By Brendan Ulmer
Ulmer Uninterrupted
I once heard a man say that the only good investigative journalists in the world have some variant of oppositional defiant disorder.
I think there’s a lot of truth to that.
If you want to know if you’d be a good journalist, a reflexive distrust of authority is not a bad place to start.
Furthermore, one must be willing, perhaps even excited, to step on some toes from time to time.
When I was younger, in my early middle school years, I actually used to get in trouble quite often. I was impulsive and mouthy and got into a couple of fights. My parents threatened to send me to one of Olathe’s private schools, and then, all of a sudden, it was like a switch flipped. My rambunctiousness gave way to people pleasing and being generally mild-mannered, at least much of the time.
That is all to say that stepping on toes, especially big toes, is not something I practiced or was terribly excited to do when I took this job. I came into this job off a clean decade of being a sweetie-pie.
Usually, that has not been much of a problem. My favorite thing to do anyway is writing about interesting people doing interesting things—ex., using rollerblades to get everywhere or being in the Hutchinson Municipal Band for many decades—and there’s no reason for me to rake people like that over the coals.
Other times, it has been necessary, and I’ve basically had to figure out how to get my own two feet firmly planted below me on the fly, with relatively high stakes.
Another reason it’s not only difficult to be a journalist but also to employ them is that there isn’t a ton of money in it. So if your passion for investigating and your eagerness to ruffle feathers are not some of your primary motivations, the job’s stress-to-pay ratio is very lopsided.
This is the primary reason I began looking around a couple of months ago. I have found one, and will start there full-time on June 1.
For about a month now, the office has just been Adam and me, and thankfully, Michael Glenn is coming back for the summer right before I’m headed out, so Adam won’t be left to do everything.
I am beyond grateful for the time I got to spend working here. I don’t think there’s a better way to get to know a city than to move there and become a journalist.
I love this community, and I’m excited to get involved in ways that are, somehow, both more hands-on and private.
My new job will allow me to still find meaning in working for the betterment of Hutch, while also being able to travel a bit and see my family back on the east side of Kansas. It’s a fantastic, best-of-both-worlds opportunity for me
I still, and will always, care deeply about the success of The Hutchinson Tribune. Every city deserves a watchdog, and it’s becoming rarer and rarer all over this country.
The only people who benefit from small-to-medium-sized towns becoming news deserts are people with something to hide.
It will be sad not to be in the newsroom every day and see Adam, but I know with Michael coming in and basically taking my seat, you, the reader, are in more-than-capable hands.