I saunter out into the middle of the dusty street, take up a comfortable position (at my desk) and ready myself for the showdown.
My enemy’s palms rest loosely on holstered pistols, his face silently staring me down. I blankly stare back (at the computer screen.)
The wind blows a tumbleweed by while the townsfolk run for cover (to their own desks, morning coffees in hand.)
Nervousness threatens to unlock the terror inside, for I know that unless I make my move, the moment of truth will arrive without warning – when my editor will ask, “how’s the piece coming?”
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Or so it was when I sat down this morning to write this farewell column.
With a normal news story, there are more resources to draw on. Previously written materials provide background reading, and there are people to call for quotes. But a column, especially one to say hasta luego, is a different beast all together.
With a column, you’re just a gunfighter staring yourself in the face, trying to offer a subjective opinion and hopefully a new perspective. No quotes from interviews to draw on and no research to back you up.
Fortunately, a musical gunslinger once gave some good guidance for these situations, a suggestion that I like very much.
“The best way to say anything is just to say it,” said Johnny Cash.
Taking the Man In Black’s recommendation, I want to say I feel grateful to the staff of the Western Producer’s newsroom.
Considering how wet behind the ears I am as a journalist, they treated me as a colleague when I arrived for my internship as part of the University of Regina journalism program. I appreciated their patience regarding all the obvious questions I needed to ask. There were many.
It was a humbling experience to be a reporter here.
“Just because you grew up on a farm doesn’t mean you know much about agriculture,” is a phrase I repeated often to friends who asked about working here.
And it’s true. Every story assignment was like a daily crash-course in some new aspect of prairie agriculture.
I also got a taste of the responsibility that comes with being a journalist. Whether talking to a producer or a corporate CEO, I was struck by the access and trust sources gave me to accurately represent their opinions. I hope I held up my end.
It was a privilege to interview farmers and ranchers about their perspectives on agriculture. If I have a regret from the last three months, it is that I didn’t take more time to talk with the small-scale primary producers, the ones the market seems to reward the least for their efforts. Hopefully, that will not always be the case.
