So it’s happened.
For the first time I have left a job not by choice. I’ve been downsized.
Sure it stinks. Well, actually it sucks, but truth be told it was not a surprise.
When I joined Patch.com three years ago as a Regional Editor covering the southwest/south central portion of Long Island’s Suffolk County, I figured I would last two years and then either leave by choice for my next opportunity or be shown the door because the company needed to reduce overhead.
But I made it a year longer than expected and now I get to take all that I have learned over the past three years and find my next adventure.
Working for a start up is not easy, and the 36 months I spent at Patch was an amalgamation of madness, excitement, fire drills and great reporting by a group of wonderful people.
Regarding my colleagues, some of whom remain and some who were handed the same fate as me, they are among the greatest people I’ve had the opportunity to work with.
We covered hurricanes — Sandy and Irene, reported on elections and school board races, helped connect people with key information and also helped our towns celebrate the championships won by high school athletic teams.
One of our great moments was sponsoring and moderating a debate among mayoral and village board candidates in Patchogue. Working with Patchogue Patch Local Editor Michael Sorrentino, we worked to convince the candidates to attend, developed guidelines and questions and found a spot to host an event that attracted 300 local residents. Even Newsday showed up to cover the event.
It was a great moment that showed the power of local media.
The odd thing about the great work such as this is that was we did not sit shoulder-to-shoulder in an office. We worked remotely from our homes, local coffee shops, a library or even the local Panera. WiFi was key to what we did so those places became our sanctuary and the spots where we could talk with our readers and find out what was going on.
I remember a moment during Sandy when then West Islip Patch Local Editor Kaitlyn Piccoli called to tell me West Islip Library had power and she was going to share that info on Facebook and West Islip Patch. I told her to wait 10 minutes and immediately drove to the library to secure a table that became a Patch “office” for several hours.
But the page now turns and I have already started the pursuit of my next adventure.
My contacts list is full of wonderful people who have already offered their assistance. I’m reaching out and tapping that network of intelligent and wildly imaginative people.
Thanks to all for your support. I’ll be seeing you soon!
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