I Read about You in Bay Weekly
Everybody’s got a story.
Many of those stories are never told.
Children grow up with no idea of their mothers’ and fathers’ hopes and dreams, struggles and frustrations, hard roads and high times, determination and doubt. This very week, two friends have told me, with regret: “I never knew …”
It’s not only husbands and wives whose partners work at NSA who couldn’t tell you what they do. Most of us have no clear idea of what keeps our husbands, sisters, best friends busy. Oh she’s in computers, they might say.
We think we know. We’re just too busy to ask. It never occurred to us to wonder. Many of our stories remain unknown and untold until our obituaries — if anybody bothers to write us one.
I can’t bear letting all those stories go.
If you’ve met me, I’ve probably peppered you with questions.
“Are you interviewing me?” a reserved friend asked over lunch the other day.
“No, I’m interested in your story,” I told her.
“But you’re likely to become a Bay Weekly story,” warned the third in our group.
Telling the stories of Chesapeake Country — yours, your family’s, your neighbors — has been our job at Bay Weekly these 23 years. You’ve read, I hope with pleasure, chapters of those stories in issue after issue since April 22, 1993. A few among thousands come immediately to mind: the Balloon Man of Annapolis (www.bayweekly.com/node/34431) … Calvert County skateboarders Wayne Cox and Joey Jett (www.bayweekly.com/node/34205) … The Vera behind Vera’s White Sands in Lusby (www.bayweekly.com/old-site/year06/issuexiv25/leadxiv25_1.html) … our own Bill Burton, the great outdoorsman and outdoors writer who retired from the Baltimore Evening Sun to our pages (many, including the last: www.bayweekly.com/old-site/year09/issue_33/features.html).
The stories in this week’s issue are a little out of the ordinary, focusing on the stories of our advertisers.
Before making this decision, our editorial board — Alex Knoll, Bill Lambrecht and I — have been alert to the many ways our colleagues in journalism fight for survival in our fast-changing world. Common nowadays: credited sponsors, sponsored content, columns representing special interests, whole sections of bought stories in news format.
The synthesis of our reflection is the Bay Weekly Local Business Guide you’re reading.
In it, we attempt to tell the stories of our sponsors, the people whose advertising brings you Bay Weekly issue after issue — plus advertisers who thought this particular edition would make a good test of our readership.
We’ve wanted to know what makes them tick: Why they got in business, why they keep it up, what their rewards are. In other words, we’ve asked them much the same questions reporters ask strangers or those enjoying their 15 minutes of fame.
Pulling it all together took the whole Bay Weekly team, from ad reps Lisa Knoll, Audrey Broomfield, Donna Day and Karen Lambert; production staff Alex Knoll and Betsy Kehne; myself and staff writer Kathy Knotts, contributing writer Victoria Clarkson and intern Kelsey Cochran, now back at Gettysburg College.
So it’s not just me but all of us who hope you enjoy learning the stories behind the businesses. If reading them takes you through their doors, be sure to say,
“I read about you in Bay Weekly.”
Sandra Olivetti Martin
Editor and publisher; [email protected]