Captain’s Log – The Difference We Make that REALLY Matters

We had a schoolteacher ask us if she could take some old copies of the paper to use in her classroom for a unit she was teaching on journalism. 

We were so happy we ran her over 30 copies of the latest edition and told her we’d bring her more any time she needed them. And then we didn’t think another thing about it.

Last week, when we were going through one of the toughest spells we may ever have had in this grand endeavor, rent was late, no heat in the office, trying to expand, mirth wearing very thin, and in she walked with handmade thank you posters from her students and a copy of the new school newspaper they created. (Hand me a tissue, please. No, no, I’ll need the whole box.)

Lori Kaiser teaches social studies at the middle school and has 26 students doing this journalism unit. Under her direction, they studied our paper and made posters using our masthead owl to show what they learned. Lori told them it was a contest and the best one she would bring to us, but she delivered several because she couldn’t choose. 

On the posters was our Fallon Post owl, surrounded by the words they learned - words that matter when you talk about news and community. The big ideas that shape us and what we do are those that we don’t always go around articulating. I don’t remember really ever explaining the owl and what she means, and I don’t often wax philosophical about our purpose and our “why.” 

But those kids nailed it. 

Of course, they had wisdom and knowledge. 

They also got words like truth, vigilant, intelligence, strategy, educate, trustworthy, reputation, majestic, swift, inform, credibility, commitment, and the all-important tireless. I like that one. Especially as we near our deadline and we’re all exhausted. 

Their new school newspaper is awesome, too. 

They call it the Gurkha News, “named for the Gurkha soldiers of Nepal who are known for their bravery, loyalty, and professionalism.” As the story goes, Greenwave football coach, Tony Klenakis was the one who first started using the term, likening his triple-crown, three-state-title winning teams (1976, ’77, and ’78) to the ruthless Gurkha warriors. 

We loved their paper so much that we got McFadden Electric to help us cover the costs of printing and inserting it in this edition so all of you can see what these kids have done on their first shot at local journalism. Thank you, Joe McFadden. 

This is what this paper is all about. Community. Bringing community together to do good things. 

We also put together a fun Halloween Special Section this week to get the word out about all the upcoming fun events – it’s that time of year! We want to thank all the advertisers who pitched in to make that happen and hope you enjoy that publication and find it helpful as well. And we want to thank our advertisers who made that publication possible. Make sure you check them out and give them your support. 

So while we press on, in all our swift, tireless, vigilant, we’ll be right here…

…Keeping you Posted.

Rach.