September 2023
This month, we asked our writers talk about the important of
recognizing the unsung heroes in our communities
The importance of kindness in the community
Devin Owen
MSMU Class of 2026
Kindness and doing good are both concepts that are often overlooked in our society today—concepts that people know are right but still stray from for whatever reason. Over my first year at the Mount, though, I learned that Emmitsburg is a small town that thrives off doing good and spreading kindness throughout the community. Quite frankly, it is an incredibly refreshing sight to see. Doing good and spreading kindness is even something I have seen quite frequently on campus at the Mount; many students and professors put a great deal of effort into being kind, and they emphasize the importance of doing good.
When I first started writing for the News-Journal, I had no clue what I was doing—it was one of those moments where I was thrown in the deep end and told to swim when I didn’t know how. Most people would think that something such as that is unfair or unethical, but in the long run it helped me learn more quickly; I adapted to different writing styles and situations. A memory that pops up while I think of my first few times writing for the Emmitsburg News-Journal is when I was asked to conduct an interview with Kadeem Brim for a feature article on the local farmers market in town. Not only was Brim welcoming, friendly, and honest, but he was also willing to overlook that I had never done an interview before and showed me kindness. This showing of kindness only emphasized Brim’s excitement to do good for his community. When we spoke about what changes were being made to the market this year, he had said that new specialties, such as
activities for children and different breweries/wineries, were being added in a rotation each week to not only entice families to come out, but also give everyone something fun to look forward to. Brim had said that he made it his goal to have the market grow, thrive, and "have the life breathed back into it," not just for sake of the local businesses, but for the sake of everyone in the town because it’s something good to do as a part of and for the community.
Acknowledging the good that those around us do is not only important for the purpose of making them feel good about what they did, but also about showing appreciation for the actions that were carried out.
Another interview comes to mind when I speak of appreciating actions ad effort: the Blue Ridge Summit Library held a vintage book sale back on a dreary morning in March this year, and multiple members of the community came out to support it. The members of the Library Association spoke of how excited they were to put together this event and give the community something to do; something to look forward to. As a bookworm myself, the thought of any kind of book sale immediately piques my interest; it also warmed my heart to think that the library is trying to not only bring the community together for something fun, but also attempting to breathe new life into old books that seemed not to have gotten a lot of attention in recent years. I’ll admit I was also incredibly excited when I saw a first edition Winnie the Pooh songbook—Pooh is a big thing in my family, has been for generations, but my niece recently became obsessed with anything pooh
bear related—and I wish I could’ve been the one to buy it, but maybe my excitement was similar to another’s over the same book. It makes me think of the connections we can make to those around us just by something simple like that. Although that might not have been the intention of holding the event, it was still a good outcome, a welcome surprise.
Reflecting back on my own experiences, I remember holding a bake sale every year for our local SPCA center—I am a huge dog lover—and held it in the gazebo in my mom’s neighborhood at the time. I absolutely loved planning, baking, and organizing the whole event but, getting to see everyone come out to support a cause that I loved so much was uplifting, heart-warming. The third year I did the sale, a local elementary school received the flyer that was posted on social media by the principal of my middle school; they had a class that volunteered to bake and donate goods for the bake sale that year. Not only did they save me a great deal of time in the kitchen the night prior, but they also reminded me that I wasn’t alone in this: people wanted to help just as much as I did. The best part of all of it, though, was getting to bring the money to the shelter each time; getting to see the way the face of the volunteers working lit up with joy and
appreciation, not to mention that I got to go back to the kennels and play and bond with all of the dogs that they had at the time. That moment replays over in my head and reminds me why it’s so good to do good, to be kind and giving.
In a way, this article is a form of recognition itself, honoring those who I have noticed do good and spread kindness in the community. That being said, thank you to everyone who does good and spreads kindness, even when you yourself may be going through a difficult time. You never know just how wonderful the outcome can be when good is done, for others and yourself. Again, recognizing those who do good in the community is important for a plethora of reasons, but the best of them all is to remind others that doing good—for selfless reasons—is something that everyone should strive to do, and by recognizing those who already do good we are also spreading kindness.
Read other articles by Devin Owen
My feature article journey
Claire Doll
MSMU
Class of 2024
When I first joined the staff of the Emmitsburg News-Journal, I was a sophomore at the Mount. I remember getting an email with the subject line: "Writers Needed for Local Paper!" As a student who only had experience writing creatively, I decided that this might be an opportunity to expand my skills and commit to a monthly writing assignment. It felt transactional, almost. At the beginning of every month, I’d respond to a prompt. Then I’d edit. Then I’d do it all over again. One article a month was all it was supposed to be.
I recall in November getting an email from my Managing Editor at the time, Harry Scherer. "Gig—Let me know if interested!" was the subject line. Harry was wondering—on behalf of our Editor, Michael Hillman—if anyone was interested in writing a feature article. The Fairfield Fire Company was celebrating its 100th anniversary, and the Emmitsburg News-Journal wanted a long form piece about the historical milestone. It would be double the number of words my usual monthly articles were, and it would require me to do some hefty research and even interviews some community members.
I had to do it. While I loved responding to prompts from my own perspective, I craved to go out in the community and learn about the people and places around me. I also pictured my name and article in the news-journal, belonging to its own page. So, naturally, I said yes.
On a crisp Saturday morning, I drove up to the Fairfield Fire Company for an interview with Charles Deardorff and Edward Hartzell, two longtime members of the company, and spoke with them for hours about the history of their fire department. I listened to personal stories and experiences from the members, looked through vintage photos of the fire company, and even took a tour of the firehouse. When I left, I drove past the arching mountains of Fairfield and wondered how I had never been up here before, a small town just fifteen minutes from Mount St. Mary’s. My feature article was published in the December 2021 edition of the Emmitsburg News-Journal, and I hung the full-page article on my fridge at home.
And then I got more feature articles assigned to me. The Fountaindale Fire Department’s 75th anniversary. A celebration at Blue Ridge Summit Free Library for 100 years. The Gettysburg Choral Society, and local authors in the Woodsboro and Walkersville areas. Even a 4,000-word piece on the history of Union Bridge, where I had to attend a town meeting and type out words on an airplane to meet my deadline. My writing has covered stories miles and miles away from my college, in nearby towns, and have made impacts on those people. I would get as many as three or four feature articles assigned in a month, along with my usual Four Years at the Mount column, and I’d love it. I still do.
Meeting with members in the community and hearing their stories, while also giving them the gift of exposure and a voice in their town, is a rich and amazing experience. Plus, I can learn about their community. But the most beautiful part about these articles is being personable and learning about other people—people I would never have crossed paths with, if it weren’t for the news-journal.
One of the most memorable assignments, however, has been writing about memorial and candlelight service of Nick Hani, a beloved Walkersville community member. In June of 2022, I published an article about the cat that lived in the Walkersville Feed Store with Nick Hani, the store’s owner. I interviewed Nick and recorded our conversation, as I do with all articles. I met his cat and published the story—that was all. In September, however, I learned of the death of Nick Hani.
It was heartbreaking and shocking, to learn that someone I had interviewed and crossed paths with, had died. I didn’t even know Nick—just the surface-level details that related to my article—but this news struck me in a way I couldn’t comprehend. My editor wanted me to go to his candlelight service and write about his life, his impact as a person on the town of Walkersville. At first, I was so nervous. I didn’t know who Nick was, and I was about to go to his memorial service to write an article about his life.
But upon arriving to the service, I met Nick Hani’s family and shared the audio recording of our interview from June. I hugged his wife, talked to his sisters, and listened intently during the service. The speakers were beautiful, and the prayers were intimate. Unlike any other feature article I’ve worked on, I didn’t write down any notes. I soaked everything in—the setting sun, the conversation, the gathering of a family I didn’t know. And it was beautiful.
Writing this feature article, I found myself coming up with words to describe such an experience, found myself painting an image of Nick Hani and portraying him within his community. This has been the most impactful and emotional article I’ve written, and it taught me how important it is to recognize those within the community. Communities are intimate, a portrayal of how humans blend to represent values. They are more than council meetings and town halls (though those are super important); communities are togetherness, but also individuality.
It has been a privilege writing feature articles for the Emmitsburg News-Journal and the Woodsboro-Walkersville News-Journal, and I am so excited to continue doing so for one more year. Venturing into communities foreign to me and exposing the goodness in peoples’ hearts is a beautiful experience, and one I even hope to involve somehow in my career.
I have collected and treasured each feature article I’ve written, and I will someday look back on each one and remember the transformational time in college when, for just moments, I would peek into the life of another community and connect with those who belonged in it.
Read other articles by Claire Doll
A good neighbor
McKenna Snow
MSMU Class of 2023
Why write a feature story on those who do good in our local communities? This question shows that it is all too easy to take someone’s good efforts for granted. "It’s what is to be expected," we often tell ourselves. "They should work hard or be virtuous. It’s part of the basics of being a good human being."
These are all true statements, but they often discount the efforts, goodwill, and care that someone has put into what they do. Being grateful is an afterthought, since your neighbor being a good person seems like a silly thing to be thankful for.
It’d be like being thankful for water, shelter, food… see what I mean?
Being a good neighbor is something of a basic necessity in one’s local community. This not only applies in one’s personal life, but in public life through one’s job, as well. How well we choose to do our jobs—not necessarily with skill but with care and attention—impacts those around us, even if we don’t see it. We should be a good neighbor to those around us in how we live our family life and our occupations. The question of ‘who is my neighbor?’ famously asked about by a scholar of the law to Jesus in the gospels draws this point out. Jesus responds with the story about the Good Samaritan, who saves the man he meets on the side of the road, who had been a victim to robbers and left for dead. To be a good neighbor is to treat those we encounter on our daily road—as the Good Samaritan did—with mercy.
As social and rational creatures, we interact with each other on a daily basis, even if it’s in passive interactions like getting our mail and never saying hello to the mailman. In this case, we are ‘cared for’ by our neighbor, the mailman. This is a brief encounter with another person’s actions, even if we don’t see the mailman drop off the letter. The mailman dropping off the right letter to the right house makes quite a big difference in one’s experience of getting the mail. When the mailman chooses to be a ‘good neighbor’ by being thorough, most of the time the proper letters are delivered. And when there is a mix-up, rarely does it have to do with the ill will of a mailman; usually it is just inevitable human error, which is also a part of life. We give each other grace for that mix-up, get it sorted out, and move on.
We shouldn’t take our neighbors’ good actions for granted, even if they’re something of a basic necessity in order for societies to thrive. These actions are an encounter with virtue—a conscious, deliberate choice or habit to do the right thing, whether it be in one’s job or in caring for one’s family. It is easy to be impatient, to give up and go an easier route, to cut corners, or to simply complete one’s job begrudgingly. It is an inspiring thing to do what is more arduous for the sake of something greater—serving one’s community with joy, patience, and love.
That is why members of our community who do good are worthy of all the feature articles we can write. I think it is incredibly important to highlight those in our communities who do good—oftentimes, who I interview for feature articles have been doing many small tasks over the course of a year or even 35 years, and I am writing about that. Often, it isn’t that they did one major feat that must go on the front page, but that they have lived well in their corner of the world, and have loved those they meet on their own roads well. They haven’t helped every person around the globe as they walk down their road; they’ve simply loved those on their road well, in their everyday life choices. Most of us won’t know what they’ve done for others until we ask them about it. I bet most of your decisions to be patient with a coworker, to go the extra mile in volunteering on your Saturday off, to play one more round of that board game your child loves, go
unnoticed. That is alright. God noticed, and your neighbor noticed. It is still worth it.
Feature articles are some of my favorite articles to write because I get to hear the stories, memories, and cares of members of the community. No two people are the same, so each time I am tasked with interviewing someone new, I am excited and interested in what I might learn about the new person and what their road is like. I think it’s important to highlight those who do good because it shows that ‘ordinary people’ like you and me really do make an impact on our communities. Feature articles are also a way to express gratitude for the people in our communities who do good, so that there is some recognition we can give back to them for all that they’ve given us.
As a newspaper, we have the platform to recognize the people in our community who spend years doing good without being spotlighted, and offer them a chance to share their story with others. Everyone has different gifts, talents, and interests, and feature articles allow for a chance to celebrate that. It is important to recognize these members in our community who do good because, like shelter or water, our communities need them. We need them and we need to express our gratitude where we can—whether it be through a feature article or through a Christmas card left out by your mailbox for your mailman.
"And who is my neighbor?" The question hangs in the air as Jesus looks at the scholar of the law with love. A story is then told to show him the answer. We know the answer now, too.
Perhaps our own stories won’t all be in feature articles, but we know there is still great value both in being a good neighbor, and appreciating our neighbors. May we all be ‘good Samaritans’ to those we encounter on the road ahead of us.
Read other articles by McKenna Snow
Read Past Editions of Four Years at the Mount
