To the few of those out there in OS land that have been so gracious as to stop by now and then, I offer my apologies for the lengthy hiatus. The world, or at least my minute, little corner of it, is approaching mach speed. When I do have the time to write, it's for matters that mean a lot to me, and there are two: my job (which pays the bills) and my volunteer job (which provides what money cannot).

Let's start with the paying job.

I am the managing editor of a very small, twice-monthly, tribally-owned newspaper. My staff consists of me, an office manager, a reporter/photographer, and two graphic artists. When I first took this job three years ago, there were eight staff members: two more reporter/photographers and a sales/media position. At that time we had a circulation of 5,500. Two years ago, budgets were cut, circulation went from 5,500 to 900 overnight, and we were downsized. One employee was a tribal member who ran for a tribal council position; she won and we lost her. Not long after, council passed a motion stating that the paper would revert to a for-tribal-members-only, no-advertising-sales publication. Hence the huge drop in circulation and the need to cut two positions. I was just happy that they didn't do away with the paper, and oh yes, rumor has it that they did indeed think about it.

We are not only a newspaper. Yes, we cover events and do articles, but thanks to our graphic artists, we also design projects for the different tribal departments and enterprises (flyers, posters, letterhead, business cards, booklets, etc.) In the last year, a couple of new projects were thrown our way: website updating and maintenance, and an advertising campaign for their large, verging on state-of-the-art clinic. When you consider how many departments and enterprises there are (and there are many), this amounts to a lot of work and responsibility. So far, we're keeping up and hopefully earning our pay. Call me weird, but I rather like having food to eat, clothes to wear and a roof over my head. My attitude? Bring. It. On. It helps that I love what I do and the people I do it for.

Now for the volunteer job.

I sit on the board of directors for two endeavors: the county chamber of commerce and the county tourism commission. The county chamber just recently changed its name to include the entire county. We'd been promoting county-wide for several years anyway, and this change just made sense. That, and moving our office to bigger, better digs that fit the chamber needs and what it wants to accomplish. To keep the chamber up and running, we hold several annual events whose profits do just that. It takes a lot of volunteers to pull these things off!

The county tourism commission was formed for the purpose of initiating a room tax. Chances are, most of your hotel bills inlcude one. Next time, take a closer look, or ask the front desk. This has been a long, arduous three-year battle that's not over. We still have townships that just don't understand the concept. In the state of Wisconsin, a tourism entity (like the chamber) may work with the township(s) to initiate and put into place the procedures for hotels/motels/cabins/resorts to add anywhere from a 4% to 8% tax (decided by chamber/commission) on their room rentals. Then every quarter, the lodging facility sends the monies to the township where they keep 30% and send 70% on to the tourism entity (tourism commission) who then decide how best to spend those dollars. There are strict guidelines on what dollars can and can not be spent on. The whole concept is to put "heads in beds" - bringing in people who will spend their dollars in your community. Some people just don't get that it is not the hotel/motel/cabin/resort that is paying this tax. It's the guest.

Needless to say, I've taken on more at my paying job and at my non-paying one. There's so much to do that my mind can hardly take it all in, but I've adopted a new mantra: Bring. It. On.

Yep, I'm a busy body!