Change is good

Change is good. Just ask a proud new parent. Or an excited teenager who's driving solo for the first time. Or anyone who saw the last Star Trek movie.

There's been a lot of change in my professional life across the last nine months. There was change when Window Media collapsed and the Washington Blade closed. There was change when many of the Blade's staffers banded together to create DC Agenda. There was change when DC Agenda's owners won the rights to resurrect the Washington Blade name. There was change when we moved offices four times, welcomed new staff and freelancers, and reinvented the publication. There was change in such abundance in the days, weeks and months following the November 2009 bankruptcy of Window Media that change was one of our few constants. And those changes all proved to be for the best.

Now it's time for another change. It's time for me to leave the Blade.

I've been part of the publication across four years and five months. I've helped produce about 230 issues — including more than 100 issues as news editor. I've marched with the Blade in three Capital Pride parades, served as the newspaper's lead correspondent from a national political convention, and shared incredible stories of sadness and triumph. I have found my time at the Blade to be more meaningful, educational and rewarding than I ever envisioned. I am so happy to have contributed to its rich history.

So why am I leaving? Because it's time for me to move on. I've been thinking very seriously for several months about a career change and I believe now is the right time for me to pursue that change in earnest. Of course, stepping away from a full-time job and toward a hazy future is not a step I take lightly. There is risk involved in my choice. But risk is sometimes necessary to reap rewards. As for the rewards that I seek: new professional challenges and opportunities. I plan to stay in communications work. I most enjoy sharing and shaping messages. And because so many of those types of opportunities are in Washington, Annie and I will be staying in the D.C. area. Many of the details, though, of where I will go and what I will do remain in flux.

And that's OK. This roll of the dice is fundamentally no different than the chance Annie and I took when we moved to Washington. I had no desk waiting for me when we made that leap — just as I have no desk waiting for me as I make this leap at month's end. But it all worked out pretty well last time. I have great faith that this change, too, will be for the best.