Thank you, brave soul, for clicking the link to the first-ever blog post by me, Crystal Cropper, editor-in-chief of the Elmwood Gazette, a daily newspaper serving Elmwood, Indiana, since 1893. I’ve been a professional news writer for going on forty years, but this social media hullabaloney is still news to me. Despite my Internet illiteracy, I was told that, because the novel--Dust Bunnies & Dead Bodies-- featuring li’l ol’ moi comes out in less than two short months, I needed to establish my platform, increase my tweets, enhance my Facebook presence, and write a blog ... STAT!
Throughout Elm County, I have a reputation as a news hound, which means my nose for sniffing out news supersedes my reputation as a Nosey Parker. Although, occasionally, what I sniff out smells even worse than the leftovers shoved to the back of my fridge and are almost as bad for my health.
Newspapering was my first love, but it wasn’t my first profession. If only I’d had the foresight, support, or opportunity to pursue it straight out of high school, I might have become a contemporary of the late, great Helen Thomas, or perhaps carved a niche as the print version of Barbara Walters. Although what I’m about to say isn’t meant as an excuse for not pursuing a career in journalism straight out of high school … but … when I graduated Elmwood High back in the late 1960s, girls weren’t encouraged to pursue a career, unless it was teaching, nursing or that always reliable vocation of stenographer-typist. Any other educational pursuit was deemed “odd” and counter to the real reason a young woman attended college in the first place—to catch herself a husband. But I digress.
My own choices had made it impossible for me to make the natural progression to college after high school, and so after hanging out around Elmwood for nine months or so, I weighed my options and moved to Southern California, where I dove into a Hollywood movie studio typing pool. I splashed around there for about a dozen years, but went nowhere, although I wouldn’t exactly call dating the likes of Mister Burt Reynolds going nowhere. But at his urging, I decided to try my hand at newspapering, starting as a reporter trainee at a small, suburban weekly and working my way up to crime beat reporter at one of the major, West Coast dailies. Chasing down stories became my life, leaving no time for socializing and certainly no time for Burt. But that was okay. My work and my identity were inseparable, and I loved it.
But life has a way of turning things upside down, and in the mid-2000s, when my ailing parents needed me, I returned to Elmwood to care for them. Mom passed first, and Dad followed a few months later. Fortuitously for me, within days of Dad’s death, the Elmwood Gazette’s publisher called me. He was looking to hire an editor and wondered if I would consider filling the spot. While it was no L.A. Times, it was a solid offer.
At first I found little to interest me in this new world of down-home, grassroots journalism. Mostly, it was a scoop of chicken-noodle news with a side of gossip and homespun corn served up daily. But you know what? People are people, news is news, and good journalism is never dull.
Applying my big-city newspaper expertise, I quickly became enthralled by the joy of grassroots journalism. What I had to offer my Elmwood community was making a difference, and that, in turn, fed my innate sense of purpose and made me feel wonderful—issue after issue.
It still does, even now, nine years later. Despite having reached the stage of life where people my age are discounted as cute, wise, annoying, and irrelevant, I’ve more than proven that age is as meaningless as last month’s leftovers.
And while we’re on the subject, anyone who wants to make an issue of my age should heed this warning: I earned a Certificate of Completion from the LAPD Ladies Auxiliary for its Women’s Kick-Ass Self-Defense course, and I never hesitate to use it.
Sincerely yours,
Crystal Cropper
Editor-in-Chief
Elmwood Gazette
And Now a Word from Ms. Janis Thornton . . .
I invite you to take a look at how Crystal applies her self-defense training by reading the first chapter of my forthcoming debut novel, a cozy mystery, Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies, scheduled for release October 15. It will be available in print and ebooks on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and kobobooks.com. We hope you will love it.
I also invite you to keep the conversation flowing by leaving a note below in the comments section, or join me on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Please come back often. — Janis
Newspapering was my first love, but it wasn’t my first profession. If only I’d had the foresight, support, or opportunity to pursue it straight out of high school, I might have become a contemporary of the late, great Helen Thomas, or perhaps carved a niche as the print version of Barbara Walters. Although what I’m about to say isn’t meant as an excuse for not pursuing a career in journalism straight out of high school … but … when I graduated Elmwood High back in the late 1960s, girls weren’t encouraged to pursue a career, unless it was teaching, nursing or that always reliable vocation of stenographer-typist. Any other educational pursuit was deemed “odd” and counter to the real reason a young woman attended college in the first place—to catch herself a husband. But I digress.
My own choices had made it impossible for me to make the natural progression to college after high school, and so after hanging out around Elmwood for nine months or so, I weighed my options and moved to Southern California, where I dove into a Hollywood movie studio typing pool. I splashed around there for about a dozen years, but went nowhere, although I wouldn’t exactly call dating the likes of Mister Burt Reynolds going nowhere. But at his urging, I decided to try my hand at newspapering, starting as a reporter trainee at a small, suburban weekly and working my way up to crime beat reporter at one of the major, West Coast dailies. Chasing down stories became my life, leaving no time for socializing and certainly no time for Burt. But that was okay. My work and my identity were inseparable, and I loved it.
But life has a way of turning things upside down, and in the mid-2000s, when my ailing parents needed me, I returned to Elmwood to care for them. Mom passed first, and Dad followed a few months later. Fortuitously for me, within days of Dad’s death, the Elmwood Gazette’s publisher called me. He was looking to hire an editor and wondered if I would consider filling the spot. While it was no L.A. Times, it was a solid offer.
At first I found little to interest me in this new world of down-home, grassroots journalism. Mostly, it was a scoop of chicken-noodle news with a side of gossip and homespun corn served up daily. But you know what? People are people, news is news, and good journalism is never dull.
Applying my big-city newspaper expertise, I quickly became enthralled by the joy of grassroots journalism. What I had to offer my Elmwood community was making a difference, and that, in turn, fed my innate sense of purpose and made me feel wonderful—issue after issue.
It still does, even now, nine years later. Despite having reached the stage of life where people my age are discounted as cute, wise, annoying, and irrelevant, I’ve more than proven that age is as meaningless as last month’s leftovers.
And while we’re on the subject, anyone who wants to make an issue of my age should heed this warning: I earned a Certificate of Completion from the LAPD Ladies Auxiliary for its Women’s Kick-Ass Self-Defense course, and I never hesitate to use it.
Sincerely yours,
Crystal Cropper
Editor-in-Chief
Elmwood Gazette
And Now a Word from Ms. Janis Thornton . . .
I invite you to take a look at how Crystal applies her self-defense training by reading the first chapter of my forthcoming debut novel, a cozy mystery, Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies, scheduled for release October 15. It will be available in print and ebooks on amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and kobobooks.com. We hope you will love it.
I also invite you to keep the conversation flowing by leaving a note below in the comments section, or join me on Facebook and Twitter.
Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Please come back often. — Janis
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