Opinion

In 2018, following the passing of my grandmother, my staff gifted me a peace lily. It was a beautiful plant, and throughout the spring and summer, I watched it grow, fertilizing and watering it along the way.

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon an article on social media that carried the headline “One-third of United States newspapers as of 2005 will be gone by 2024.” To say that I was shocked and saddened may be a bit of an understatement, not only because I am a newspaper publisher, but that story was published within earshot of a major anniversary in my company and a major milestone in my personal career. This week marks my tenth anniversary as owner and publisher of the Palmer Journal, which is not only my hometown newspaper, but is the second newspaper that I purchased in my career.

Governor Jim Pillen wants all state government employees at their desks in their assigned departments beginning next month. He said the pandemic- era remote is over, although both empirical and anecdotal evidence nationwide show a workplace change that was pandemic caused has become the new normal.

Just when you thought the drought was bad, deserts have started popping up in Nebraska. Pick a topic: childcare; food; maternal health care.

Last Christmas, I learned the lesson the hard way. You cannot go to the hardware store the weekend following Thanksgiving and expect there to be an ample supply of holiday decorating necessities.

So, how about we rethink Thanksgiving? Oh, I don’t want to take away the tradition of turkey and football and listening to Uncle Harold’s stories about the big war in which he never fought but he does remember what life was like back then. Those are family legend, just like Harold.

I was patiently waiting inside the front office of the last Wednesday for the delivery truck from Iowa to arrive with our newspapers when I stumbled into a conversation that ended with a deep dive into the annals of Nebraska high school sports history. While standing at the front counter scrolling through my phone, a gentleman came in, and we struck up a conversation like strangers do, talking about the weather, deer season, the Boone Central Cardinals’ hopes for a state football title.

I don’t know about all of you, but for me it seems like almost on the regular I encounter a situation where my presence is required. Required not in the way that I am forced to attend events, but in the way that, if I don’t, my absence will be noticed.

I don’t remember much about my recent sixty-four-block ambulance ride from my house to an urban hospital, but I was told after the fact that it was a matter of a few minutes to keep my body from going into septic shock.

This summer, I was about at the end of my rope. As the publisher of a couple Nebraska newspapers, I also get newspapers across the state.