What are you fighting for?

I understand the question. I really do.

Those who have heard about the Ann Arbor News closing have asked me if I am going to do something new.

It's a fair question. One of I have considered hundreds of times.

At times, it seems logical that I would move on to a new career, leaving behind 17 years of wonderful memories of stories I've written, places I have visited.

I think back to my first job. A courts and cops reporting job that threw me into the world of reporting head-first.

I remember sitting in a small courtroom in a historic courthouse, sitting through a week-long rape trial. 

Every I story I wrote was re-written by an editor who knew the area better and had the luxury of knowing the history of the case.

As frustrated as I was having my work torn apart, it pushed me to get to the point where editors changed words or punctuation marks. Not sentences or complete paragraphs.

Seventeen years later, I am still learning. Still yearning to write stories that people remember. To tell stories in ways people will talk about the next day at work. 

I read other people's work and see what is possible when words and reporting come together the right way.

So am I ready to give up the fight? Not in the least.

Not when I am getting closer to the goal I have always held for myself.