Saying goodbye after a 35-year career in journalism
James McCarthy, longtime Mainebiz editorial staffer, will retire June 14.
It was my lucky day in late winter 2012 when Carol Coultas, Mainebiz editor at that time, called me at home with a hint of desperation in her voice. “Have you finished up at Bangor Daily News?” she asked. “Two people gave me their notice and I’m about to go on vacation. I could really use your help, if you’re free.”
It so happened that I had just finished a nine-week stint as a temporary editor at BDN, filling in for someone who was out on medical leave. Even with the long daily drives to the newspaper’s office in Bangor, I relished my time there. Until then, after being downsized as the editorial page editor at The Times Record the previous summer by the newspaper’s out-of-state owners, I’d been thinking my days in journalism were over. I’d been at the Brunswick daily for 26 ½ years, including 10 years as its managing editor, after a two-and-a-half year stint at a weekly newspaper in New Hampshire.
My time at BDN rekindled my hopes of being employed in journalism again and here was Carol — someone I’d known from her time at the Lewiston Sun Journal that paralleled mine at The Times Record — inviting me to fill in at Mainebiz.
I quickly said, “Yes,” figuring there was nothing to lose and, perhaps, everything to gain. When Carol came back from vacation I told her I’d like to join her on the Mainbiz staff as senior writer.
Seven years later, my Mainebiz portfolio includes stories reported from Aroostook to York county, from Millinocket and Greenville to Monhegan Island and Isle au Haut. I’ve met dozens of memorable Mainers and did my best to tell their stories. I’ve gained important friendships among my talented and hardworking co-workers here at Mainebiz.
Working here has deepened my love for Maine and its people.
I’d known since moving here from Cleveland and working as a construction laborer on the paper mill in Jay during the winter of 1976 that it takes hard work and determination to make a living in this state. And almost three decades of community journalism in the Midcoast region helped me appreciate the way unsung heroes — people both young and old from all walks of life — pitch in to make their communities better places to live in.
But the business focus of Mainebiz broadened my perspective and helped me realize the equally vital role played by entrepreneurs, bankers, business owners, nonprofits and, yes, even politicians.
It takes courage to put one’s time and money on the line to succeed in business, as every owner knows in their very bones. It takes vision and trust to lend the money that can make someone’s dream a reality. It takes idealism and grit to advocate year after year for countless good causes, knowing that those causes, for some, are seen as frills. It takes dogged determination to do the people’s business, enduring hours of debate and plowing through reams of paper that accompany even the simplest of civic endeavors.
I arrived here from Cleveland in 1974 with the ambition to be an artist and the good fortune of being hired to work in a small summer gallery in Newagen, at the tip of Southport Island. It took me almost a decade to find my way into journalism and a career that would engage my creative skills to be part of the wider community-building efforts of fellow Mainers.
And now, at age 66, it’s time to retire. My final day at Mainebiz is June 14. Will Hall has been hired to replace me as digital editor and he’ll bring to that role his own creative talents and ideas.
To those who ask me why I’m retiring now, I can think of no better answer than the one Henry David Thoreau gave when he left Walden Pond after living there for two years: “It seemed to me that I had several more lives to live.”
I’m grateful for all the experiences I’ve had working here, especially collaborating with my Mainebiz colleagues in telling the stories that business owners and others have trusted us to share with our faithful readers.
To one and all: Thanks.
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