“I didn’t plan for it to be this way.”
That’s the one-liner I have rolled out countless times now in response to people who’ve heard the news that I am leaving Boulder and my job as editor of this newspaper. And it’s true: I am leaving, and I didn’t plan for it to be this way.
I wasn’t looking for a new job, but I was recruited to be a reporter at the Missoulian covering all things outdoors statewide: recreation, land management, wildlife, the environment, etc. This issue of The Monitor, June 1, is my last, coming exactly one year after my first day working here. This Friday, June 3, will be my last day working here, and this weekend I’ll move to Missoula. Charlie Denison, a veteran journalist who spent more than a decade reporting in Lewistown and Glendive, will take over as editor on Monday, June 6, and he’s already been at The Monitor since May 25. Keith Hammonds, The Monitor’s publisher, will formally introduce him in the June 8 issue.
My feelings as I’ve approached, and now execute, my departure from Boulder and this paper are bittersweet, at best. I am really excited about the new job, honestly. Rob Chaney—the managing editor of the Missoulian whose promotion to that role in March left the outdoors reporter position vacant—told me, “I don’t want to see you in this office unless you come back covered in dirt.” As a journalist who leans into opportunities to do my job outside, no matter how tough the conditions or poor the access, I relish the opportunity to spend more time in the wild places that make this “high, wide, and handsome” state the remarkable place that we call home. I look forward to traveling statewide and visiting Boulder.
I’m going to miss the quietness of Boulder. I’m going to miss my kind neighbor, Mark, who surprised me with a homemade meal delivered to my door on Easter Sunday, who kept an eye on my house when I was away, and who plowed my driveway unsolicited this spring when a blizzard dumped 1 foot of snow on the valley floor.
I’ll really miss the steaks at the Windsor, and the strong drinks and good conversations with Soja, Tom, Stacey and others behind the bar—or seated next to me at it. I’ll miss the friendliness and professionalism of the Jefferson County Commission, Boulder City Council, Mayor Rusty Giulio, Superintendent Tim Norbeck, and others who were always willing to talk to me, even if I was reporting on something that didn’t reflect well on them, and who seem to understand and respect the role journalism plays in the civic fabric of a community. I will miss, and hope to still visit with, Ryan and Leah Lewis, Brud Smith and Terry Minow, and others who invited me into their homes and befriended me.
I’ll miss the good people of Boulder and Jefferson County who are quick to join in friendly conversation wherever we meet, whether at a local ranch branding day, a public meeting or other community event, a hike around Elkhorn, or on the street in town.
I won’t miss the angry drunks who tried to brawl with me at the bar because I’m an “out-of-stater,” nor will I miss being blindsided by an unprovoked punch to the head as I sat and ate dinner by a coward who ran out of the bar. I won’t miss being taunted as “paper boy” by small-minded folks who apparently were unable to grasp that I was simply their neighbor—a person who moved here to be part of the community and to help bolster its civic function—and who failed to comprehend the profession and function of journalism. I won’t miss hearing frequent use of racial slurs, or other airings of caustic prejudice.
But I will miss the people those nights and others who held people back from their basest inclinations, sometimes physically, or who chastised them afterward for having acted on them. I’ll miss, and I deeply appreciate, the people who reminded me through words and actions that ignorant ugliness is not what Boulder is about. I agree—this place is much better than its sometimes rough edges, and the drunken brawlers and bigots aren’t what will define this place in my memory in years to come.
I will also dearly miss my house—my first ever, a thing I thought I’d never be able to own—as I sell it after having it for little more than 10 months. I like my house. I’m really going to miss it.
I’m not excited to leave the paper so soon, either. I can honestly say I enjoyed every moment of working for and with Keith, from whom I learned an immense amount and whom I deeply admire, and everyone else who worked at the paper this past year. I’m leaving at a time when I feel I am finally poised to take The Monitor to the next level, to make real progress on some of the goals Keith and I set out to accomplish when I took this job. I hate walking away from that, and I hope that in my short time here I’ve been able to improve The Monitor by doing good, quality journalism in a way that readers notice and appreciate. (And I know some folks will roll their eyes at that and are happy to see me go—that’s OK too.)
I’m also clear-eyed about the things I didn’t do or could’ve done better. For most of my time here I was also the only staff reporter and photographer, and I regret not doing more coverage in the north county. Our recent hiring of Eliza McLaughlin as a staff reporter is changing that. I regret not being better about writing stories and publishing them online in a digital-first mindset wherein The Monitor has stories on the web soon after news happens, rather than waiting for the print edition each week. I regret not exploring in greater depth more of the issues that underpin the weekly headlines. And I regret not getting to more community events that, although not hard news, are a major part of what makes our communities unique.
I’ll miss having the opportunity to improve on those things, right when I feel I’m beginning to finally make some progress.
I’m going to miss the sleepy mountain town where I bought my first house, where I made my return to journalism, where I felt by turns the most challenged and the most satisfied with the work I produced, and where, hopefully, I helped people understand more about their governments, their communities and their neighbors.
I’ll remember how sad I am to leave, right as I feel I’m professionally and personally hitting my stride and settling into Boulder—the town that was kind enough to welcome the paper boy from out of state.
