I wonder if the thud on your doorstep woke you before the alarm this morning.

Today is one of my favorite days of the year &8212; the Sunday we deliver Profile to our readers.

This year offers a whole new look at our annual special section that highlights people and places in the Miss-Lou. We chose a different format this year &8212; a magazine-style tab, rather than the traditional section that is the same size as the rest of the newspaper.

So inside today&8217;s edition is a magazine filled with interesting stories and photos about the unique people who make up our community.

You can spend the entire day reading the stories and enjoying the photos, or you can parse the section out over several days or weeks.

We expect the readership life of this publication will be a long one. And that makes sense, considering how much time we spend putting this publication together.

Our staff spends at least half the year working on Profile, and not a single person on our staff goes without touching some aspect of the publication.

Last fall, when we sat down to choose a theme for Profile, the Gulf Coast and New Orleans had just been hit by Hurricane Katrina, and we were all trying to determine just how that event would change our community.

That got us to thinking about all of the changes that have occurred in the Miss-Lou over the years &8212; and the changes that may come as we look ahead to new opportunities and new challenges. So the theme became &8220;Seasons of Change,&8221; a nod to what we&8217;ve been through and what we expect in the future.

We brainstormed a variety of ideas and came up with a set of stories that show the changes in our community, our lives, our schools, our churches, our businesses, our families and our technology, giving us a unique snapshot of the Miss-Lou.

I&8217;ve probably spent more time than just about anyone else looking at the stories, photos, captions and advertisements in this year&8217;s Profile, and every time I look through the pages I find something new.

Turn to page 49, and you&8217;ll see two of the most pampered pooches in the city.

Look at page 32, and you&8217;ll meet two of our newest residents, who have unique reasons for moving to Natchez &8212; and unique reasons for staying.

On page 24, you&8217;ll find four of the most talented young people in the community &8212; and you&8217;ll want to remember their names, because their teachers and peers think they&8217;re the people who will help change the world.

Check out page 86 and you&8217;ll learn some interesting things about three communities and their main streets. (Vidalia, one of my favorite communities in our area, has a past I never even knew existed!)

Profile showcases The Democrat&8217;s best work, but it&8217;s not just our best reporting, writing and photography. Our advertising and composing staffs have gone the extra mile as well, putting together dynamic ads that tell the stories of many of the businesses in the Miss-Lou.

Just as much as I&8217;ve enjoyed reading the articles and seeing the photos in Profile this year, I&8217;ve enjoyed perusing the advertisments, learning about the people who make so many businesses in our community tick.

Profile is the total package, one we hope you&8217;ll keep on the shelf long after today&8217;s newspaper is history and pull out to read and share again and again.

Enjoy reading.

Kerry Whipple

Bean is editor of The Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3541 or by e-mail at

kerry.bean@natchezdemocrat.com

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