Publishers Log: March 16, 2020

You can generally tell what day it is by who is in the office and what tasks are being done. On Mondays, most people are in the office, collecting material, writing, editing, speaking to customers, selling, booking and creating ads.

By Tuesday, everyone including a proofreader is working on the paper, writing and editing stories, laying it out, proofreading, making sure that ads are in, and creating a newspaper that is as error-free as possible.

Wednesday’s schedule includes staff meetings and planning for future issues. The paper is printed, and distribution begins.

By Thursday, the reporting staff is in the field, and by Friday, only a handful of people are on hand in the office to continue the gathering process.

And then it begins again.

Today, this Monday, however, people are working from home. We are figuring out how to share files and work collectively from distant points.

It seems we have all come a long way in a week. Our awareness, indeed the entire population’s awareness, is that we need to not be together, to not breathe the same air and, most importantly, not touch the same surfaces.

What we are facing is unprecedented. Unprecedented: Never done or known before.

For me, the unprecedented nature, while amazingly unsettling, is a novel experience. And somehow, in its novelty, there is opportunity.

In that opportunity there is the continued commitment that The River Reporter is a vehicle for the exchange of information that is essential to our community.

We work from home. We keep each other safe. We are distanced to remain healthy. And in our distance, we are connected.

We are all in this unprecedented time together.