Story behind the story

A Brand New Day

2008-11-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

This is truly a historic time. There are many ideas stirring about the future of our country and where things will lead for us locally, and I am excited and a bit nervous. I am not nervous for the same reasons others are however. You see a lot of individuals out there afraid for where our country is heading because of the election results, but these people are failing to see one of the most important factors at play in this situation. We are in the great United States. We tend to forget the limited power one person has in our government that was, to be quite frank, designed with the specific purpose to limit the power of one individual in our government. Should one person be able to do the ridiculous things that people are claiming they can then we wouldn’t be living in a democracy, we would be living in conditions comparable if not more deplorable than those we have fought to change in other oppressed countries. We need to not let bias get in the way of simple logic. I don’t want this to come across as though I was partial to one of the two mainstream candidates...because to be honest, I think I would have been quite satisfied with a None-of-the-above option. I just hope people will see things clearly.
On the other hand there are many ideas and events that are quite positive, such as the passing of the Bond for our school district. This will be a great asset to our children’s future.
I am deeply saddened however by the recent loss of Jeremy Bowles, and it is honestly not the same world with out him in it. My heart goes out to his family, and I hope that others will find inspiration in his life and determination, just as I have. It has been a changing week for sure.
On a side note I would like to also comment that I am thankful that our local Sheriffs department appears to be confident that they are going to catch those responsible for the recent burglaries. Anyway, a bit chaotic of a post today but I guess I just have a lot in my head that is pouring out in a way that may or may not make actual sense.

Designing a future

2008-09-24T16:37:00.000-07:00

It has been another packed week. I finally have a portion of the Community Connections page up with more items in the creation, but not quite ready to go up. Lots of interviews this week and a great experience at the High School in conjunction with the district office to assess the current Graphic Design program. It was very informative and our local students are lucky to have a teacher who is so passionate about what she does and her student's success. I think we have established a good relationship and there is a lot of support and endorsement coming from all of the schools for what we are doing. I hope to get the AZalert.com site streamlined a bit more with mogollonconnection.com, and I will get some business cards out into the community to let people know a bit more about that program.
As a side note it would be great to know what people think of the "Unclean Slate" section of the upcoming edition which is a sub series to the "For the sake of our children series"...just so I know if it has value to anyone.

The Trouble with time

2008-09-11T02:54:00.000-07:00

I have to say that one of the most fascinating, inspiring and exciting things I have done for the paper so far is the series "For the sake of our children". It is not just the fact that I have gained amazing insight from a great many of people I have spoken to, nor simply the fact that it has changed a lot about how I look at raising my own children, but it is also some of the amazing people I have talked to. This ranges from the people I encounter on a daily basis to getting to speak to childhood heroes like James Burke. It was also awesome to get a response from Dan Carlin and Jerome Glenn (who is co-founder of the millennium project and will be featured soon), and I have many more who I hope will be just as responsive. The down side to all of this is the lack of time to enjoy much of it. I don't think people realize what the inside of the Mogollon Connection looks like, and what has to take place for each weeks edition to be completed. I thank all of those who contribute and support the paper and give it the true relevance that it has, and I hope that stories like these have the same meaning to others as they do to me.

The story behind the story behind the story

2008-08-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello,

For those who may not know me my name is Jesse Horn and I am among other things a journalist for the weekly publication The Mogollon Connection in Heber-Overgaard. This is the beginning to another great year here at the paper, and to start things off we wanted to raise the bar a bit and give our readers not only more content, but extend our reach into the community so that we are not simply your "voice", but that we are the resource for action and information as well. This is something that our community has badly needed.

One problem that our local papers have had in the past is the lack of true connection to the public, which is what we are actually here for. This is just one of many motivators that have brought us into a new era for our publication. We are so excited about the things that are coming this year, from events and amazing exclusive stories, to the ways that we have been able to help build our community into a stronger place.

As for this new section of our website, this is where we get to tell you a little about what goes on behind the scenes. There is sometimes a story about getting and writing a story that is just as interesting than the one we are telling, and yet we didn't have the opportunity to tell it. I look forward to this as well. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this exclusive online portion of the regular information that we give you and please give us feedback as to what we are doing, good or bad. We need to know if what we do is working, or if we need to change something. Thanks for all the support and for making our first year a success and we look forward to the years to come bringing you the "Voice of Heber-Overgaard!"

-Jesse