Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s part of a recent commentary in The Smoky Mountain News by my friend and former colleague, Quintin Ellison. She’s writing about what makes Sylva a cool small town.
The Smoky Mountain News, come to think of it, undoubtedly adds to the ambiance, because every cool town needs an alternative newspaper. Though, honestly, I don’t find my new employer particularly outrageous or provocative. Kind of left leaning, yes, and the writers do sometimes pen their excessively purplish prose in the present tense, an affectation that drives me nuts.
I have observed a lot of the staff wear running shoes to work. And, on my first day helping layout the newspaper, which required me to go to the main office in Waynesville, I noticed Amanda the bookkeeper was wearing no shoes at all. I certainly never saw anyone without shoes during my many years at the Asheville Citizen-Times.
I remember at yet another newspaper company where I worked — Community Newspapers Inc., the one that owns most of this region’s weeklies — one of the owners sent an intern in Highlands back to the house to change because he wore shorts in to the office. I don’t think the owners of the Smoky Mountain News would even blink if I showed up in shorts.
It occurs to me, by extension, I’m cool now, too, because I opted to join The Smoky Mountain News as a staff writer instead of returning to the Asheville Citizen-Times. Though I’m fond enough of my previous employer and keep in touch with former colleagues, I recognize that on the neat-o-meter, working for the largest newspaper publishing company in the nation (Gannett) is really not very cool. It’s akin to working for Wal-Mart, or the state Department of Transportation, or the FBI.
I think working in the journalism field is cool, period.
Yes, you have shoes, but you owe it all to The Man. Besides, mountain xpress no longer calls you one of their own, remember? You work for The Man.
but dude – i have shoes AND a blog. i think that makes me just as cool. if not cooler. and it took me 45 years to get so hip. have you seen my picture in mountain xpress, which proves this?
No, Jason, I'm much cooler than you. It took me 43 years to get so hip, but I've finally arrived … Problem is, when you work for an alternative publication, you really can't afford shoes. That's probably why Amanda didn't have any. But dude, are we cool.