Guest Column: New resident embraces newspaper, community

We moved from the Seattle area and bought a house in Fruitland four months ago and so we are totally unfamiliar with this area. We signed up for a Southeast Missourian print subscription after seeing an ad on Facebook. I'm so glad we did. We did not have a local print newspaper where we moved from so we were excited to have one here in our new home.

Your paper has helped us get familiar with local businesses, the local culture, and what is going on with local government. I really appreciate the community feel of the paper without having to sacrifice national news and national columns, such as Marc Thiessen's column.

Coming from a large metro mired in increasing chaos, it is so refreshing to arrive here and see a united community rallying around their high school football team that was going to state finals, experience firsthand the awesome Jackson school district where my kids all attend in person (and not remote), and become part of a community that embraces religious life as well as good parks and smart economic development. Oh, and of course, the people here are so friendly! No "Seattle Chill" here (yes that's a thing).

When we decided to move to the Jackson area to be near my wife's family I honestly didn't think I would like it here, but I love my wife so much I'd follow her anywhere. After living here for a while I discovered that (surprisingly) I really like this area. There are no beautiful ocean beaches, mountains or Puget Sound islands, but I found there is something more beautiful here: the kindness of the people.

We were at The Ground-About Coffee Shop in Jackson this morning reading your B Magazine article about Codefi together. We went down to visit Codefi and after a tour we decided I would join and possibly rent an office there (I'm a senior software engineer for World Vision working remotely full time now).

I think it is great that these economic development organizations around Cape Girardeau are out there hustling to bring business and jobs to our area. (I also read about organizations like MAGNET in your paper). Yay for a Sushi Hibachi restaurant in Jackson and a Baskin-Robbins in Cape!

The whole family enjoys reading the Southeast Missourian. I caught my six-year old reading Garfield and the other comics today after school; my 12-year old likes the crosswords. My wife likes reading the paper in the morning instead of watching TV (TV news is so shrill these days).

You're doing a great job. I think the thing I like the best about your paper is that there is a lot of positive stuff highlighted in there, and it's not a doom and gloom paper.

Jason Schaitel resides in Jackson.