EDITORIAL: The Rossland Telegraph is three years young!
By Rossland Telegraph
What do I love about life in a small town? I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately, and I think I’ve come up with an answer that works for me. More than anything I love the human scale of life in a place like Rossland.
In Rossland a person can affect the world around them. Care about city issues? Run for council. Like theatre? Start a theatre company with some friends. Like to hike or ski? Walk out your back door. Freedom. Community.
For David Livingstone and I, that’s pretty much what the Rossland Telegraph has always been about. We were talking one day and decided that Rossland needed a proper newspaper–one that would attempt to engage the real life of the community in a meaningful way. And so, joined by fellow founding father Andrew Zwicker, we walked out our respective back doors and did just that.
It felt odd at first, to be strolling around town trying to announce our existence and sell ads to often-skeptical business owners. “A website?” was a common refrain. But we saw something we wanted to do and we did it to the best of our abilities. Just like the folks who run the pool, who run City Hall, who build the ski huts in the back country, and who run the businesses that support our enviable lives. And people responded. And we were grateful and made some new friends.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Occupy Movement lately, about the idea of the 99% and the 1%. One cheering revelation I’ve had in the last week or so has been the realization that there isn’t a single One Percenter in Rossland. The businesses are small and local (even relative behemoths like Red and Ferraros) and the uber-rich can’t be bothered to come to a backwater like this. And we’re fine with that.
It’s all about a life lived on a human scale–about friends and community. We’ve met some inspiring people through this project: interview subjects and newsmakers; writers and other contributors to our venture.
We’re lucky enough to have worked with Allyson Kenning and Tyler Austin Bradley. Now those august alumni are joined by Andrew Bennett and Tom Jones, new friends who are really partners in work that we all see the value of.
That’s what I always wanted my life to be like. That’s what life in Rossland is like.
We’re looking forward to the future.
