Twenty-eight years have passed since I had my first byline, that coveted little line of a news article identifying its author. Twenty-eight years have passed since I last worked in the newsroom of the Wando High School Tribal Tribune. We wrote stories about homecoming and athletics and the school play on the original 128K Macintosh computers and filed them on floppy disks.
Those days feel like a lifetime ago — until I recently stepped foot in the offices of The Pilot on my first day as editor of the Seven Lakes Insider. The voice of my Journalism and English teacher, Mrs. Tammy Watkins, rang in my ears: “don’t bleed on the copy!”
Sage advice. She also taught us the five w’s — who, what, when, where and why — and about the importance of representing all sides in a story. She could be tough, but she was also a softie, remaining sentimental about her students to this day. I hadn’t thought about Mrs. Watkins in a long time. But here I was, back in a newsroom. I’d come full circle.
After graduation, I thought I left the news business behind. I became a Clemson Tiger and met my husband, David, there in Death Valley. I pursued a Master of Divinity from Columbia Theological Seminary, and was ordained as a Presbyterian (U.S.A.) Minister in 2002. The call to ministry took me to churches large and small throughout Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina.
There are good people everywhere. My family and I found some of them right here in our community among the West End Presbyterian Church, where I recently served as pastor.
I am delighted to now serve the larger community of West End and Seven Lakes by telling your stories as the editor of this publication. As your neighbor, I will have my eyes and ears open for those stories.
If you see me walking my dog on the dam in Seven Lakes West, please stop and say hello. If you run into me at the Food Lion, feel free to share your scoop. If you’re near me at the West Pine Middle School play or the Pinecrest women’s lacrosse game, tell me a tale.
I am looking forward to getting to know you better through the stories we tell together. I invite you to email me at maggie@thepilot.com with your ideas. With my new byline, I hope to make you as proud of the Seven Lakes Insider as Mrs. Tammy Watkins was of her students.
