Smith: Back on the government grind

The last time I covered a government meeting, Uptown Funk was the hottest song in the nation.

March 2015 seems so long ago: shoot, Brandon Ingram was about to help Kinston win its fourth straight state title, the Golden State Warriors weren't hated nearly as much on the way to their first championship and we were roasting the Seattle Seahawks for not running the ball in Super Bowl XLIX a month prior (and still are). I even had dating hopes here. 

Those 40 months surely flew by.

Although it's an adjustment getting back into covering meetings and other community happenings (take a look at my recent neighborhood planning story as an example), weirdly enough it's been fun. For nearly two years (from June 2013 to March 2015), I was trusted by the community to get the information out and the positive messages have been amazing. 

That being said, I'm ready for school to start so I can revert back to my biggest strength: sports.

I understand politics, but refuse to talk about them in public. Both sides have their pros and cons, some use party lines to divide and I’ll leave it at that. My goal was to give an unbiased account of any event to the best of my abilities and let the people decide from there.

Using newfound knowledge of how the city and county is run, I also did my research to pick up on what wasn’t covered — whether it was received well or not, it was honest, which is all anyone can ask for.

The one factor which has me much more enamored toward sports is the answers coming at a much faster rate. When it comes to community issues, we all have input on which direction Kinston, Lenoir County and other local areas need to go, but conversations (and similarly, actions) can go astray with some resolutions needing years or decades to come to an answer, if ever.

With sports, in a few short months I can tell who will be a contender, who underachieved, the stars and ultimately the champions in conference and state.

I will say this: while politics may not be everyone’s cup of Luzianne, take the time to go to some of these meetings. Even if you don’t want to talk, it’s always good to make informed decisions. If you can follow your favorite teams, you can do the same with the individuals who make decisions which could affect your daily life. Analyze and react accordingly.

For now, I’ll try to give the same level of detail the community was used to during my 22 months as a government reporter here to Neuse News when needed. Hopefully, I’m not needed as much with August approaching, but if there are any issues needing coverage, you know who to contact.

For now, I’m going to enjoy this Bruno Mars.