“You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.”
That used to be my favorite smart remark as I went out the door. But I am fresh out of glib remarks now, as I retire from The Coast News newsroom and the world of print media.
I began my career in 1973 at the San Clemente Sun Post. From there I went to Palm Springs, then the chain of Glendale papers and some time at the Pasadena Star-News.
After moving to San Diego, I worked a few months at the Oceanside Blade Tribune and then on to The Coast News.
I am lucky enough to have been part of this extraordinary community newspaper for 25 really fun years. I still believe that this is where you get the news that matters to you, that you won’t find anywhere else.
My decades at The Coast News, like all my time as a journalist, were the most fun you can have and still work.
When you work in print news, every day is different. You have your finger on the pulse of your city and the world and you never know what will happen next.
I only discovered I had some talent for writing after I left college. (I’ve always been a late bloomer.) Once I tasted the high of getting published every day, I was hooked.
Working in a newsroom, surrounded by bright, clever writers and editors, kept me informed, feeling young and laughing, far beyond the norm.
I also feel privileged to have had a place to continue sharing my Small Talk column all these years.
I will never be able express enough thanks to Coast News publishers Jim and Chris Kydd, who treated me like family and royalty.
I will miss the journalism world and everyone here enormously and will probably continue to mentally edit everything I read.
And once I am gone, I do hope you will miss me just a little bit.
Jean Gillette is a freelance writer and longtime reporter/copy editor making her bittersweet exit. Contact her, for the next week, at [email protected].