EDITOR’S FAREWELL:

Today is my last day as city editor of the Independent. I have held this position for only about a year, but it feels like many more.

An opportunity came along that I felt was too good to pass up. In exactly two weeks, I will be flying to Peru to work as a volunteer for a year, teaching English at a university outside of Lima, the capital. So, while I will still have a hand in correcting others’ grammatical mistakes, it will be in an environment where they are sure to correct mine as well — in Spanish.

In my time at the Independent, I have learned a few things about our readers:

 They truly do love Huntington Beach. They may not agree on everything, but they agree that Surf City has a special spark to it, and they all are fighting to protect this. They just have different ways of going about it.

 They are incredibly philanthropic. It seems like every week we hear a half a dozen stories about how residents are doing their part to make the world a better place. Whether it’s a girl who collected shoe donations to take to Mexico, or a woman whose organization has sent more than 40,000 knit beanies to soldiers in Iraq, locals young and old are actively involved in helping others around the world.

 Their passion is contagious. While here, I have had the opportunity to meet and read about many interesting people who have found their passion in life. It is this passion that had a hand in inspiring me to give this adventure a try.

As you may have guessed, there is much I will miss about this job. Namely, the people. As I have watched the Times Community News go through several rounds of layoffs, the staff here has shrunk, but their commitment to giving readers the best coverage has not.

I will miss putting together a paper each week. I will miss working in an environment where your job is to have the “inside scoop” on all the quirky and wonderful things that go on around you. I will even miss the angry callers who accuse the Independent of writing “biased editorials” (for those wondering why that phrase is amusing, editorials are supposed to be biased). It shows that, uninformed as they might be, at least they care about what is going on in their community. And they care enough to call in and make their voice heard. The second-worst quality a reader can have is indifference about the things that matter most. The worst, is, of course, not reading the paper at all.

Finally, I would like to thank those in this community who have supported the Independent and who have taken that extra step to let us know what we mean to them. Contrary to popular belief, journalists do not run solely on breaking news and crime stories. We also like making a positive impact on our readers. I have no doubt the Independent will continue to do just that.

For the future: Michael Miller, the current city editor for the Glendale News-Press, a sister paper, has been named the Independent’s new city editor. He will take over in the coming weeks, and may be reached at [email protected].

In the meantime, Daily Pilot City Editor Paul Anderson will take over city editor duties. He may be reached at [email protected].