Fresh eyes, new home

I never would have thought, when my son came to Las Cruces as an orthopedic surgery intern seven years ago, that I would eventually end up here. He started his residency the next year, and he and his family fell in love with southern New Mexico.

His sister and her husband followed, and now, my wife, Paula, and I have joined the family exodus. We join our son and daughter, their spouses, and five amazing granddaughters in our new home. We decided to come to Las Cruces without really knowing for sure what was next in our careers.

Now that we’re here, Paula is putting her PhD to work and preparing to teach neuroscience to medical school students, and I have found my new work home at the Bulletin. You have likely noticed there has been a bit of a revolving door here in the executive suite, but now the time has come to settle in and work with the talented team here to deliver a high-quality publication.

We love watching our granddaughter experience New Mexico with the wide-eyed joy of a two-year-old. Like her, I now have an opportunity to get to know my new community with fresh eyes. I’m looking forward to learning all about this beautiful place and to sharing its stories with all of you.

I have been in the publishing business for more than three decades, beginning with the magazine division of McGraw-Hill soon after I graduated from Brigham Young University. It wasn’t the dream job at ESPN I envisioned, but like our eventual move to Las Cruces, it was the start of an unexpected journey.

Since returning to writing in the newspaper and online publishing world, I have spent many years covering high school sports, first in Northern California and then in Utah, where I was the owner, publisher, and sole proprietor of Preps Utah magazine for nearly 10 years. So, yes, we will ramp up our coverage of high school and NMSU sports as quickly as possible.

More recently, I worked as the editorial director at four community newspapers simultaneously, three in rural Utah communities and one in Idaho. I am a storyteller at heart. Community newspapers do need to play a watchdog role, but I feel very strongly that our primary responsibility is to record the history of the people who live here.

I love great stories, so we will report on the news, and we will share the great narratives that shape our lives in Las Cruces. I’m looking forward to getting to know you and I invite you to participate in the process by sending your story ideas my way. I want to know about the great stories in your family and your neighborhood, and I want to cover the news you experience every day.

I’m excited to see the Las Cruces you know through the fresh eyes of the “new guy.”