Same room, different name tags, thirty years later

The Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation gathered this community’s storytellers for an evening that was inspiring and grounding in roughly equal measure.

Keynote speaker Tonya Mosley gave a captivating and sober account of where local journalism stands. Sobering is the right word for it. The perspective she offered is exactly the reason this work carries weight.

Serving on the board of trustees of a local NPR station places me at the far edge of Tonya’s very large public broadcasting constellation, and I am grateful for the vantage point.

The CV PIO Task Force continued its launch as a table sponsor, and we had a genuinely good time. Thank you to Micaela Wilkey, Kitty Alvarado, Thomas Soule, Kate Anderson, April Scott, Jennifer Barnakian-Poland, Shawn Harkness, Jake Ingrassia, Beatrice Eslamboly, and our Chair Amy Blaisdell for showing up with so much heart and energy.

Then came the part I did not plan for. Broadcast colleagues from my KESQ and CBS Local 2 days, twenty and thirty years back, filling the same room. Great to see you Patrick Evans, Luis Lua, Jeff Crider, Suzanne Potter, Laurilie Jackson, and so many others.

Different roles now. The same mission. That never gets old.