After 18 action-packed months as an LCN reporter, I wrote my last article on the Twin Villages desk Wednesday, April 10. For family reasons, I’ve made the very difficult decision to depart the newspaper.
Until the end, I woke up as happy and thankful to have this job as I was the day I got the offer. When I cold-called in 2022 to see if the LCN had room for one more reporter, I did so because I read the paper every week and felt convinced that it was a place with strong values, standards, and connections. Working here has proven that true many times over, not just about the newsroom but the county as a whole.
I’ve often wished our readers could come to work with me and experience firsthand the thoughtful, dedicated people who make this area what it is. While the daily life of an LCN reporter is filled with plenty of instruction funding formulas, road construction, budget processes, business transactions, school curriculums, and bid procedures, watching the way people here do their work has been a personally formative experience.
Among many other lessons, you have all taught me about working hard, caring for your community, protecting your local identity and the things you stand behind, making tough decisions, and getting through the sometimes long and difficult and painful effort of doing all these things as responsibly as anyone knows how to.
Growing up all over the country and dreaming about returning to Maine, I always hoped someday I’d be part of a place like Lincoln County. Through my time here, I’ve learned what a community really is and what it means to live where it is so clear that everything a person does matters.
I do feel a little funny writing about myself at any length when the other people who populate this area are the heart of this newspaper and of a reporter’s role. What are really in order, I think, are some thank-yous.
Thank you all for answering my phone calls, letting me take your pictures, explaining your thoughts, welcoming me into your homes, trusting me with your stories, and treating me like part of your place.
You are left in capable, dedicated hands. My thanks also go to my brilliant and caring cohort in the newsroom, everyone in the Lincoln County Publishing Co. building I loved to see each day, and to the Roberts family, for everything they do and for giving me the opportunity to witness it.
Next week, I’ll start a new job at the Bangor Daily News writing about farming, gardening, food, and the environment for the paper’s homestead section. Wherever I go and whatever I do, I’ll carry this time and the lessons in humanity I have learned here with me. Thank you.
With all my gratitude,
Elizabeth Walztoni, reporter for the Twin Villages, Alna, and Edgecomb (alum of Bremen, Bristol, Jefferson, Nobleboro, Somerville, South Bristol, Waldoboro, Monhegan, etc.)
