January 1, 2009

editorial

The News is better because of you

It’s our custom at the end of the year to publish the names of those who contributed their writing to the News over the previous 12 months. If your name is here, whether from writing a letter to the editor, an Other Voices column, or a review of a concert, film or play, your writing made the News a better paper. More than 380 names are listed below, an amazing number of contributors for a tiny town. This diversity of voices and opinions makes the Community Forum page always interesting; the more people who contribute, the richer this page becomes.

Especially striking is the thoughtfulness and caring the letters reveal. A quick review of this year’s Community Forum pages shows that villagers care passionately about topics large and small, ranging from opposing the war in Iraq to supporting local children’s theater, from analyzing the economic downturn to rallying villagers to scoop poop in the Mills Lawn playground.

The saga of the closing of Antioch College drew the most letters this year, followed by the presidential election, sparked by this town’s huge case of Obamamania. If the numbers of letters on youth-related topics is an indicator, villagers care deeply about their young people, weighing in on the limits (or not) to creative expression, the efficacy of bringing drug dogs to the schools, and (lots on this topic) whether football offers kids more good than harm. And our young people submitted their own eloquent statements on these topics. Not all letters were issue-related; many villagers wrote to thank others for a job well done, or to reflect on some human aspect of life in a small town.

Whatever the issue, Yellow Springers are most often passionate, articulate and fair-minded, although we can also be quirky, goofy and sometimes a tiny bit cranky. Whatever the tone or the topic, the News is grateful for your contributions. We look forward to hearing from you in the coming new year.

—Diane Chiddister