Jonathan Meyer.

I’m going to depart from my usual commentary on what’s going on around town. I think a more zoomed-out take of mine could be something interesting.

As of late, I’ve been thinking about information and how it spreads, not only to me, but to other people in our community.

Now, right off the bat, before I even start, I could lead any story to a point about how a local newspaper is a great place to spread information throughout a community, but that’s not the point here, as much as I do think it’s still important to make that case.

Anyways, all of my life that I can remember has been one with cell phones, the internet, instant messaging, and Facebook. I’ve known nothing besides that. Having the digital town square exist on Facebook and being alerted to things through either a share sent to me or an instant message I’ve received, I don’t know anything different from that, which I’m sure is kind of crazy to some of my readers.

I’m sure the job that I do now must have been harder even 20 years ago. But seeing and digesting information that’s public on Facebook is nowhere near the full scope of what this job entails.

I then think about word of mouth, running into people you know in public places, hearing what they have to say about what’s going on, and occasionally getting a piece of information that furthers your understanding and knowledge of a story that’s either unrelated to what’s going on currently or something completely out of the blue that you just realize you’ll have to cover eventually.

Relationships, though, don’t come instantly with most people. Usually, the way I’ve experienced it is that, over time, you build a readership, and people begin to trust you because you’ve delivered their news about the place that they love week after week, year after year.

The stories change, but your dedication to a place has to remain constant in order to earn the trust of citizens who have called this place home for longer than you’ve been alive.

I feel that that’s a solemn duty that someone who’s truly invested in a community’s newspaper has to take on.

One of my favorite ways to get information to spread is by simply asking people questions when I have the chance. Sometimes it’s a fun question, like, “What do you think would be an interesting story for me to write?” or “What’s newsworthy in your mind?”

Those kinds of questions sometimes draw out things that you wouldn’t otherwise think about. My tastes and interests as a person are vastly different than some of my readership’s, and that’s okay. You never know some of these things if you don’t just ask.

And, granted, I am a more quiet person from the get-go, but over the last three-plus years, I’ve gotten a little bit better about asking what I want to know and working toward the end goal, which is just a healthy newspaper.

I maybe have left out the funniest part.

Do we still have a town crier?

I’m not sure I’ve run into this person as of late, but that would be a freaking hilarious way of learning information about the community. Could you imagine someone standing on the bandstand in Toledo just yelling at the top of their lungs about what’s going on? Or someone standing in the middle of Third Street in Tama, probably loitering on some of Marty’s property, and just gossiping about random stuff?

Maybe that’s all wishful thinking, but I welcome it, quite honestly.

Until no one tells me anything anymore, I’m just Jonathan.