Write of Passage

I didn’t expect this “From the Publisher” column to last for so long. Three years ago, when the pandemic dealt a near-death blow to Seven Days, I felt I had some explaining to do: In my first letter, published on March 25, 2020, I listed some steps we’d taken in the previous week to keep from going under, from starting Good To-Go, an online directory for local restaurants offering takeout, to the sad necessity of laying off seven employees.

It was a terrifying time to be in business. Specifically, in this business: a free weekly newspaper funded almost entirely by advertising. Overnight we lost most of our clients, the source of our revenue. Many of the retail outlets that made the paper available to readers promptly closed.

But Seven Days could not shut down; there was a historic public health crisis to cover. How could we do it without money to pay for the operation, while also keeping our reporters, drivers and other public-facing employees safe?

It quickly became one of my jobs to explain how the pandemic affected the newspaper, which, along with pharmacies and hospitals, was considered an “essential service.” In subsequent missives, I wrote about the precautions our drivers were taking when officials still thought the coronavirus lived on paper; I explained how we economized by inserting our parenting publication, Kids VT, inside Seven Days, instead of keeping it as a separate issue — a practice that continues to this day. I chronicled our efforts to secure Paycheck Protection Program loans. At the end of 2020, I thanked the local businesses that ran ads just to support us.

There was a column titled “Extra, Extra! Effort” about our creative circulation strategies, which included getting residents to host racks in their front yards and biking around the city, tossing a paper to anyone who wanted one. Starved for news, and the community connection the paper provides, lots of people did.

I wrote about more personal topics, too, such as how it felt to turn 60 one month into the pandemic. When my 93-year-old mom was locked down in an assistedliving facility, and then diagnosed with terminal cancer, I described the pain of saying goodbye to a loved one in isolation.

Specific as they were, in some cases, my accounts of life during the pandemic seem to have resonated with readers. Many have also expressed appreciation for the behind-the-scenes intel. Most media companies are notoriously bad at telling their own stories. On November 10, 2021, I called attention to Storm Lake, a documentary film about an imperiled newspaper in northwest Iowa, and drew connections to Vermont’s media landscape. Explaining what we do, how we do it and why has never been more important.

To that end, over the past 36 months, I’ve had a chance to feature some of the amazing people at Seven Days. I keep thinking I will run out of ideas, but life has a way of delivering them. When our server crashed a month ago, for example, it became a chance to for me to explain the digital side of our operation and the man who keeps it all whirring: creative director Don Eggert. Town Meeting Day was the right time to shine a light on Burlington reporter Courtney Lamdin. Being able to marry the storytelling skills I developed as a journalist with my experience as an editor and publisher — in 500 words or so — week after week has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my career.

As hard as it is sometimes to conceive and write a column in the midst of everything else, I’m going to keep doing it as long as there are angles to explore, even though the pandemic is officially over. Deputy publisher Cathy Resmer will pinch-hit for me on occasion. She also deftly edits my work.

The ultimate goal is to show what it takes to put out this newspaper — a national anomaly for its consistent size and quality. The challenges keep coming. Against all odds, we’ve done some of our best journalism in recent years, including the “Locked Out” housing series and a cover story documenting long wait times at the University of Vermont Medical Center, which prompted a state investigation.

You can help us keep going with a recurring monthly donation. We’ll be better prepared for the next disaster if the people who value Seven Days are pitching in to pay for it. Think of it as a subscription, like the ones you might have to Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max or Disney+, only Seven Days is streaming your story, this state, our lives.

Paula Routly

If you like Seven Days and can afford to help pay for it, become a Super Reader! Look for the “Give Now” buttons at the top of sevendaysvt.com. Or send a check with your address and contact info to:

SEVEN DAYS, C/O SUPER READERS

P.O. BOX 1164

BURLINGTON, VT 05402-1164

For more information on making a financial contribution to Seven Days, please contact Kaitlin Montgomery:

VOICEMAIL: 802-865-1020, EXT. 142

EMAIL: SUPERREADERS@SEVENDAYSVT.COM