The Interns

Today is my first day at the Hillsboro Free Press. I don't really have a position here, I'm just the intern. I think I get to do whatever I want, as long as I don't step on anybody's toes and I turn in a couple stories each week.

I'm commuting to Hillsboro three days a week. My mom grew up here, but I haven't spent time here since my grandparents moved to the city when I was in junior high. Hillsboro has a population of a little less than 3,000. My cell phone doesn't get any reception here. When I go to McDonalds to buy coffee (because it's either McDonalds or the gas station for coffee), everyone stares at me like they're trying to figure out who I might be related to or if I'm just passing through. Across the street from the paper, there is a store that is a Radio Shack, video rental store, cell phone dealer, and dry cleaners.

I love this town already.

The Free Press is a small paper in a small town. Today's edition was 24 pages long and included a detailed critique of the past weekend's demolition derby and an article about drivers in a neighboring town being reminded that they really do have to stop at crosswalks. After eight years in business, the Free Press has a circulation of a several thousand, while their competition -- the old, established paper -- has a circulation of a dwindling few hundred.

Today, I pitched a couple story ideas and worked on a couple story assignments. Then I had lunch and chatted with my boss about internet technologies for a while. Now I'm waiting for a demo of QuarkXpress to download and install so I can format my stories and turn them in.

Tomorrow, I think I'll write some obituaries and type up the high school honor roll. It's my understanding that they publish the senior center's menu most weeks too, but for some reason we're not doing that this week.

I love this job.