I haven’t rubbed shoulders with Marty McFly lately nor do I have the keys to a customized DeLorean that’s equipped with a flux capacitor. So, I was startled by the deja-vu experience on my first day as editor of the Port Orchard Independent for this once and now-current journalist.

After many years working as a corporate communications professional and most recently as a commercial copywriter, I’m back to where I first started. I’m a community newspaper journalist and editor, and I couldn’t be happier.

If you remember your first crush, you’ll understand. There’s nothing quite like that first love. You spend years glancing wistfully backward at the fun and the education you experienced just out of the gate.

For me, joining the Independent dusts off memories of my first dream job following college. I primarily wrote sports but routinely stepped in to cover local news, write features and edit news copy. My newspaper home at the time was a few years away from joining the computer age: typewriters clacked throughout the newsroom and the smell of pasteup wax was pervasive. It was heaven.

Since then, the process of building a newspaper has changed tremendously. It’s evolved into a highly digitized world where newspapers share information not only through ink and newsprint, but over the Internet and the tools of social media. Readers have at hand multiple ways in which to stay informed about their community — a printed newspaper that’s delivered each Friday, a website updated when news events happen and evolve, and audio and video segments embedded on the website that provide added emphasis and dimension to the reporting.

For a reborn editor, it’s a new age of information full of opportunity and expression. Still, comprehensive reporting needs good people who have their finger on the pulse of the community. It’s really no different from the old days.

Our team here takes that responsibility seriously. We depend on dedicated people to produce accurate, comprehensive news content every day. But to be successful, we lean heavily on the South Kitsap community to stay on top of the issues. Your story suggestions and tips about events and activities keep our newspaper vital. Your feedback helps us stay on track.

I welcome your input. Please keep me posted about happenings that impact our community. You can reach me at rsmith@portorchardindependent.com. Or call me at 360-876-4414.