It’s my turn to say goodbye to RVANews. Publisher and my friend Ross Catrow announced to the world:
Well y’all, I’ve got some bad news. Next week, after almost a decade of local newsing, I’ll be shutting down RVANews.I’m sad for my friend that he has to say goodbye to a thing that he worked on for ten years. And I’m happy for my friend that he will find some relief from the obligations and stress of trying to make his small business work for him, his family, and his employees.
I’ve been writing one half of the Raising Richmond series for three years and I’m so happy I got to do it.
Friendship
It’s impossible for me to separate my “professional” feelings about RVANews from my personal. I started writing for RVANews because my friend Ross asked me to. My writing got better not because I was getting paid, but because I was trying to impress my friend and editor Val, then my friend Susan took over editing and I was trying to impress her. I never missed a Raising Richmond deadline because I didn’t want to let my friends down.Identity
I lost my job recently and have since found a new one. So much of one’s identity can be bound up in what our job is. I was the guy with a job no one understands who worked remotely and hung out at Lamplighter every morning. Now I’m the guy with a job no one understands who rides the bus downtown every morning.But, I was also the guy who wrote for RVANews. As a 9-year transplant to Richmond, writing for RVANews was (and is) a badge of honor. Ross and team made me feel like a “real” Richmonder more than getting stuck in traffic behind 1,000 marathons.
If my identity is so bound to RVANews, I can only imagine what Ross and Susan are feeling. I’d like them to know that even if they aren’t defined by RVANews anymore, I’ll define them as some of the best friends a Richmonder could have.
What’s next
The Sam and Ross Like Things podcast continues fortnightly (In fact, instead of editing an episode of that show on this bus, I’m writing this on the bus). I love making it and I’m so glad people like listening to it.As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been writing Raising Richmond for three years now and I don’t see any reason to stop that good habit (I finally got my repeating OmniFocus project how I like it). It won’t be called Raising Richmond, but I’m going to keep writing ~750 words every two weeks and putting it on this blog. Susan won’t be editing, so what I write won’t be as polished, but I’ll keep writing if only to prove to myself that I can.
Goodbye RVANews. You were a good thing and I’ll miss you.
