Aug 21, 2013 5 min read

WAYNESBURG – “Looking back” are two words that take many people to many different places. After this summer, those two words will always bring a smile to my face and Jon Stevens to my memory.

It is one of many unique memories that I have collected throughout this summer as an intern for the Observer-Reporter.

It all began with my first assignment. I knew what I wanted to get out of this experience: Learn how a newsroom works, learn some tricks of the trade, make a name for myself in my community, but more importantly, write amazing stories.

Nerves filled my every move the first day. Being a barely 20-year-old in a real newsroom with real journalists was quite intimidating for me. I mean, they were grown-ups. So like every other time I am nervous I become mute. It is my defense strategy. My train of thought is, if I don’t say anything, I can’t say anything wrong. I know it’s not a full-proof plan, but it was all I had.

Lucky for me, Jon, the Greene County editor for the Observer-Reporter, took charge and gave me my first story. It was called “Looking Back.” It is a weekly article that contains at least six stories from the archives and shows the reader events and occurrences that have gone on years before. This article became a weekly routine for me, and was always a joke between Jon and myself.

He declared later in my internship that he gave the job to me because he thought it was a good way for me to get started. He pulled the “make the intern do all the busy work” tradition. Every Wednesday he would lay the old newspapers on my desk and always have a smart comment about the “beloved” “Looking Back.” Every time I open up the paper and see “Looking Back” I can’t help but smile.

So, my first article was not the amazing, go-down-in-the-history-books-piece-of-work, but I was anxious to start writing “real stories.”

My co-workers must have thought that I was the most socially awkward person, just sitting at my desk, staring and not speaking. Jon thankfully took control again, asking me to write a story about my upcoming trip to Guatemala. Finally, a story that I would enjoy to write. Those are always the best ones in my opinion. Stories that you put your heart and soul into, those are the stories that seem to write themselves.

That story opened up my writing and it opened me up. Tara Kinsell, Bob Niedbala, Colleen Nelson and Jon were amazing people to work with. I loved it when the whole newsroom would join in on the same conversation. A melting pot of different points of views and different opinions. The newsroom felt so comfortable for me. I know this is sappy but it felt like I belonged.

I learned so much from the people I work with. Tara taught me so much about the system with the courthouse and online databases when dealing with hard stories on arrests and other “fun” topics. She also helped me when I was having extreme writer’s block. Yes, it is a real thing, and when you write for a living, it is the worst thing that can happen to you.

I had been working on a really great story about Bob Watson and his general store. I felt the potential with the story, but could not seem to get a rhythm going within my writing. I remember throwing my head on my desk and exclaiming my frustrations over and over. It was just another way I let off steam. Tara let me continue with my rant until I was finished and then she took a considerable amount of time going through my notes and getting a hold of my story. Bye, bye writers block, thanks to Tara.

Bob was quiet, like myself, but I have heard he has a bit of an edge. He and I had talks about everything, from college, to Broadway shows to not owning a television.

I had the opportunity to cover an event with Colleen. She taught me so much about photography, lighting and angle. I have never been one of those people to claim they are a photographer just because they have a camera and can hit a button. Actually, I am quite terrible at taking pictures, always getting my hair, finger or cord over the lens somehow. I can use all the help I can get in that department. Plus Colleen always brought warm, life-saving coffee with her.

Each one of them have taught me so much and have made me smile time and time again. There are memories, such as Jon buying me a lady lock every Wednesday from the farmers’ market, experiences of trying new things, such as the sandpaper chocolate from Guatemala that somehow Jon found enjoyable, and later gave back to me as a “gift” for writing a good story. It still sits on my desk in its wrapping paper. I am never going to open it. They have done so much for me and I would just like to say thank you to every single one of them.

I have been given the opportunity to write about amazing events and people. It started with “Looking Back” then quickly progressed to my trip to Guatemala, a man by the name of Bob Watson, an awesome charitable bike organization, countless stories on rain/fair/coal queens and even a rocking chair event.

I hope you had the chance to read my stories. I am so proud of each article, but I am more pleased with the behind-the-scenes experiences that go along with every story every day.

Those are the little special moments that can’t be written on paper and are kept only for the memory.