Opinion: There’s no place like Madera
Country singer Jason Aldean has a hit song titled “The Fly-over States.” It starts out with a couple of businessmen on a cross-country flight between Los Angles and New York. He then goes on to sing about why anyone would live in those places.
We, in Cali, are spoiled by the abundance of sunshine, fresh vegetables and the Pacific Ocean, mountains, lakes and the Yosemite and Sequoia forests. The entertainment industry rules much of the state. Some people here are dying to move away as many new people take up residence. Some others wouldn’t live anywhere else.
As a lifelong resident of Madera, I can’t imagine living anywhere else. I would, however, like to visit all those fly-over states.
A recent Jeopardy! contestant said she had visited 49 states. That would be brilliant. As I’ve written before, I almost lived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, when I was in the seventh grade. I don’t consider 10 months a residency. Plans are to visit some of the southern states very soon. I need the love of my family at this unsettling time in my life. I have family all through the south.
Many parts of the American South are picturesque, green, with good schools, great hospitality and delicious food.
There is nowhere like Madera, and I am so proud to be a part of it and a part of The Madera Tribune.
You may have heard that at Wednesday’s Madera City Council Meeting, The Madera Tribune received honors from the Mayor Santos Garcia.
The Madera Tribune does its very best to support the many good things going on in our hometown. The support of the community is paramount to doing our job to bring you, our readers, important stories of student sports, our collective history and op-ed columns where you get to see events and feelings through the eyes of our columnists.
We lost our heart and soul when our Publisher, Chuck Doud, died in 2021. I have recently learned how much a sudden and unexpected death affects a family and a community.
My colleagues, led by Nancy Simpson, have kept the financial ledgers straight and the boat afloat.
The pages of the Tribune owe its contents to our Sports Editor, Tyler Takeda, who has written an enormous amount of extra stories on a wide range of subjects that are not sports-related, which is his heart. Plus, choosing which stories run on a given day.
Wendy Alexander, our lead photographer, fills our pages with images to last a lifetime.
Katrina Soliz and Corrie Valdez are responsible for advertising revenue we desperately need to operate.
Whether we are informing readers of our ancestors, bringing a new recipe to the dinner table or providing discussions of a good variety of other subjects, the entire rest of the staff works hard to make sure The Madera Tribune is paginated, printed, delivered and mailed to our subscribers twice a week.
Our newspaper racks present our work to the general public for less the cost of a bottle of soda pop.
Community support is paramount, and the City of Madera proclaiming we are doing a good job is confirmation our efforts are not in vain. That kind of validation is brilliant. If you wonder why I use the term brilliant, it’s because at my age I sound like the oldest Valley Girl when I say awesome.
Be safe and thanx for enjoying a slice of gravy!
Long days and pleasant nights, have a blessed weekend!
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Readers may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following @TamiJoNix on Twitter.
