A couple weeks before Thanksgiving, our BWNA newsletter team got the perfect holiday gift: her name is Jane Feinberg, and she arrived none too soon! Here’s why:
It began last October with a bolt of news from ace graphic designer Amy Gwilliam. Due to time constraints brought on by an increased workload in her home-based business, Amy would be leaving our newsletter team by year’s end. Gulp!! The newsletter graphic designer is the one who crafts the layout, a task requiring know-how, resourcefulness, and creativity to piece together the hodgepodge of articles, announcements, photos, graphics, and ads into a coherent, aesthetically appealing, and reader-friendly publication. Designers like Amy, with a resident’s feel for the neighborhood and the motivation and availability to volunteer several hours per issue, are a prize catch for any neighborhood newsletter… and oh so hard to replace.
So what to do? Because the submission deadline for the Nov.-Dec. issue had passed, it was too late to use this column for a recruitment pitch, but BWNA’s October general meeting afforded the opportunity to make the announcement. Result: no takers. A concerned President Tim Hemstreet asked me what would happen if a replacement couldn’t be found prior to the new year. My reply: “We don’t publish.”
Contingency plans were needed, and it was suggested that BWNA look into hosting a graphic design intern via a Portland Art Institute not-for-credit student practicum program as a short-term fix. I found the idea to be doable, although not a sure thing.
Happily, though, our contingency planning proved short-lived thanks to an initiative by none other than Amy Gwilliam, who took it upon herself to post a recruiting announcement on Nextdoor Beaumont-Wilshire, the popular local online network. Well, the newsletter gods were surely smiling when the very next day Amy received a positive response from B-W resident Jane Feinberg, a retiree with professional experience in graphic design and a strong desire to be of service to a neighborhood she’s called home for 30 years. A career geologist, Jane’s job resume includes technical editing and production managment for a local geotechnical engineering consulting firm. Her gracious e-mail reply to me underscores just how fortunate we are:
Thank you, Al, for the warm welcome and helpful information about the people and processes behind the BWNA newsletter! I’m always pleased to see the newsletter on my porch and appreciate—even more—the effort involved in its production. I feel like I’m joining a great group of people!
I retired in 2015 after nearly 40 years in the geotechnical engineering field and have been thinking that I should do something more productive with my time than knitting, playing mah jongg, and lunching with friends, so it was an easy decision to offer my services when I saw Amy’s post on Nextdoor.
Postscript: While Jane Feinberg is listed as “Graphic Designer” in this issue, Amy Gwilliam deserves equal billing, providing invaluable mentoring to Jane every step of the way. (Amy, it’s been a pleasure. On behalf of the neighborhood, MANY THANKS!)