A little bit about a lot of things:

Why we do what we do is sometimes hard to explain.....ironically, in a profession built on words, it can be difficult to find the right ones to tell somebody who has never experienced the inside of a newspaper operation just what it is all about.

It strikes me, as I consider the stories and photos that will go into this week’s semi-annual “mass-mailed” edition, that we have chosen a vocation which can be challenging, enjoyable, complex, frustrating, rewarding, gut-wrenching, maddening, exciting, vexing, boring and humbling.....and that can all be rolled into any given day at the office.

Community journalism can only be served up well with a commitment to serving our readers and advertisers, our towns and our school districts, our farming friends and our city neighbors.....our own little corner of the world.

It can’t be done half-heartedly, or with a lack of accountability, responsibility and sensitivity.

After all, the folks you write about are the same ones you see in the produce aisle of the grocery store or in the stands at the Friday night football games. There is a familiarity in small towns rather that the anonymity that one finds with larger papers and larger cities.....and we happen to believe that is a good thing!

You see, community newspapers aren’t about us. They are about you, and the things going on in the communities that we all call home.

Sometimes, that isn’t all the best of news.

Our pages this week, for example, contain a story on the impact high gas prices are having on local residents and businesses, another updating the impact of a devastated housing market and wave of foreclosures that our communities have endured.

Real issues, affecting real people – those same people who you see in the supermarket or at the high school games.

But the news isn’t all gloomy, not this week and not most weeks.

Julie Rose’s uplifting story and photos about third-grade students at Bonita School holding a fund-raiser for ill classmate Nicole Ramirez is a reminder that there are plenty of good things happening in our communities. Those are the stories that we love to share at every opportunity.

We also have playoff bound sports teams, world travelers recounting their adventures, stories on people who are making a positive difference in their community and much more about good things happening, right here at home.

Of course, if there is one truism about community newspapers it is that not everybody is going to be happy all of the time, and some folks aren’t going to be happy any of the time.

That goes with the territory – and that’s okay, too, because differing opinions and viewpoints can lead to healthy debate.

We express our own opinions on this page – not elsewhere – and sometimes that ruffles feathers. There’s nothing wrong with that.....although some folks take criticism a bit more in stride than others.

We have a standing invitation, by the way, for anybody who takes umbrage with something we have editorialized about to explain the errors of our ways in their own letter to the editor. Our opinion is just that....and we definitely reserve the right to be wrong.

My favorite editions are those that are loaded with letters to the editor, regardless of what stance the writers are taking on the issue of the day or if they are taking us to task for some transgression.

Of course, human nature being what it is, we greatly appreciate the occasional thank you and words of kindness which remind us that our efforts do not go unnoticed. I have a collection of thank you notes which are particularly meaningful; those are from special people or special moments, and will always be treasured.

That, I guess, is one of the reasons we do what we do.

The rewards and satisfaction generally outweigh having to suffer the wrath of the occasional irate reader, of dealing with some mistake or another that has found its way into print (which, being a business run by imperfect humans, does happen) or facing a painful story of tragedy or loss.

We strive to do each and every story justice, and to be fair to every single person with whom we deal.

One of the greatest compliments I hear comes from those who concede that they might not always have liked what we have written, but that we have always been fair to them.....and no complaint gets my attention more quickly than somebody suggesting otherwise.

There’s no business quite like a community newspaper, where one has the chance to work so closely with so many different people from all walks of life, dealing with a breadth of topics, and where each week brings its own challenges and rewards.

Perhaps that above all else is why we do what we do.

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