* * My gig with the News Messenger is over

For the last eight years I have been a recurring columnist in the local bi-weekly newspaper, the News Messenger. I have submitted and they have printed over 260 essays for which I was paid $40 each.

I got a note from the editor telling me that the publisher, given the financial situation of the paper, will no longer be paying me and the other columnists. This newspaper, like many others, is struggling. The newspaper includes not a single paid advertisement. Its very survival is imperiled. So I fully understand the publisher’s decision as purely economic.

That said, it would’ve been nice if that note had included words of thanks or encouragement to continue to write, even without compensation. But there was nothing included like that. Sigh!

Fortunately, I never had to rely on the money to put food on the table, but the money said something about the perceived value.

I appreciate the bandwidth the paper gave me over these years. I wish my readers Good luck during these perilous times.