My Introduction

Greetings to one and all!

As you know, if you read the announcement posted recently, I have been hired as managing editor, a new part-time position and the only paid position for Northfield Citizens Online. While the job description is broad, the goal is pretty basic. I plan to do some of the work the volunteers on the board could do -- if they just abandoned their jobs and families and lived online.

Before I talk about my role, I must take a minute and honor Griff Wigley, who, in my humble opinion, should be declared the honorary mayor of Northfield.org. He has devoted years of service to developing this site into a real community. If we had an online park, there would be a computer-animation statue of him snapping pictures and smiling with the sheer joy of living here. We are sure Griff will continue to be a valuable resource for all of us. He also plans to continue doing the Locally Grown podcasts and occasionally contribute other items to the site.

WHAT'S MY ROLE?
The term "managing editor" sounds pretty intimidating, but I'm not here to boot you out for dangling a few participles or sprinkling too many commas in your posts. And given the independent folks that populate this territory, trying to force all of you to do anything my way would be about as successful as herding cats.

So, let's think of me more as a concierge, a travel agent, the guy at the gas station who still knows how to give directions. I'm here to help you get your stories and pictures posted, to answer your questions about reporting, to help you polish your writing -- or to write things with you until you get the hang of it. I'm not a techie, not by a longshot, but that's good. I won't mock you for having questions, I can usually translate geekspeak into English and if we can't figure things out I can find someone who can.

WHO AM I?
I have lived in Northfield for just about a year, so there are no family headstones in the cemetery, no kids in school and no storefront or office bearing my name. I'm a freelance writer, mostly doing business news from a home office run by our cat. Some of you have jousted with me on the ISSUES List. Others may remember the ISSUES List party we had last December at our home.

I'm the new kid on this block, but I've been around quite a few others in my day. I grew up in northwest Indiana, near Chicago, in a family of seven kids. I worked in community newspapers, sold furniture and even spent four years as a paid firefighter (a long story for another day).

I moved to Duluth in 1987 and since then I have worked mostly in journalism. I've covered everything from religion and education to Indian issues and business news. My life included a decade at the Duluth News-Tribune and later part ownership of a business publication based in Duluth. I even lived one winter in Ely (another long story) before moving to the Twin Cities three years ago. I now write mainly for the Minnesota Real Estate Journal. I once won the Premack Award from the University of Minnesota for my education reporting.

Personally, I am married to Wendell Ellis, who is the strategic planner for SpeechGear, and a faithful Rotarian. We met online three years ago (so don't tell me you're too old to do this stuff!), got married in Italy last summer and moved to Northfield from Minnetonka to be closer to his job. Between us we have seven grown children and eight grandkids under the age of eight, including one set of twins.

In the interest of full disclosure, I do not have any local clients or major affiliations yet. I am working with RENew Northfield on the Happy Feet campaign, a new project to promote walking and biking. You'll hear more about that soon.

I admit I don't know the history of everything going on here, but you're the ones doing the writing. And being new makes me enthusiastic about learning, impartial in dealing with controversies and contributors, and careful to avoid stupid mistakes that will give me away as a newcomer.

I'm looking forward to meeting all of you. Until then, let's start the ball rolling here. Just attach a comment, suggestion or question to this post or contact me directly using the info below.

Hope to see you all at the party next Thursday!

Anne Bretts, Managing Editor
Northfield Citizens Online
PO Box 733 | Nfld, MN 55057
507-645-5620 office
612-227-0071 cell
anne@northfield.org