Let me introduce myself: I’m Jon, and I’m happy to be one of the reporters for the Concord Bridge. I’m eager to get to know Concord and everyone who lives here. After being away from newspapers for over six years, it feels good to be back, and it feels good to be able to write about a great town like Concord.
Before I joined the Bridge, I worked for the Wilmington-Tewksbury Town Crier, the Ayer Public Spirit and Harvard Hillside (which later became the Nashoba Valley Voice), and the Sentinel & Enterprise. I wrote about a variety of things: local government, features, events, and so on. I take great pride in saying that I was the first reporter to write about the death of Don Featherstone, the creator of the pink lawn flamingo. CNN used my reporting in their story on his death.
I’d like to focus on that last one, the Sentinel & Enterprise, for a moment.
There, we debuted a column, “Working Stiff,” (all credit goes to the great Charles St. Amand for that title), in which people would teach me how to do their jobs and I would write about it in first person. When I was “the Working Stiff,” I was a puppeteer, a gift-wrapper, a karaoke host, a pizza-maker, a farmer, and a baker. I’m not sure how good I was at any of these—that’s the fun part—but I was happy to try them and learn about them. In the process, I got to profile some great businesses and careers and meet some great people.
We’re pleased to now bring this column to Concord.
It’s going to function just like it did at the Sentinel & Enterprise. I’m going to seek out interesting jobs in town—you’re also welcome to pitch them to us!—and I’m going to learn how to do them. In the process, readers are going to also learn about these interesting professions and careers, which might inspire them to try them, too, or, at the very least, help them appreciate all of the weird and wonderful jobs that are out there. And if it’s something commercial, it could give you some business.
So that’s it, Concord. Your Working Stiff is excited to be here, excited to get to know all of you, and excited to learn about and try your jobs.
Let’s get started.
(As I wrote above, we encourage you to pitch ideas to us. You can email Jenn Paluzzi: jenn@theconcordbridge.org. Or you can email Betsy Levinson: betsy@theconcordbridge.org. If you want to call, the number is 978-254-5067.)
