I’m not talking about somebody whose genetics helped them get to the big leagues, or whose beauty got them on a cover of some magazine. You don’t have to look very far to see the warped sense of individual importance prevalent in a celebrity-centric society.
But beneath that shallow veneer there are people leading truly heroic lives. People who are devoting themselves to noble endeavors, at great personal sacrifice, while simultaneously balancing their own ambitions and dreams.
As the cumulative effects of this lingering recession pile up, there has never been a greater need for individuals and organizations to step up and fill gaps in our social safety net.
Who are those special people in Thurston County making a difference, and making life better for someone else? Maybe it is someone who has overcome adversity with dignity, or someone who gave up their dream so something or someone else could live.
Send me their names and tell me something about them. We’ll tell their stories and help them recognize how “out of the ordinary” these people really are.
WEBSITE REDESIGN
We’re excited to take the wraps off some new features on our website homepage.
On Tuesday, theolympian. com will highlight local news and sports with a better-organized display of the day’s top stories. No more stories hidden behind tabs.
Our web traffic data show that photo galleries are a popular feature of our site. That’s because our photographers publish many more photos online than are printed in the paper. We are now making them easier to find so you can view pictures from the latest game or news event.
We hope the webpage redesign creates a more readable experience when you visit us online.
We’re also getting better at integrating our social media platforms on the homepage. Visit our Facebook page and “like” The Olympian to see online extras, share your photos or receive news updates. You can get us in your Twitter feed, too.
NEWS PARTNERS
News organizations all over America, including The Olympian, are getting smarter about working together. This tough economic period has forced us to figure out that by combining our journalistic resources, everyone wins, especially readers.
You have probably noticed bylines in this newspaper from The Spokesman-Review, The Chronicle in Centralia, The News Tribune and The Seattle Times, among others. We’ve even carried stories from television stations and you may have noticed our partnership with KIRO-TV on our weather page.
One of the best and most recent illustrations of this newfound cooperation is occurring between The Olympian, The News Tribune and The Seattle Times. Each of us has a statehouse reporter. During the current special legislative session, our reporters are working together to avoid covering the same stories. This is enabling us to expand the breadth of our total coverage.
That explains why you saw a Seattle Times byline on an important story about DSHS caregivers recently, and why readers in King County have been seeing bylines from our reporter, Brad Shannon. In fact, our news partners all around the state have been publishing Brad’s stories.
ET CETERA
Retiring Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander isn’t the only local legal mind making news these days. Allen Miller is applying for an appointment to the Superior Court bench after 30 years of practicing and teaching law and public service. ... The Thurston County EDC and Chamber of Commerce are connecting local employers with a largely-untapped workforce: military spouses. ... If you were near the Capitol Campus last weekend, you might have seen the words “Where’s the money?” and “Tax the 1%” projecting onto the sides of legislative buildings. A large projector and a small generator were used to create this unique “holiday lighting.” ... Former Olympia mayor Mark Foutch suggests a reason the holidays sneak up so quickly on us. As fall approaches, it is not simply that we have fewer hours of daylight. Foutch theorizes that the days are actually getting shorter, as in fewer than 24 hours.
George Le Masurier, publisher of The Olympian, can be reached at 360-357-0206 or glemasurier@theolympian.com.
