After two-and-half years working as a reporter for The Lincoln County News, covering Damariscotta, Newcastle, Bristol, South Bristol, and Monhegan Island, I will be leaving at the end of the month to accept a position at the Morning Sentinel newspaper in Waterville.
Two-and-half years doesn’t sound like a significant stretch of time, but it has felt much longer to me as I have learned so much, developed my skills in my first journalism job, and met so many amazing and helpful people.
Oh yeah, and there’s this thing called COVID-19 that I’ve been writing about weekly since March 2020 that has completely changed life as we know it and made the concept of time seem surreal.
I struggled for quite a few years to find a job where I could report on and write the news, after graduating with an ever-impractical English literature degree from Youngstown State University.
I continued to work many different jobs while always keeping an eye on online journalism job boards, never receiving any response from potential employers.
What I found is that most newspapers and other news organizations wanted me to have at least a few years of experience in the profession before they were willing to take on a green thing like me—the ultimate catch-22.
The Lincoln County News and the Roberts family took a chance on me and allowed me to learn the journalism profession the only way it can properly be learned, by simply doing it and inevitably making mistakes.
The Robertses saw my passion for reporting in the cover letter I sent in March 2019 and thought I was the right candidate.
The editor at the time, J.W. Oliver, called me at my home in Bessemer, Pa., and said, “If you can make it up here, you have a job.”
The next week I arrived at a tiny house on Westport Island that I rented week-to-week, and performed chores at, until I found a more permanent situation in downtown Damariscotta.
I didn’t know the first thing about Maine. I didn’t even really know much about the lobsters, blasphemy I know. But when I got here, I found a way of life that I strongly identified with.
I found in the local communities in Lincoln County an emphasis on hard work and individuality and the principle of always helping your neighbor. I have never seen a more engaged or more generous populace than I have found here. I also love annual town meeting and the concept of the townspeople as the actual legislative body of the municipality.
The Roberts family and the LCN provided me my foot-in-the-door in my chosen field and it is with a truly heavy heart that I have to say goodbye to this wonderful community institution and all the people who work here.
I have never felt more like part of a family at a place I worked than at the LCN. I will miss working with every single person and be forever grateful for all the help I have received to get me to this point.
I do have a genuine passion for truth and the art of the written word. There is a reason the press is the only profession specifically protected by a constitutional amendment, and the first one at that. A free and independent press is absolutely essential to a functioning democracy and this work is something I can take pride in and ultimately feel good about at the end of the day.
News may often be free to read online, but it takes money, time, and significant effort to gather, verify, and deliver that news.
I look forward to continuing this important work at the Morning Sentinel.
I want to say thank you to Lincoln County and all of our loyal readers. And although I know full well I will always be “from away,” I hope I can be accepted into the community of this wonderful state.
