Most jobs involve deadlines – periods of high stress interspersed with moments of relative calm. But since an editor’s job involves assembling words and pictures to produce a kind of pleasing report, the whole thing can feel a bit like school used to feel. When things are going well, you’re not conscious of this. On good days you can be high-minded and see yourself as part of a long and noble line of Ben Frankliney goodness – the work an important contribution to the culture and discourse of our region. But on bad days, when things get backed up, and you’re starring at an empty computer screen while a clock ticks in the background, it’s easy to taste the same adrenaline you tasted in ninth grade, when the book report was due, and teacher was waiting expectantly for a finished product on which you would be judged.
In any case, I’m pleased to announce that our homework is largely done. The winter issue is in the final proofing stage (it’s an especially good-looking issue, I dare say), and the magazine should be showing up in your mailbox right around Thanksgiving. In it you’ll find stories on how deer affect forest composition, on how fishers scent mark, on why beech and oak hold their leaves. You’ll find a great old piece of “found” writing from 1912 that features a visit to a Maine lumber camp, a profile of a modern bodger, and a primer on how to age a tree without an increment borer, among other stories.
This means that from an editorial perspective it’s full speed ahead to spring. The other editors and I are making a concerted effort to seek out positive environmental news stories to report. Do you know of any story-worthy work going on in your region? We’re looking for something hopeful, something to provide a positive counter-balance to the divisive election-year rhetoric we’ve been bludgeoned with for the past few months and the emotional toll that the coming winter always takes. We’re currently booking spring stories with authors, so if you have any leads, do drop me a line.