Another tinkle in the wind

Seventeen years ago today, I think I did my first paid gig for Charlottesville Tomorrow. That organization was created to report up close on local government.

I quit about five years ago because the new director was hired to oversee a plan to stop covering local government. One day I'm going to write out the full story, but it's too small a town to do that now.

As a sign of how little the new director cared about what came before almost all of my stories are now "Uncategorized" and many are formatted poorly. That person is gone now, and I'm glad of this, because I hope to rebuild a connection to the people there.

But the thing is: I know why the organization wanted to be less of a watchdog and more of a hill-shouter. There was a sense that there was more money to be made leaning in on stories. And gosh, what if one of their Board members also stood to make a lot of money off of the zoning rewrite currently underway?

That person told me I would never get the job of director. I believed him. He took away my power and took away my platform.

Good thing I've built my own and the story is right there waiting to be reported. But I'm not petty. But I am a bringer of truth and one day I'll tell this story plainly.

For now, though, I bring you the 2006 candidate forum from 17 years ago today, still up at Charlottesville Tomorrow even though the organization you see now is only five years old.

Check out this link.