One day about seven years ago I came out of a grocery store on Capitol Hill and bought a copy of Real Change from a vendor.
I got a lot for that dollar. Here were some insightful, nuanced, beautifully-written articles that had their roots in the street, but weren't confined to them. Stories about taking the bus and surviving bad landlords and trying to find a job hit home for me. They were the very sort of stories that I was striving to produce in my job as a newspaper reporter.
They are the kind of stories I like to read.
They say if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, so after reading Real Change for a while, I called then-editor, Adam Hyla, and volunteered my services.
Adam never hesitated to ask me to do more on a story, even though I was "only" a volunteer. I watched as he and the staff of talented writers grew the paper, expanded its scope, collected awards, and gave competing media a run for their money.
As a staff reporter at The Seattle Times and an online news producer at KOMO News, my work has been grounded in community news, with an emphasis on the kind enterprise journalism Real Change does so well. I see my new role as editor as an extension of that work.
My hope is that we can reach further into the neighborhoods where our readers and vendors live. Cydney Gillis' stories about car campers in Ballard are examples of this. There are probably more examples where you live, whether it's Queen Anne Avenue North or Rainier Avenue South.
Tell us your ideas. And we'll keep telling your stories.