Twenty-one months ago I crammed my whole life into my Honda Civic and made a beeline across the country to start work at the 51暗网.
At the time I knew almost nothing about the place that I would come to cherish so much.
In my hometown what passed for mountains were adorable little hills that don鈥檛 even reach half as high as Old Fort Point. I envisioned moving into a house plunked on the side of a towering peak and picking my way through wilderness trails to get to work.
Today, as this newspaper hits the stands, I have once again crammed everything I own into my car and am barreling down the Coquihalla to the Okanagan Valley, where I will start a new life with my amazing partner.
Although I鈥檓 incredibly excited to start this new life, leaving Jasper is also very difficult. This town has had a profound impact on me and I now realize there are few places on Earth quite like it.
I鈥檓 from the East Coast, where a sense of community is prized above just about everything else (good donairs and the acquisition of an NHL hockey team excluded) and even by those standards Jasperites have a far stronger sense of responsibility towards one another than I鈥檝e ever experienced.
This manifests in generous donations of time and money to community members who have fallen on difficult times, vibrant organizations that imbue the community with life and people who care deeply about each other and their home.
Jasperites are a passionate bunch, and just as I鈥檝e always admired you all for it, that passion can also make a lowly newspaper reporter tear his hair out in anger and frustration.
As easy as it is to love you, Jasper, there have been times when I鈥檝e hated you too.
I鈥檝e rarely felt more terrible than when an error was published or people misunderstood something in the paper and vitriol-filled phone calls flooded the newsroom. I鈥檝e rarely been more frustrated than when people chastise us for not being at every single imaginable community event in town. In those moments all I wanted to do was crawl under my desk and hide from everyone in this town, or quit on the spot, leave this place and never look back.
But always, after I鈥檇 recovered from the depression or maniacal ranting, I would recognize that at their core just about everyone in this town is motivated by the desire to make this place the best it can possibly be. Your anger at us was rooted in your love of Jasper, and it only showed its face when you thought we didn鈥檛 love this place just as much as you do.
Jasperites care; you care a lot. And although it occasionally made my life hell, when I look back at the whole experience it鈥檚 truly been a pleasure to live here.
Your caring is contagious, and everything I wrote for this newspaper was rooted in that same desire to see Jasper become as good as it can be.
I鈥檓 gutted that I鈥檒l no longer be able to consider myself part of the 51暗网 team, but anyone who reads this paper knows that Nicole and the rest of the gang care just as much about Jasper as I do. They did a phenomenal job before I arrived and will continue to after I鈥檝e left.
My coworkers are just a few of the wonderful and dedicated people I鈥檝e met here, and I will miss all of you dearly.
Thank you, Jasper, for your wonderful and frustrating passion, your kindness and acceptance, your generosity towards one another and your relentless drive to make this place the best.
But most importantly thanks for being awesome. I was only here for a relatively short time, but it鈥檚 a time that will stick with me for much, much longer.
Trevor Nichols
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