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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

An end to the column, but still more stories to tell

Pia Hansen The Spokesman-Review

In the grand scheme of things what’s one year? Depending on how well the year goes, 365 days can seem like a short or a long time. Good years fly by compared to the bad ones where every single day drags on like a poorly written sitcom.

A year – almost to the day – is how long I’ve had this column and today you are reading the last one.

I’d never written a news column before, so I was a bit apprehensive when this spot was offered to me last year – but becoming a newspaper columnist, even if it’s just for a media minute, doesn’t seem like an opportunity one turns down.

So I never regretted the jetlagged decision I made to say yes, sitting in my boss’s office having just returned from Africa. This has been a great experience.

Without question, my favorite part of column writing has been my readers, even the readers who told me to go home to where I came from or described me in other creative ways that I can’t repeat in print.

Hey, that’s part of the gig.

As one of my friends said not too long ago: “Boy, you really put yourself out there – and several times a week? Bet you hear it all.”

Yes, I do, and it’s been fun, because not for a second did I expect everybody to agree with me.

Heck, there were days when I thought not one single person in our greater circulation area would agree with me.

My favorite compliments were when readers said, “You say it just like it is.”

Or, “I never thought of that issue in just that way, but you made me take a look at it differently.”

From the get-go all I hoped for was that one person would read one column and have one independent, perhaps even original, thought about whatever topic I was writing about.

And then there was the Danish thing: some readers couldn’t get enough of that and others despised every time I mentioned the “old country.”

I’m going to miss hearing from readers every day – and I’m going to miss that glimmer of recognition in someone’s eye when they say, “Hey, aren’t you that woman from the newspaper?”

Not that much will change: I’ll continue to be that woman from the paper and I’ll continue to write stories every week. You’ll see my name on Monday’s Connect pieces and on all sorts of personality profiles and general assignment stories throughout the week.

I’ve been doing this for almost 10 years and I’m still humbled by the fact that people trust me to tell their stories. So please, if I can ask just one thing, please don’t forget to call me. After all, you’re the ones who give me stuff to write about every day.