Romance and Reality

Ooh, the romance, and alas, the reality! Thanks to Mark Bernstein ’83 for his excellent piece on small-town newspapers (“Home Team,” Jan. 8). It brought to mind my own final days at Princeton, when I asked fellow English major Steven Kloehn ’87 what his plans were. He said he was off to edit the Bar Harbor Times in Maine. Fantastic, I thought, being a lover of small towns and their stories. Steven went on to bigger venues (including the Chicago Tribune; I ran into him once in Rome, where he was covering a papal conclave), but I’m glad others (such as Tom McLaughlin ’84, Robin Martin ’75, and J. Robert Hillier ’59 *61) have stayed local to battle the harsh economic realities of small-town journalism and tell stories that otherwise wouldn’t be told. And thanks to all journalists who strive to speak truly in these truth-tested times!