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Profile to hit your doorstep Sunday
Published Wednesday, February 20, 2008
If you are Roy King, Demeshia Harris, a student at Trinity Episcopal, a control room worker at BASF, a female in Monty Mayo’s immediate family or a registered nurse at Hospice Help, you are in Profile 2008.
If you sometimes wear a moose head, if you have triplets for little sisters or if you submitted a photo taken from your cell phone, you too are in Profile 2008.
If I came up to you with a camera in the last month and took your mug shot, if someone took your photo while you were shopping in Natchez Market or if your boss made you pose for a group employee shot for a newspaper advertisement, you are in Profile 2008.
In fact, 342 of you are part of stories, photos and drawings in Profile 2008. Countless more of you are in the advertisements.
Without your faces, Profile 2008 wouldn’t exist.
Our goal this year was to include as many of you as possible. Our theme “About Face” demanded as much.
So, the staff of this newspaper went out of our way over the last five months to make Profile 2008 about you.
And, my, what a beautiful face you have.
We’ve enjoyed spending time getting to know the faces of the Miss-Lou. And we thank all of you who participated for letting us share your face with the world.
The newsroom’s work is done. The truck carrying the bound Profile 2008 magazines should be heading back to Natchez on Thursday. We’ll get them inserted into your copy of The Democrat by Saturday night.
And Sunday morning, Profile 2008 is all yours.
The magazine — an annual special section for us — is the biggest ever. At 144 pages, Profile isn’t something you’ll likely read in a day.
The section is bound like a magazine, with a nice, thick, glossy cover so that it can sit on your coffee table for months to come.
The stories inside are in-depth features. They are all meant to be enjoyable reading, and you are bound to know some of the people on the pages of Profile.
You may even be one of them.
Profile is both a headache and a joy for our staff each year. We begin work on it in October, usually with a kickoff party. It takes us up until the very last minute in February to finish.
It’s extra work. We keep publishing a daily paper at exactly the same rate and with the same staff as we do all year. But, we also work to keep Profile on the front burner.
But when you cut through the stress, the work we do for this edition is unlike what we do the rest of the year. It’s just fun.
On an ordinary day, I don’t get to interview dogs that look like their owners, or a child who wants to be a professional wrestler when he grows up.
Profile lets us meet those of you we might not ordinarily talk to.
And full-page photos let our photographers and designers play like they ordinarily couldn’t.
By the time Profile gets to your doorstep, the good definitely outweighs the bad.
We’ll enjoy watching you read. We want to hear your feedback, good or bad.
And we truly hope you’ll enjoy the faces of the Miss-Lou as much as we have.
Profile 2008 will be in newspaper racks and in your home-delivery copies this Sunday.
Enjoy.
Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@natchezdemocrat.com.
Comments
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on February 20, 2008 at 12:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I look forward to it, although I am sooo depressed that you didn't see fit to include Bubba! Oh well . . . It sounds like it's going to be great, regardless.
Posted by southernbelle (anonymous) on February 20, 2008 at 7:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
dangyankee I think you secretly love the south . It does sound like its going to be a great profile and it sounds like everybody involved on making it happen had a great time . People that love their work are the best . Thank ya'll
Posted by redusmfan (anonymous) on February 20, 2008 at 8:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
342 people in it...almost half of the folks left in Natchez made the cut....But seriously, I hope it will be as good as the last one. I read it while I was down there visiting the last family member I have left in Natchez .
Posted by dangyankee (anonymous) on February 20, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ms. Southernbelle, I certainly don't HATE the south. I love the climate, I love the Mississippi River and the view of it from the Natchez bluff, and I even love the tiny little patch of land where I live and all the wonderful things--the incredible variety of life--I see there on a daily basis. Even the quality of light is different "down here," whether because of geography or humidity, I'm not sure. Just as certainly, there are things I dislike, but few, if any, of those things are unique to Natchez or even to the south: Lack of economic opportunity for "average" citizens, for instance, is not a problem confined to the south; go to any small town, virtually anywhere in this country, and you'll find the same thing. The "ignorance and negativity" Mr. Cooper wrote about in a different column are not "southern" forces; you'll find that particular "axis of evil" anywhere you go.
Like most people, I can be quicker to protest things I perceive to be "wrong" than to shout "yay!" when I see things that are good and "right." In a comment on Mr. Cooper's column, I said that people in this community need to find some common ground. Well, here is a "yay!" for you: This newspaper and particularly its columnists HAVE been trying to find that common ground, so, without even having seen it yet, I imagine this "Profiles" edition is going to be another step along that path. That's why I look forward to perusing it, glass of sweet tea in hand.
Y'all--ALL y'all--have a great day!
Posted by CHall1229 (Christina Hall) on February 20, 2008 at 8:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I love the Profile. This Sunday morning I will make a big pot of coffee and read it from cover to cover, and over again. I know what a vast undertaking the Profile is and I can't wait to see it. Way to go Democrat Team.
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