I've worked in the small-town media all my life, mostly in newspapers. This is my view of what weekly newspapers do best. Yes, they print the news, but more important, they serve as family correspondence. In fact, at least one newspaper that I worked for billed itself as "The Letter from Home"

The letter from home

Each week it comes,

like an old friend,

A mixture of gossip and news,

Wrapped up in pictures and print.


Pieces of places so far away,

yet so near to our hearts.

A chronicle of the seasons

as they fall along.


The little boy

who stalked outlaws

Now scores touchdowns

and gets a scholarship.


The little girl

who played across

the street is the 4-H queen

and goes to Paris.


Their father and the Mayor

are now old and gray,

The market's now a

Hardee's where they work.


Little people get married,

Move away, join the service.

Older people retire, though

you thought they never would.


Older people you've known

and loved pass away

Places you thought would

stand forever are memories.


The home team boys and girls

who made the town proud

Now coach on the playing fields.


And for everything odd,

they call the sheriff.


Each week it comes

in pictures and print,

a letter from home,

good news and bad.