It’s hard to believe, but this month marks the end of my fourth
year of writing this column. As I embark on the adventure of a
fifth year, it still feels like I have barely scratched the surface
of all there is to tell in a community as rich as Gilroy’s.
It’s hard to believe, but this month marks the end of my fourth year of writing this column. As I embark on the adventure of a fifth year, it still feels like I have barely scratched the surface of all there is to tell in a community as rich as Gilroy’s.
I speak of a community rich in its cast of quirky characters, which includes unsung heroes, unpredictable crackpots, and underground do-gooders. In our own way, we are similar to Cicely, Alaska, imaginary location of that much-loved 90’s TV series “Northern Exposure.”
When I run into people I know every time I go to the coffee shop or the post office, I see Gilroy as the “Southern Exposure” of our county, the part that has preserved and celebrated its history the most, the place with the most passion for causes dear to its heart, and the neck of the woods where the storytellers have the longest memories.
It can be a bit daunting to be recognized in the grocery store sometimes, especially since I have not necessarily found newspaper portraits to be the most flattering.
It can be a bit embarrassing to be recognized in the grocery store at 2am, and to realize while chatting with someone who is curiously peering into my grocery cart that the only things in it are a 64 ounce bottle of vodka and a tube of Preparation H.
It is also inevitable that a day when my hair is sticking straight up and I am wearing brown stretch pants and an old gray T-shirt will be when I will run into the most people who have ever recognized me in one day.
When you voice your opinion in our country of free speech, it can be a bit intimidating to receive hate mail.
However, Gilroyans pen only the most creative and colorful kind, such as the letter comparing me to terrorists that said, “Evil men shooting rifles in the air, some wearing checkered headscarves, and dirty nightshirts are calling you home, Kat.
They are waiting for you in caves and palaces with bullets, and explosives. Please go to them.”
When I first began the column, I would occasionally wake up in a cold sweat thinking, “How can I come up with 52 ideas a year to write about?”
But the people of Gilroy soon took care of that dilemma. It wasn’t long until I realized that the interaction with readers in this community would give me more ideas than I would ever be able to cover in a mere 52 columns per year
I am grateful to each reader who has taken the time to write, everyone from librarians to activists, nurses, therapists, professors, pastors, and police officers.
I want to especially thank those who keep me informed about what we are doing to help each other in our community, people like Rhoda Bress, Mary Ellen Salzano, Helen Moser, Arline Silva, Bob Dillon, Alice Dufresne-Reyes, Lani Yoshimura, and Dennise Julia, names many of you will recognize as those of people who work hard to make our community a better place.
Thanks to you, dear readers, and your care and dedication to this community, it looks to be a long time before this columnist runs out of stories.
