Letter from the Editor: 'Patch Guy' Says Goodbye, and Thank You

In the beginning of Iowa Patch, there was Stephen.

It has been a little over 900 days since that first day, when I, Iowa Patch employee number one, spilled coffee all over the carpeted stairs of my home. I had been distracted by the preparations for my trip to New York for Patch training, my first trip to New York period, and I had absentmindedly taken my travel cup downstairs with me.

Holding on to the cup, in turns out, also required more concentration than I had at the time.

That stain is still there-- a pristine, and ever present reminder of my stupidity-- but I have changed since being hired that Spring of 2011 in the build up of staff in preparation for the Iowa Caucus. The button of my work iPhone has almost stopped working from overuse, the phone's Patch-branded green cover wearing through, showing holes of translucent plastic. The Patch decals on my laptop are also peeling off, bit by bit, from being shoved in and out of compartments and bags. 

On my work desk are a king's ransom worth of business cards, a Patch baseball cap covered in cat hair, notes for several stories I wrote and several I never got to finish. 

Nearby, hanging on the door, is the press pass I used to cover politicians of all stripes on their several visits to Iowa. In my time at Patch I also covered everything from local sporting events, city council and school board meetings, murders, robberies, thefts, new businesses, hope, sadness, controversy, and general Iowa City wackiness.

We have been through it together, you and I. And it is time to say goodbye.

Oct. 15 will be my last day as the editor of Iowa City and Marion Patch. And before I go I wanted to say a few thank yous.

Thank you to all the talented journalists and other staff at Patch who I worked with from beginning to the end, for guiding me and showing me how much further I have to grow.

Thank you to the people who believed in us, who posted on our sites, who advertised with us, told their friends about us, and helped share our stories with the community.

Thank you most of all to the readers of both communities for letting me cover your towns, for sticking with me as I learned how to run a news site from the beginning when I had little idea what I was doing. For showing me that the need for local news is still incredibly important, even if we as journalists are still working to try to find a way to continue providing it in the form that you deserve.

Thank you to Iowa Patch for being a great team, and more so, my dysfunctional news family.

I feel at Patch I was able to get a glimpse of what the future will be, even if seizing it always remained a little out of my grasp. When at my best, I tried to be a conduit for the news to help you stay informed about what was going on in the community. I hope in that sense I added to both the Iowa City and Marion communities in my time. 

But it is time for me to get going, as I have a few days left to work, yet. If you would like to stay in touch my contact information is on my LinkedIn profile, and I will be starting a new Twitter profile covering Iowa City news. I will be staying in the area and covering the news still, but no longer in my capacity as "sooo you're the Patch guy!" as people usually greeted me upon recognizing my face.

So, in that sense, I guess my life as a pseudo local celebrity is truly coming to an end. Such a pity.
 
I tip my Patch cap to you all. Goodbye, and thank you.