By Jacqui Banaszynski
I’m still here, officially, for another three weeks (through the end of September). After that, I hope to show up on the Nieman Storyboard site as a contributor in ways that support the next editor. Despite the forces working against independent journalism, the art of the work itself gets better and better. Storyboard’s mission is to honor and archive that.For now, I just want to say an early thanks for all the lovely messages I received after my pre-announcement that I will soon be stepping away after six years as Storyboard editor. Not an easy decision or move — one that your notes make both easier and harder.
(Do you ever wonder why we wait until someone has moved away to tell them how much we value them, or until someone is dead to honor the best of them out loud? I do. I am in awe of a journalist friend who, now of an age, has been taking “friendship tours” to spend time with old friends so he can tell them those things before it’s too late. This same friend also took his boxes of old letters out to his favorite camping site, sat by himself reading each of them, thinking about the time and person, and then releasing them to the campfire gods. How cool is that?)
Your notes have buoyed me about the value of this site and as I go forward. I honestly don’t know where the next trail will lead. But you reminded me that I need to send more thank-you notes along that trail. I encourage you to do the same. Call, write or even text that editor, teacher, reporter, sibling, parent, friend, lover, former lover, flight attendant, nurse or neighbor who has made a difference in your life. It will take you 10 minutes; it will give them endless happiness.
While you’re at it, send an email to a journalist who writes a story you admired. Those in the trenches don’t, alas, get many of those.