Jill's Journal: Spoon feed me the news, please

“No one told me about that.”

In my six decades of life, there’s no doubt that I, myself, have said these very words.

You probably have, too.

But with all of the social media avenues and digital tools we have available to us at our fingertips, folks still continue to utter those same words.

So, is it really a case of “no one told me” or plain and simple ignorance?

I tend to believe it hovers between a lack of taking responsibility mixed in with a bit of laziness. 

It seems that we’ve become a society that must be spoon-fed rather than look through the cupboards ourselves to satisfy our hunger.

Take for instance last week. On back-to-back days, I was on the sidelines of a couple of “No one told me about that” moments.

The first involved U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson’s recent stop in Brandon. If you recall, Rep. Johnson was the featured speaker at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly “On the Menu” event in late February. 

“That was the best-kept secret,” an individual told me.

I had to bite my tongue.

The invitation was out there. In multiple ways. To this individual. And to the entire community.

For starters, the Chamber mails out quarterly postcards announcing their planned events, which are always open to the public. And yes, some do come with a small fee.

There were also social media blasts, print ads in both the Brandon Valley Journal and Brandon Valley Trader, as well as a series of mentions in our “Talk of the Town” briefs.

The next day, while perusing a local Facebook page, I had to shake my head as I read a post asking about the new church under construction along Redwood Boulevard.

Huh?

Following the congregation’s ceremonial ground-breaking worship service last summer on the very ground the church now stands hung a banner strung between two poles that announced exactly what was coming. Oh, and there have been a series of articles in the Journal about the new church, which by the way, is called Sure Foundation Lutheran Church. It’s a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran congregation headed up by Pastor Craig Wilke. In January of 2020, the Journal also let you know about the congregation’s arrival here, and again in October of 2023 when they purchased the land. I even attended their ground-breaking worship service in July, and followed up with yet another news story and photos. And, I plan to do the same once they officially take occupancy this year.

And how can we forget the articles we wrote about the plan to build to multi-family housing on this same piece of ground that brought neighboring residents to City Hall on multiple occasions?

I learned my lesson several years ago when I responded to a social media post asking a question on a topic that we had reported multiple times on. The response I received was, “You just want to sell papers.”

Of course, we want to sell papers. That’s part of doing business.

But more importantly, we want our readers to be in the know.

Many will say that they get their news from online “sources.”

In defense, I share this analogy: Ms. Public says her child was told to wear green to school on Friday, but she wants to know why the kids are being asked to wear green.

Instead of contacting the school, Ms. Public turns to social media. And as one may expect, she receives multiple answers, most of which are off the mark.

That’s not to say every answer is false, but multiple opinions, without question does muddy the waters in defining the truth.

On April 8, voters in Brandon and Valley Springs have the opportunity to have their voice heard in their respective municipal elections. Brandon residents will decide which road option they prefer for Aspen Park and whether or not to sell a small tract of land; Valley Springs will elect two of the three candidates that filed petitions to be a City Commissioner.

To date, the Journal has published four stories in its “Understanding the Vote” series regarding the Aspen Park second exit/entrance road project, and in the coming weeks, we’ll introduce you to the three candidates on the ballot for Valley Springs City Commission.

As a community of more than 11,000 people, knock on everyone’s door and invite them to the “party,” to inform them there’s an election tomorrow or why the kids need to wear green to school on Friday. The answers to many of those questions are already out there, that is, if you know where to look. These answers will sometimes come in the form of a quarterly postcard in the mail, a flyer in the city utility bill, or even in a news story in the local weekly community newspaper. Sometimes, we need to look beyond the keyboard of social media platforms.