I have been writing since I was little, when my large untidy scrawl took up an entire page of paper. Something about the way words captured my heart as a reader wanted me to take on the job of stringing sentences together myself.
My journey to Life on Capitol Hill involved a lot of words, though my childish scrawl eventually morphed into typed articles.
Unlike many of the people who landed in their dream profession, I did not always want to be a journalist. I wanted to be the next Annie Leibovitz, the magazine photographer famous for her photo of John Lennon, and have my photos grace the cover of Rolling Stone.
But before long I found myself working for The Metropolitan, the student-run newspaper at Metropolitan State University-Denver. I wrote about student art shows and the LGBTQ community at Metro. I learned that newspapers are not just a part of the community, they sometimes help to create it.
By the time I made my way to Columbia University for a master’s degree in journalism, I had decided that journalism was the field for me. While studying there I spent time covering neighborhoods in Queens and Brooklyn, where I learned stories surround us all the time, if we only take a moment to listen. Walking into a local shop or bar could yield stories on volunteers helping to save feral cats (yes, I really did write about that) or vintage camera collectors.
I love telling people’s stories. I love the way people light up when they talk.
The first step I took in my career after grad school was at the Summit Daily News in Frisco, a community-oriented paper much like Life on Capitol Hill. After covering a memorial park for a Flight For Life helicopter pilot who died in Summit County, his widow told me she would keep the article I wrote for the rest of her life. This taught me what a newspaper article can truly mean to one person, that storytelling is also about heart.
My next stop at BusinessDen taught me to look for the heartbeat behind the facts and figures, the reasons people start a business, the life that local shops lend to a community.
And, now, my path has led me here, to Life on Capitol Hill, where I’m excited to find the heartbeat in your neighborhoods, to tell your stories, to further build upon the legacy the papers have created in building community.
To help me do that, you’ll find me in local cafes once a month for Coffee with the Editor. I’ll be posting information about these get-togethers on our social media pages. The first will be on Friday, July 13. I will announce the location and time on our social media pages.
We have also created polls on our Facebook pages and websites for you to reach out to us about what you want to see more of in the papers.
You’ll see some changes this month in design and presentation. But we will continue to highlight business and real estate developments, school happenings and the stories about people, places and issues that make up the fabric of your communities. I want to make sure these papers continue to tell interesting and important stories about your neighborhoods. Please reach out to me any time with ideas and suggestions at klamb@communitymedia.com or 303-566-4107.
As a lifelong lover of photography, I also want to know how you see the community. Next month we will start a new community photo page in the paper with the best photos sent in by you, our readers. Caption your Instagram photos with #CaptureCapHill and we’ll pick images to feature in the paper every month.
As the new editor of Life on Capitol Hill, I can’t wait to get to know your neighborhoods and what makes them tick. I can’t wait to meet you and learn about your passions and dreams, the work you do that makes a difference, the everyday moments that make life special or bring simple joy: A run in the park at the end of a busy day. A coffee shared with friends at a favorite cafe. That pastime that rejuvenates.
Me — I love to cook and travel to new places. I finished the Walt Disney World Marathon in January and am hoping to qualify for the Boston Marathon by the time I turn 30. I turn 27 this month, so wish me luck.
