Grateful to serve the Bitterroot Star

by Sarah Glass

The Bitterroot Star is more than print media and headlines; it ties together our community’s shared narrative. Individual and group efforts, opinions, and forms of expression are reflected there, effectively archiving local history and the cultural components that intertwine to define the regional zeitgeist. It is my privilege to accept the general manager position at the Bitterroot Star and further its mission as a nonpartisan expression of the community.

I grew up in the Bitterroot Valley and attended Hamilton High School in the early 2000s. My creative writing teacher, Mrs. Yanzick, and Sheryl Noethe, a Missoula-based poet who served as one of Montana’s poet laureates, were especially supportive of my initial writing efforts. I remember being 16 and feeling starstruck that I could attend poetry groups and be in the company of published authors at Noethe’s home. Although I was a teenager and a fledgling writer, I was treated with encouragement, and this gave me a sense of confidence that would follow me in my future endeavors.

After high school, I moved to Springfield, Oregon, to go to college. There, I studied anthropology, and more recently, geospatial analysis and intelligence. At age 26, after noticing a deficit in local media coverage, I partnered with a former journalist to create Free For All (FFA) News, a free monthly publication through which I sought to highlight everything positive about Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

I found writing “good news” to be harder than I imagined but worthwhile. I spoke with scientists working on an HIV vaccine and with rock stars who grew up in the area. Equally as important, I sought out the area’s unsung heroes who served as the cornerstones of their respective communities. At the end of its six-year run, FFA News printed 15,000 copies per issue and distributed them to 13 towns and cities.

In 2023, I moved back to Ravalli County. The Bitterroot Star hired me as a graphic designer and contributing writer. Through this work, I was introduced to other Mullen Newspaper Company affiliates for which I made ads, constructed tourism guides, and wrote articles. Today, I live in Corvallis with my partner and my silken windhound, Kit. I am excited to grow into my new role at the Bitterroot Star and collaborate with such earnest teammates. Victoria Howell, who is retiring from her publisher position at the newspaper, is a fount of knowledge whom I look up to and hope to emulate. I look forward to joining the community in writing the next page of our region’s journal, the Bitterroot Star.