It has been a trend in recent years, among those in pursuit of self-improvement, to choose a theme word to focus on for the year. Examples I’ve seen include: risk, freedom, courage, thrive, strength and health. There are a multitude of books, websites and “projects” based around the concept of adopting one word to focus on throughout the year.

While I have given the idea some consideration, I’ve never gone so far as to pick a word for myself. (As a lover of words choosing one would be near impossible!) However, in returning to my position as editor of The Times, the new publisher, staff and I have done a good deal of reflecting on what we’d like the paper to become.

As we discussed the changes we hope to make in the coming months, I recognized recurring words that will serve to guide us. I thought I would share a few of the words we want to see come to life through the pages of The Times.

Interactive

We want you! We want to see our readership actively participate within our pages. Please send us your news tips, items of interest, letters to the editor, birth and engagement announcements and reader photos. Oh! And if you visit somewhere of interest, take a photo of you reading The Times there so we can share with our readers. Our desire is to build and strengthen community. That’s one of the special attributes of a small-town paper.

Local

Another benefit of a small-town paper is that the readership often has a personal knowledge of those we write about. We are able to share those items of interest that would not necessarily be of interest to a larger publication. While we can’t go back to the days where it was standard business to report who bought a new car and what they paid for it, we will strive to share hyper-local bits of interest. That said, we also believe that “local” includes neighboring communities and even national news. If it affects our readers, it has a local impact.

Relevant

Which brings me to our plan to be relevant. Our hope is that our readers walk away from each issue with something new to think about, talk about, or apply to daily life. That may be learning something new about a fellow community member, becoming aware of what’s going on in local government, or simply taking advantage of entertainment opportunities. We want to be a practical resource for daily living in The Burg.

Thought Provoking

We strive to be an unbiased source of local information and hope that the news within the pages of The Times sparks thought and discussion among our readers. We will also occasionally share items of interest from outside of our immediate area as we can learn from the mistakes and successes of others.

While far from being exhaustive, I believe the above word list paints a picture of what we hope The Times will become in 2019. I look forward to working with you, our readers, in that endeavor.