a compliment, and I took it as such. And it also caused me to reflect on why I’m grateful to write here. I worked at a big metro daily newspaper, wrote columns and editorials for four exciting years. I loved that job as I have stated here before. But it was different than writing for a community newspaper. I had a wider audience but less reach.
Let me explain.
As you know, I mostly don’t write about politics, though that’s my professional background and what I wrote about for the Boston Herald. I’m not drawn to conflict here, but to connection. Connection. At its heart, that’s what the Current is all about. I’ve lived here for almost 30 years, but it is in the last three that I’ve understood what being part of
the town means. For good and bad. I’ve learned there’s a lot of anger and division. I’ve learned there’s incredible generosity, spirit and pride. My favorite part of the paper is the letters section. Want to know what your neighbors
think? There it is. Not every local paper has an opinion page or accepts letters. The Current has run more than 600 of them. Frankly, it’s a lot easier to not accept letters, because opinions spur controversy. But I’m glad to know Marblehead is more than quaint history and glorious water. It contains a myriad of people with completely different ways of thinking about the world and how to solve its problems. To that I say, Amen and please keep writing in.
Writing a letter to the editor is an act of vulnerability, of forsaking anonymity. And that’s also what it feels like writing a column in this space. You are my friends and neighbors but many are still strangers — yet I trust you. Every other week I share a piece of my heart with you. Writing but also reading, liking and sharing the Current’s posts, debating the issues, even castigating our journalism at times (a word on that below), all are acts of connection, and what do we really need more of today than that? Unlike the mostly kind comments I receive around town about my work, at the Herald, it was rare to get feedback. Except once that is relevant to this paper. I was attending the annual dinner of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, when an award winner just inducted into the Hall of Fame honoring Bostonians of distinction read from the column I’d published that day. In it, I let the movers and shakers in the room in on a little secret. The front page of the Herald, the Globe and the top of the TV news was theirs for the taking, or rather news-making. What I meant was that the journalists I came to know were biased, yes, biased in favor of a good news story. Anyone, of any point of view on a given issue, could get their point out there by making news.
Were there and are there today exceptions? Of course. Human beings are flawed just like our leaders! But for the most part journalists everywhere just want to tell a good newsworthy story, including at the Current. So for those of you out there grumbling that news is biased, do yourself and your community a favor — make some news! Finally, given this is the season of giving thanks, please accept mine for reading, especially indulging my hard-earned optimism. My highest hope is that some of it rubs off! Thank you for supporting the Current with your money and your time. And if you’ve already given, consider giving again during this critical NewsMatch campaign. This community has truly created something rare, a community newspaper where we can gather, argue, support, cheer on and criticize. Let’s keep a good thing going.
Virginia Buckingham is a former president of the Marblehead Current board of directors, a frequent commentator on WCVB’s On the Record and author of “On My Watch A Memoir.” She is working on a second memoir, “As This Mountain” and writes a biweekly column for the Current.
