After 14 years at the helm, Ester Strijbos is moving on from the Tideline. In one of the archived posts, from the fall of 2011, she wrote:
“Last year June, after careful consideration, Richard Trueman decided to step down from cortesisland.com (Tideline). I took over from Richard in July 2010. Irene Blueth is still Assistant Editor, which means that she takes care of the Tideline when I am away, and also helps make editing decisions.”
Cortes Currents: How did you become the editor of the Tideline?
Ester Strijbos: “Richard and I became friends when we met up at the Tak on a weekly basis. We got together with a bunch of people that were into web stuff and photography. We became friends. Then after a few years in 2010, he was just done with it. There was a lot of stuff going on, the hall tax , the rezoning of the fish farms and the community plan.”
“So he called and said, ‘I need to find someone within a few days because I don’t want to do it anymore.’”
“I thought I would do it for a little while and then someone else would take over. ‘ That was my initial idea because I thought, ‘well, we can’t not have it. So I’ll do it for a while and then we’ll figure something out.’ I guess that part never really happened until now.”
Cortes Currents: Has it been a good time?
Ester Strijbos: “Yes. Most of it, yes.” (Laughs)
Cortes Currents: Why? What was good about it?
Ester Strijbos:”Well, it’s the community. There’s a lot of people that are part of the timeline, it feels like the whole community. I loved that about it!”
Cortes Currents: What have been the challenges and what have been the successes?
Ester Strijbos: “I think the successes are what you see every day, people communicating with each other and to our community.”
“The challenges have been the not so nice notes or people just not wanting to understand the policies and the guidelines and staying within them. That’s been a challenge. When things happen on the island, and when we lose people that you’re really close to, that’s hard.”
Cortes Currents: What are you going to miss about it?
Ester Strijbos: “Again, I’m going to miss the community. At this point there’s lots of things I’m not going to miss about being editor, but I know I will miss the connections that I had on a daily basis with a lot of people. I won’t have that anymore, and so I’ll definitely miss that.”
Cortes Currents: Do you have any words of advice for your successor?
Ester Strijbos: “I think it’s really good to have a good team around you, like a soundboard team that you can ask if you’re not sure if you should post something, because sometimes it’s on the line and we all interpret things differently. So it’s nice to ask people about it. It’s good if you have people that have different opinions and dare to speak up to you so that you can really figure out like, ‘is this okay or is it not okay?’ And backing up regularly, that’s my advice.”
Cortes Currents: For listeners that do not have much website experience, there are sometimes problems that cause sites to crash. If your data is backed-up, you can revert to it.
In her farewell article, as editor, Ester wrote:
“I am ready to shift; throw more pots, make art, spend more time in the garden, hike to places without cell service, make music, take a real holiday – just have more time for my personal life.”
I really look forward to a better work-life balance with the Better at Home program & my web design business – you will see my name continue to appear when I submit photos for the gallery and articles for the organizations/programs I am involved in (Better at Home, community meals, etc) and I will be on the Tideline advisory committee/support/tech team.”
Ester Strijbos: “I just want to thank everybody for participating, and I hope the Tideline will just continue as it has for another long, long time. That’s what I hope.”
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