Forty weeks.
That’s how long I was homeless.
Not literally — I didn’t sleep under a bridge or in a tent in the woods — but figuratively.
For me as a journalist and photojournalist, “home” is a combination of newsprint and web pages. It isn’t so much my home as it is a home for my words and photographs. But because those are so much a part of me, it’s difficult to separate them from who I am.
I started my journalism career in the summer of 2011 here at the Abington Journal. For the next seven years, this was home to so many stories, pictures and memories. Then I moved to the other local community newspaper, the Abington Suburban, which became home for another two years, until it ceased publication in May 2020.
In the meantime, the Journal also suspended print publication.
It felt like both homes were demolished.
I mourned not only for myself, but for the Abingtons, a community without a print community newspaper. I’m a millennial but old fashioned. I still believe in the power of printed words (and photographs) and the importance of journalism, both in print and online. I believe a small-town community like the Abingtons needs a small-town newspaper like the Journal.
So, when I was told the Journal was making a comeback as a monthly print publication, I was thrilled. And I was asked to return as a correspondent, I not only welcomed but celebrated the opportunity.
While newsprint is my figurative home, the Abingtons is my geographical home. Which makes the opportunity to work for the Abington Journal again even sweeter.
One of my first assignments back on the job brought me to Hillside Park in South Abington Township, where volunteers created a skating rink on the frozen lake. As I stepped onto the slippery surface of Lake Eston Wilson with a camera around my neck and reporter’s notebook in hand, I experienced the glorious feeling of coming home.
Because Hillside Park is home.
Lackawanna State Park, South Abington Park, Dalton Streamside Park and the Depot Street pocket park are home. The Waverly Community House, The Gathering Place and the Newton Recreation Center are home. The Abington Community Library and the Dalton Community Library are home. The local schools, fire companies, churches and small businesses are home.
The Abingtons is home.
At Hillside Park, I met a family that was just starting to feel the same way. I introduced myself to the Simanskis after taking their picture, and learned they had just moved to Clarks Summit. They expressed how much fun they were having on the ice, and told me the activity made it “feel like home.”
I get that.
There’s something about ice skating with your neighbors at Hillside Park, or wandering through downtown Clarks Summit during the Clarks Summit Festival of Ice, or watching the Rotary Club of the Abingtons’ Independence Day fireworks display, or supporting the firefighters at the annual Dalton Carnival. It brings out the feeling of “home.” I think that’s part of what holds this community together.
And that’s what I aim to capture with pen, paper, camera and lens.
I’ve missed that, and it’s good to be back.
It’s good to be home.
Liz Baumiester writes for the Abington Journal.
