Gazing out the window at the newly fallen snow in Zion Canyon, I ponder my life, my place in the word, and my future. I’ve put off writing this piece all month … so, par for the course, I guess.
February’s edition of The Independent marks 20 years of publishing for The Independent and myself. You read that correctly, having published the very first edition as The Revolution in March of 1996, February’s edition completes 20 years. I want to thank every contributor who has been part of an edition, and similarly, every advertiser. Without all of you, there would be no Independent!
The year 2015 was fraught with challenges. Our modern model of publishing, producing daily content online as well as the monthly print edition, has settled in as the new norm. That setup requires numerous daily tasks, editing, etc. that push our staff to the limit, making turnover a bit more frequent. To that end, you’ll notice the parting of our managing editor, Paul Dail, and the hiring of Darren M. Edwards as our new managing editor. Darren, along with our current opinion/assistant editor, Jason Gottfried, now have the monumental task of keeping our content flowing. I will miss Paul and his skills but am confident we are in good hands with Darren and Jason.
December also marked the departure of my sweet daughter Sky from The Independent. As kids do, she recently moved away, in this case to northern Utah to find her way in the big city. She’ll do awesome, but I miss her at the office immensely. My assistant, Flori Wentzell, has stepped into the office management duties and is doing a great job.
This edition is full of the art, music, entertainment, and community news you’ve come to love in The Independent.
March will be our special twenty-year-anniversary edition and will also include the relaunch of the pull-out Zion~Springdale Guide, a popular insert we created last year to great fanfare.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading The Independent as much as I have publishing it. Here’s to many more years and seeing what the future brings!
