Last week, I was asked by the Jasper County Citizen newspaper to help as a stringer writer. That means I will be a freelance writer for them, but not an employee of the paper. My first attempt to be published in a newspaper was an article about the churches in Carl Junction who had or will have a VBS program this summer. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the interviews and taking photos. My delight overflowed when the editor made my article the lead story in the paper and gave me three more assignments. For my second article, I interviewed a Purple Heart recipient from WWII and the Korean War. What a dear man who is now in his 80s. I hope it gets published for the Fourth of July weekend. Not for me and my publishing career, but to honor him and his service. If you have some thoughts about an interesting story about someone who lives, works, goes to school, or is in someway connected to our city please let me know. I will continually need new ideas to be able to provide more good stories for the Citizen. Good pictures can be tough. There was a lot of action at VBS which became difficult to capture. I struggled with a glare when I tried to shoot the picture of the Purple Hearts recipients medals because they were framed. I'm meeting new people and learning new things about ones I know.
