I lost my mind sometime during the Y2K mess. I was a new mommy and was juggling the running of several new home subdivisions with my family team of REALTORS during the exciting housing boom and resulting growth around Grayson, GA when it occurred to me that I was neglecting my writing. Somewhere between negotiating a contract and doing some late night, pre-closing drywall repairs on a pending sale, I heard the voice of the ONE AND ONLY journalism professor I ever had in college. His mocking tone came back to me from the hazy memory banks of my new mommy brain as I recalled his biting remark, “You will never write for publication.” Yes, he actually said that. So, years later, I put down my spackle knife and picked up the pen. Well, it was actually a keyboard, but the idea is there.
I dreamed up The Grayson Gazette. It was to be an outlet for my own writing, a bit of Grayson, GA history and the rest a brilliant marketing plan to sell new homes. A newsletter of sorts, direct-mailed, simple Microsoft Publisher kind of newsletter… Brilliant idea…Ideas…sheesh…I got a million! I even roped my high school pal, Steven Starling, who would later become the town historian, into writing a tidbit here and there about the history of our community.
Word got out that I was writing and that the focus would be on Grayson. When I say word got out, I mean it GOT OUT in short order. The next thing I knew, I was contacted by then city clerk, Laurie Anderson, who announced to me, “I have had nine calls wanting to advertise in your newspaper.” I asked her, “What newspaper?” She replied, “The one you are doing for Grayson.” Puzzled, I asked, “What makes you think it is a newspaper? It is just a newsletter for selling more homes.” Silence. “Oh no…” says Laurie (this is what probably led to her becoming a councilperson later…her ability to talk people into things…), “The Grayson High School Alumni want a newspaper.” I paused for a bit to think about the implications of telling this influential and sometimes formidable group, “No.” But, I thought the better of it. What harm could it do? I took the names of the potential advertisers and sat back to think on the whole conversation. The Grayson Gazette was born.
And it took off. The alumni were true to their commitment and provided me with story leads, advertisers and moral support. It did not hurt that the county was building a new regional park and establishing a new high school with the same name, colors, crest and enthusiasm as the original Grayson High School had enjoyed until its consolidation in 1959. All this growth made selling homes attractive, gave me time to establish the paper and gave rise to groups like The Women of Grayson and brought lots of people to join the synergy. There was nothing like it.
Synergy is like that…a huge swell in activity and then, there is a natural settling down of things. The Grayson Gazette enjoyed a good run and then I stepped out of my role there and other folks took on the job of publishing until it was absorbed into yet another publication and eventually died a natural death. The same death many papers have seen. But the virtual world holds a great many possibilities. The kind of possibilities that might make a Baptist preacher ponder reincarnation. You see, when I first started the paper, I was terrified. I wondered about the nuts and bolts of how to run a paper, how it all worked. Despite being Catholic, one of my best pals was the preacher of the First Baptist Church of Grayson and I sought advice from this learned friend. You would have to consider him learned since the dog-eared collection of books that graced his office were not worn down by anyone other than himself. His advice to me was to enjoy the ride. Don’t worry so much. “The paper clearly wanted to be created and it will eventually die a natural death once it is no longer needed.” He was right. Downright prophetic. He is also the guy who told me not to ask God to clear things from my plate, but rather, to ask politely for a bigger plate. Good stuff Buddy Parrish, good stuff. So, in the virtual world, there is room for more. Room for as much as the WWW will take, which is more than imaginable. Room for ideas. Perhaps we will hear some more from The Grayson Gazette.
In the meantime, I am still honored that the local high school calls their newsletter The Grayson Gazette. It makes me laugh that excerpts from it appear from time to time on the backs of the bathroom stalls at GHS. I know this because that baby in my lap when The Grayson Gazette forced its way into my life, well, he and his brother are graduates of that school now and both living in Athens, GA. I still spend a lot of time there. As I look out over the stadium that is our community’s central gathering place in the fall, it occurs to me that to become truly educated, you have to buck the system a bit and not listen to what others tell you about yourself. That professor, I have long forgotten his name, but he was wrong. I did write for publication after all and I am still doing it.
FreelanceBeth 