Publisher's Page: A personal note as I pack for my trip to Pittsburgh | The Homepage

Managing Editor Juliet Martinez in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Photo by Juliet Martinez

By Managing Editor Juliet Martinez

By the time you read this, I will have arrived in Pittsburgh and returned to Guadalajara. But right now, I’m practically humming with anticipation.

Tomorrow morning, I’ll get on a plane to fly to Chicago. My niece, a small business owner in the Chicago area, got married in a Wyoming micro-wedding two weeks ago. The reception will be in Chicago on Friday, right after I send the November paper to the printer, so I will have one big and one medium reason to celebrate.

The morning after the party, I will drive to Pittsburgh with my brother, my sister-in-law and my darling nieces, who are 15 and 9. While I’m in town, I hope to see as many of my readers and contributors as possible. I’m so excited!

In the run-up to the trip, I’ve been thinking a lot about a film I watched recently. “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” is a feel-good historical drama about a journalist who goes to cover a story on the island of Guernsey in the aftermath of World War II. What she finds is a community, connection and belonging.

I related to this movie, and not just because the main character and I happen to share a first name.

When I started as the managing editor of The Homepage five years ago, I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I knew just a little about the neighborhoods it serves — very little, compared to now. I had no way of knowing that the people I would meet would come to mean so much to me.

During my first year or so in this job, Tiffany Taulton was my immediate supervisor. I have told Tiffany many times that I am her biggest fan. I learned a tremendous amount from her in the time I worked with her, and I continue to watch her work with admiration. (By the way, she now works for Dream.org and has organized a green job fair on Nov. 13 that you can learn about on the facing page.)

I have had the good fortune to find contributors who generously share their work with The Homepage and truly make every issue possible. Ziggy Edwards, for one, not only reports and writes for The Homepage, but she also finds and flags my errors so you do not have to see them. Another is MaryAnn Majcher, who started out as a six-word story contributor, but found she has a knack for journalism. She covers meetings and news in the 31st Ward, and is also just a lovely person to know.

Some of the people I have come to know and love because of this job have left us, but they are still close to my thoughts. I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried for the better part of a day over Homer Craig’s passing and my inability to attend his services. I was so fortunate to get to know him and consider him a friend.

And of course, you, gentle Reader, are always in my thoughts. I am so grateful for you.

My deep affection for my friends in the communities The Homepage serves has made being far away difficult. You’ve probably heard the saying that to be a parent is to have your heart walk around outside your body. I have found this to be true. Running a community newspaper from afar feels a little like that, too.

That’s why I am so excited about going to Pittsburgh. I can’t wait to give and get hugs, to be in the presence of people I am so lucky to know and whom I hope to continue serving for a long time to come.

And if you’re reading this and I didn’t get to see you this time, let’s try to fix that on my next visit.