Passenger seat past
By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff It is a spring evening, nearing sunset, after a warm day. The smell of sun-baked lakebed and blooming skunk cabbage fills the car, carried by a loud rush of...
Tagged: BOTB
The small, good things
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Every job has its stresses, no matter if you’re the CEO of a Fortune 500 company or the dishwasher in a small-town diner. Journalism is one industry with a...
Farewell Mr. Marker
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff It’s common for people to point to “that one teacher” who made a big impact on them when they were young. I’ve been lucky to have many: Shannon Delewese,...
Confessions of a journalist who is terrified to spell your name wrong
By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff On a Wednesday evening, walking away from the office after sending another issue of the Reader, my heart pounds. Despite nearly five years of this weekly rhythm — plan...
An exercise in frustration
By Ben Olson Reader Staff It’s official: traveling is back. Though the number of people passing through TSA checkpoints hasn’t quite reached pre-pandemic levels, the seven-day average is the highest it has been since...
Two years of COVID
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff Two years ago on this day I was out of a job — and, for the first time in my job-hopping life, it was involuntary. I remember it well,...
Cold comfort
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff For the past couple of days, since our big cold snap, Reader Publisher Ben Olson and I have been sitting in the newsroom with two space heaters cranking away...
The other side of 20
By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Reader Staff I have long pointed to my relative youth as a main pillar of my identity. My residency in a retirement town and Boomer-dominated county has long made me feel...
Worst. Date. Ever.
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Usually when Valentine’s Day draws near, we take time to show our significant others how much they mean to us. This year, though, I can’t help but remember the...
The best vacation ever
By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff For the first time in what feels like years — and probably is years — I came to work on Monday feeling relaxed and rested. Optimistic. Enthusiastic, even. This...
