Reporter's Notebook: Why howdy there, Jackson Hole

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

By Benjamin R. Bombard

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-As our editor Matthew Irwin pointed out a few weeks ago, my byline has appeared throughout editions of this paper for the last month and change. I’ve run into some of you around town, read and responded to some of your comments online. I’m genuinely eager to broaden my network around here and to hear and help tell the stories that make Jackson Hole the quintessentially Western gestalt that it is.

A little about me. Quickly. Grew up in Salt Lake. No, I’m not Mormon. Catholic schooled. A bit of trouble here and there. College back in Vermont to get the hell out of Salt Lake. I’ve lived in seven different areas in the last seven years, including Mali, West Africa (you might notice the bracelets on my arms). Had my share of love and loss. Worked at weekly community papers in the Bay Area and at an NPR affiliate station in SLC. I’m supposed to be in Turkmenistan right now – long story – but I met a beautiful, amazing girl, found this terrific job and made some lemonade from the bushel of lemons life dealt me last year past. Voilà!

I have a few working theories about journalism that I think might give you a good idea of my approach to this job. I entered this profession out of a deep-seated belief that journalism really can improve the world, speak truth to power and give voice to the voiceless. I also think of journalism as a public service. That means that I work for you as much as I do for my editor and my publisher. Journalism should be a collaborative exercise involving the input and criticism of an experienced, perceptive and engaged editorial team as well as the scrutiny and feedback of an astute reading public. So I want to invite you to email, call or talk to me on the street with any critical feedback and/or story ideas.

Like a lot of dedicated journalists, I still think people want to read engaging long-form narrative, but I also believe that narrative has to reevaluate how it talks with readers, especially given how people experience, shape and use language in the 21st century. That isn’t to say that narrative should be simplified, but that it should be more personal, more like me sitting here telling you a story, not being some pontificating know-it-all condescending to reveal to the public everything I’ve learned about SPET or public trust lands or, ugh, Sarah Palin.

I took this job over a master’s program in journalism in New York City, the Mecca of media. You might think this naïve, but it was exactly what I needed. I am intensely dedicated to the West, and I think Jackson embodies the multifarious nature of the New West in so many ways. It is at once anachronistic and timely, cultured and wild, worldly and hyper-local. The other night, while sleeping out on the lawn under the stars, the dogs kicked up a barking fit and before I knew it, a bull moose stampeded across the property. And a week ago, I was sitting at the Center for the Arts with my girlfriend taking in a rehearsal by the Chamber Ensemble of the NYC ballet. Where else can you boast of such wildly different experiences?

Most importantly, I've met beautiful, intriguing and friendly people during my short time here. I often hitchhike to and from work and around town, and I invariably end up in the passenger seat listening to the driver’s stories and making quick connections that I hope to deepen in the coming months and years.
Feel free to call me at 732-0299 or email me at bombard@planetjh.com. JHW


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