Acclaimed early 20th century American novelist Thomas Wolfe once penned, “You can’t go home again.” I would argue, “Not so fast, Tom” (if I may be so bold). After all, he lived in a time before MapQuest and GPS, and history doesn’t tell us what motivated him to write those words. Isn’t it possible that he went out for a walk one day, got lost, and he wrote the famous phrase to explain away his failure to ask directions? With apologies to the Man of Words for my unfounded speculation, I suggest that the more accurate statement is, “Some of you can never go home again, but some of you can.” OK. I know that tampering with the words of Thomas Wolfe may border on sacrilege; but, feeble attempts at humor aside, it does get me to a serious point. I write to congratulate someone who is about to prove him wrong.

Allow me to introduce (or, more accurately, “re-introduce”) the new publisher/editor of the Kingston Observer, Nancy Sapir. This is a return to a familiar role for Nancy, who fi lled a similar position years ago as publisher of the Kingston Independent, the newspaper that she and her husband Dan started in 1978. Nancy takes the reins of the Observer as Dan goes in a different direction, back to the role of teacher/debate coach, which he did before venturing into the newspaper business.

Susan and I have known the Sapirs since 1979. I was with the weekly Kingston Voice, fi rst as a columnist, then editor, and fi nally publisher. Dan and Nancy founded the rival Kingston Independent in February of 1978, and the two homespun publications engaged in a lively and spirited competition for a few years. We frequently bumped into each other at events that we both covered. Eventually, we merged the Independent and the Voice into a single weekly, the (Kingston) Independent Voice. Our families ran the paper together for a few years before going separate ways (fast-forwarding: today, the original paper is under the ownership of Gatehouse Media).

Kingston “newbies” may be most familiar with Nancy as the “Her” of “Him and Her” or as the newspaper’s book reviewer, but there is much more to her portfolio (“Him and Her,” by the way, won a New England Press Association award for its humor and originality). Nancy is a former reporter for the Enterprise, editor of the Kingston Independent, and an accomplished freelance writer. I have always admired what Nancy can do when she sets pen to paper.

Nancy brings a strong and thoughtful sense of balance to her writing and editing, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t take on tough issues or take offi cials to task when needed. She has a strong sense of community, a wonderful sense of humor, and an infectious laugh.

She returns at a time when the newspaper industry is in transition. The landscape is very different from the early days of the Kingston Voice, Kingston Independent, and Independent Voice. Independently owned newspapers are the exception rather than the rule. There is far greater competition for advertising dollars, and a belief among some (which I do not share) that the Internet will one day reduce print media to irrelevance.

In this changing industry, the relevance of a local newspaper becomes greater, not lesser. David Cutler, a South Shore newspaperman who founded the Mariner Newspaper group, characterizes a local newspaper as the fi rst rough draft of history and talks about the special opportunity that a local paper has to develop a unique relationship with its readers. His views were echoed by another friend, the late Paul Reale of Marshfi eld, a teacher, newspaperman, and writer who once summed up the challenge of running a local paper in the simplest of terms: “Remember, you have to face the people you write about.” Challenging times present great opportunities. Nancy has the unique opportunity to make her hometown paper a “must read” in the community. I am confi dent that she will do precisely that.

Good luck, Nancy. And, welcome home.

Jim Farrell