×

Come on and join the team

One of the recurring themes of this column over the past year has been interactivity; pleas for readers to participate in bringing new local voices to the newspaper. Most often, I have asked for letters to the editor, op-ed pieces and tips on stories you would like to see us follow up on.

This reader interactivity is one of the things that keeps “community” in “community newspapers.” The odds of a reader contributing to big market daily paper is pretty small; whereas with Minot Daily News, like other community newspapers, we openly solicit it.

And solicit it I have. Thankfully, response to these repeat general requests has been good, and I appreciate all of you who have written.

In the months ahead, we are launching some additional initiatives that will give readers the chance to participate and share with one another. I sincerely hope one or more of these plans will sound appealing to you, and thus I would hear more from you. Here is a look ahead:

As previously mentioned, we intend to publish a photo essay at the end of the summer featuring photos from readers that, to them, illustrate what summer looks like. You don’t have to be a professional photographer or have a camera any fancier than the one built into your smart phone. The subjects can be anything that evokes summer to you: kids enjoying being out of school, scenes from the fair, pets keeping cool environmental and weather. Anything really, past or present – just something that you could look back on in January and be reminded of this warmer time of year. Email me your photos and we will publish this special feature in a month or so, when the heat begins to fade.

Just this past week, I announced a new reader-driven plan in our Arts section. We would like visual artists from our region to shoot me over a note about them and their work, and some sample visuals of their work. My goal is to utilize our Arts section to feature a local artist as frequently as possible. If response is strong enough, I would like to feature one a week. That’s right – any kind of visual artist at any level, from established professional to up-and-comer to novice. If you draw or paint or sculpt and want to share your work with our audience, please get in touch with me and we will make it happen. I can’t quantify this, but I get a sense that there is a lot of talent out there in search of an audience. In less than two years, from art shows, raffles and one of my favorite annual events – the Taube Museum’s wonderful Small Works show and auction – I’ve collected dozens of pieces from artists within reach of this newspaper. We would like other people to have that opportunity. If you are a visual artist, or know a visual artists, please have them reach out to get the ball rolling!

For months now, in the Food section, we have been asking readers to send in their on recipes – recipes from their own families, recipes reflecting heritage, or just interesting takes on everyday food items. We would like this section to be a place where people can exchange recipes, tips and stories about food reflecting a particular culture. In the next few months, we are going to make it even easier. The plan is to launch a column in Food that will explore seasonal shopping, food trends, recipes and tips (preferably from readers!). It will also feature chefs in town providing tips and ideas, the occasional restaurant review, restaurant news, etc. Both cooking and dining out in this part of the world are pretty serious. Our goal with the new column – still in development – is to inspire and empower home cooks, to preserve classic recipes and to spotlight those chefs and restaurants doing cool things in town. Have a cool recipe? Know a chef who does amazing things? Have a single favorite dish about which you would like to learn more (Hello, Primo, about that mushroom dish…)? All you have to do is let me know!

There are other things we’d love to work with readers on. Youth sports coaches and parents, please send us photos from your try-outs, practices and games. I already have space set aside dedicated to these kinds of photos.

Have an enthusiasm for something? Quilting? Canning? Building models? How about sharing your passion and expertise with readers in a column. We can help you with the writing part.

We’re always looking for volunteers who can take pictures, write up sports briefs, maybe pick up writing credit for school or something.

We like volunteers who are older because they have a life’ worth of experience to bring to the table.

We like volunteers who are students because it gives us an opportunity to facilitate a young person to engage with the community.

Most importantly as we progress through this effort, we are open to your ideas. What interactive features would you like to see us launch? What would get you to engage with the paper? What would be fun or informative.

Just let me know your ideas and I will keep you posted on our campaign. If we can pull these off and earn some enthusiasm, there will be more down the line. Don’t tell anyone – shhhhhhhh – but I have a vision of one day doing a regular literary supplement to the paper featuring short stories and poems from western North Dakota writers. Let’s just keep that between us for now.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you and I hope one or more of these initiatives inspires you to participate and become not just a reader of Minot Daily News, but a legitimate part of it.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today