What’s up with today’s paper?

By Fredie Carmichael/ editor

September 03, 2006 09:27 pm

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You might be a little confused reading today’s paper.
Some common thoughts might be:
“So what does Feel Good Edition mean?”
“Why is there a hammock hanging from a letter?”
“Why is Labor Day bigger than The Meridian Star?”
“Has the new editor lost his mind?”
Today is the debut of something we’re calling the “Feel Good Edition.” We’re bombarded on a daily basis with news of war, crime, corruption and the sport of political mud-slinging. For this addition, we’re taking a break from all of that. It’s Labor Day, so we want readers to sit back, relax, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a newspaper full of warm-and-fuzzy news.
We’ve dedicated the past week to remembering Hurricane Katrina. Some of the stories made us feel good; others may have opened up old wounds. During that time, we also asked our readers to share their Hurricane Katrina memories with us. We received more than 20 submitted stories. We picked a few of those to share with the rest of our readers today.
They are stories of hope, neighborly love, friendship, and community.
We’ve also opened up our other pages — normally filled with stories from across the state, country and world — to display only positive news. You won’t read anything about a war or crime on those pages today. Let’s take a break for at least one day.
The focus of today’s edition is all about one thing: relaxing and feeling good on Labor Day. We hope you enjoy. And stay tuned — we may bring the “Feel Good Edition” back on the next holiday.

Fredie Carmichael is editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at editor@themeridianstar.com.