At the community Easter Egg hunt in Canton, someone was walking around and taking pictures of the children participating in the fun. The woman said her name was Leslie Manning and she was starting a newspaper.
I was intrigued and started asking questions.
Manning said she already had a name for this new publication — The Santa Fe Way. She said it would come out the first Friday of each month starting in May, and it would serve Canton and Galva.
She told me she worked at the weekly Lindsborg News-Record newspaper in Lindsborg. She also started a monthly newspaper called The Spotlight in Assaria to cover the Southeast of Saline School District.
This all sounded promising, and she could answer my production questions, which also helped me feel better about things. She knew what she was talking about.
As we talked, she asked if I would be interested in writing a column for the paper, in a section she was calling “Community Voices.” As a writer and lover of journalism, I agreed.
I plan to write about the importance of community journalism and how being informed leads to being civically engaged in a healthy democracy.
Don’t worry. I will be posting my columns here as well. I will be using the “Santa Fe Way” category to keep all the pieces together.
I will post them on the same day they appear in print. According to Manning, here is the print schedule for the rest of this year:
- Friday, May 7
- Friday, June 4
- Friday, July 2
- Friday, Aug. 6
- Friday, Sept. 3
- Friday, Oct. 1
- Friday, Nov. 5
- Friday, Dec. 3
I’m excited to be writing for a publication again, but I’m more excited to see a printed newspaper being brought to life. I love journalism and believe it is so important for our society.
We need more reliable news sources, and the fact this one is springing up in my hometown makes it even neater.
I just hope the people of Canton and Galva will support it.
