Sit Down With Sam

Hi Readers

This paper marks the first full edition since our dedicated Editor took her maternity leave break. Firstly, I want to wish Amanda and Hamish all the best as you embark on such an exciting chapter. I know you will cherish this time with your family and welcome baby Wright with plenty of love.

This week, I’ve taken on a few of Amanda’s responsibilities, the most interesting one being pagination. I wasn’t unfamiliar with the process before now, but it took me actually doing it myself to truly appreciate the work our editors put in every week. Pagination is the mapping out of the paper – planning what article, ad, photo goes on what page; how much space to allow for it; what should go next to it. It’s a never-ending juggle of puzzle pieces and there’s an element of challenge, fun and satisfaction to fitting all the pieces together – although perhaps my editors will warn that the shine wears off with repetition. We will see.

If you flick to the event guide on page 18, you’ll see there’s no shortage of things to do this weekend. Being a fan of sport, I’m excited to see the Cutters, Meteors and Meteorettes getting plenty of home games. I went to my first basketball game ever last week and the energy inside the Crater was electric. I urge you all to check it out tonight if you can. Read my recollections of last week’s games on Page 21 before you do.

Being a beer fan, I’m also looking forward to celebrating Red Dog Brewery’s first birthday tomorrow. One year ago tomorrow, a relatively fresh journalist in a relatively new town, I dropped in at the corner of Victoria and Chain Streets, had a yarn to Woodsy and enjoyed my first schooner of Red Dog’s Red Ale. That year has flown by, and I’ve enjoyed plenty since. You can read Red Dog’s story on page 19.

Whatever you’re getting up to, I hope you have a good weekend and enjoy the read.

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