FROM THE LOFT BY
So much for my plan to update this column more often in 2010. Other things, like working the garage sale at the Art Center, spending hours in Tyler at doctors' offices, and life in general has kept me from my plan. I had the pleasure recently of interviewing Sandy Page, the new Cultural Arts District Director for Winnsboro. She is a real treasure and I look forward to working with her on bringing some programs for young people to the area. More on that as we firm things up, but we are both excited about the possibility of having some drama workshops. Speaking of drama, I went to the Patron's Reception at the Sulphur Springs Main Street Theatre last Saturday, January 30th. Each year they give out awards, like the Tony's, but without national media coverage. Mia Tallant was named Best Actress for her performance as Sara Lee Turnover in Daddy's Dyin' Whose Got the Will? I had the pleasure of working with her, and Darla Pierce, in that show and they are both terrific performers. The award was well-deserved. Mia is also doing a bit of singing and will be at Crossroads on Feb 6th. I had to miss her performance there last Saturday - for obvious reasons - but have heard she did a great job. On another note, I am pleased to announce that WinnsboroToday.com continues to grow. A few days in December we had close to 6,000 hits a day on the site. That was a considerable jump from the average of close to 4,000 hits a day. And the dedicated readership continues to increase as well. We are so happy that people are enjoying what we do here, and I encourage everyone to help spread the word that this is a good place to find local news and information. This is still pretty much a one person operation. I do most of the stories and updating, although I have a few local writers like Joe Dan Boyd who will step in to do a story now and then. We also rely on Frank Hobin to provide school board meeting reports. We are also very thankful for the columnists who continue to provide fresh content for reader's enjoyment: Eva Warren, who does health tips; Slim Randles and Tracy Farr, who both amuse us every week; and Franke Gracia, who gives us an inside look at being a soldier in Afghanistan. I hope you read all the columns and enjoy them. If you have story ideas, don't hesitate to contact me. And if you want to take pictures of an event and do a little write up, I am open to submissions. Until next time...... ************* If you are interested, I do write regularly on my blog so you can always hop over there to catch up with me if I haven't updated this column in a while. I try my best, but gosh there is so much to do. |