In March 1976, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest won Best Picture, Patty Hearst was found guilty of robbing a bank, and ABBA’s Ferando was released as a single. It was at this magical nexus of fondue parties and diaper washing that a collective of progressive twentysomethings with young families and cockeyed optimism launched the Hill & Lake Press.
These 1970s hipsters were none other than Jim and Susan Lenfestey of Lowry Hill, the “Hill”, and Win and Binky Rockwell of East Isles, the “Lake”, who later moved to Lowry Hill and now reside in Cedar-Isles-Dean. While the Rockwells of East Isles beat the Lenfesteys of Lowry Hill by publishing one issue before they did, they soon joined forces to create the Hill and Lake Press to bring hyperlocal news to the “Hill” and “Lake” ‘hoods “where the biggies leave off…”. Kenwood followed soon thereafter and later Cedar-IslesDean. Editors came and went. As the decades rolled on, kids grew up and moved away and priorities changed.
By the late 1990s the fate of the Hill & Lake Press was uncertain given the intense effort of laying out a paper in the pre-digital age of typewriters, rubber cement, and countless hours of editing by committee. When Jean Deatrick caught wind of the possible closing of the paper, she wouldn’t have it—as Jim Lenfestey cleverly outlines in his piece this month about Jean’s retirement as editor last February. For the past two decades Jean has worked thousands of hours quietly behind her screen performing the myriad tasks required of running a small community paper. This manifested into hundreds of monthly issues over a 20-year span, the central news system of our community who we relied on for life-support but took for granted.
When Jean asked me to succeed her as editor of the Hill & Lake Press, I asked her why. She said that I was “reliable, a good writer and community minded”. When I questioned whether I had the chops, she explained how she threw herself into it knowing nothing. She learned the software and managed to deliver on deadline, keeping the drama in neat columns that she didn’t let affect her positive outlook on life. So here I am, a month later with nearly a couple hundred hours under my belt, I can report that I am a lot wiser on how to run a paper. As observed by reporter Linda Mack, with “trial by fire!”
I have made several changes to the paper that I hope you will embrace. First, local news is dying while social media is fueling spats and virtue signaling in echo chambers orchestrated by alien algorithms and Russian bots. It is important to me that we provide a thoughtful public platform for community discourse about important local issues from a range of perspectives. It is also important to me that we differentiate local news reporting from opinion pieces, especially in an era where nearly everyone is convinced that they are on the just side of an issue. As the paper’s first GenX editor, a product of MTV videos and the rise of all things digital, I am hoping to modernize its layout to provide more visual interest. I also hope to bring back some of the levity that amused the early editors— if no one else. In a world with so much heavy news we simply need to have more fun.
We have a lot of news to report and community voices to share this month related to planning efforts for Hennepin Avenue as well as Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles that will affect livability for the next generations. We also have important developments in the SWLRT saga, such as damage to the Cedar Isles Condominium Tower and calls for an audit of the Metropolitan Council’s handling of the project. We learn from Thomas Regnier about the history of our cherished Hill & Lake Press mascot and how the teacher strike is affecting families like the Browns in Kenwood. Dorothy Richmond’s wit and candor in Dear Neighbor reminds us of our “first world problems” in light of the catastrophe unfolding in Ukraine, which may be uniting polarized America for the better.
Please let me know if you have a story that you would like to share with our readers. I can’t promise to publish it but I will consider it. In 2008, I contacted Jean to see if she would be interested in a column called “Meet Your Neighbor” to focus on colorful people in our community. Fourteen years later, I’m now its editor and the column is going strong. We welcome opinion pieces, illustrations and out of the box ideas but are actively recruiting reporters who can provide in depth and balanced coverage. Please contact me at hillandlakepress@gmail.com.
