I heard an interesting tidbit at a meeting recently. The population of Cook County’s unorganized territory outnumbers the population of the so-called organized communities—Grand Marais and the townships of Lutsen, Tofte and Schroeder. That makes me smile. As regular readers know, I don’t just write Unorganized Territory; I live in unorganized territory.
It’s been awhile since I thought about how I became a newspaper columnist. It truly was serendipitous. I didn’t set out in life to be the editor of a newspaper. I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t go to college to be a journalist. I never even took a creative writing class. But somehow I always found a way to incorporate writing into my duties, no matter the job.
When I moved back to Cook County in 1995, after living around the country and Germany with my dear soldier husband and I saw that the Cook County News-Herald was looking for a correspondent to cover West End town meetings and events, I thought I’d give it a try.
It worked out perfectly, as I had taken a fulltime job at Arrowhead Electric Cooperative in Lutsen, where I was in charge of—what else?— writing content for the cooperative newsletter. I greatly enjoyed getting to know the people of the West End, at Arrowhead and at town meetings.
But as I was freelancing, I coveted the columns of staff writers Vicki Biggs and Adam Moe. I imagined what it would be like to have a column of my own and I toyed with names. My favorite struck me when I received one of our first Cook County tax statements in the mail. There it was, next to our estimated market value. The statement told me that I lived in the unorganized territory of Grand Marais.
That explains a lot, I thought to myself. I not only lived in unorganized territory at that time, I grew up in the same area. I had found an excuse for not being an organized person! No wonder I keep losing my cell phone and forgetting deadlines for paying bills. No wonder I can’t get my junk drawers cleaned out or get my checking account to balance.
I thought Unorganized Territory would be a great name for my imaginary newspaper column. So, four years later, when publishers Hal and Deidre Kettunen offered the opportunity of a lifetime—a job at the Cook County Star—I asked if the job could also include writing a weekly column. They said yes and I will be forever grateful to them for the chance.
However, my journey into unorganized territory had just begun. It is extremely difficult to be orderly as the editor of a small town newspaper. Although there is always that looming weekly deadline, not much else is routine. My quest for structure continued at the Cook County Star, and later, after it was merged with the Cook County News-Herald in 2008, I continued to seek a solution to my scattered ways.
One thing that has remained constant through the years is this column. Unorganized Territory hasn’t helped me overcome my chaotic life, but it helps. It is the one thing I write each week that doesn’t have to be researched. I don’t have to fact-check my unorganized thoughts. I’m allowed a bit of poetic license now and then. I get to sit at the computer and let my thoughts flow until I have something that someone might enjoy reading.
And that is the true blessing of Unorganized Territory. I’m always pleasantly surprised that there are so many people who relate to my musings. I enjoy hearing from others who feel the same way about family, fairy gardens, flags, the First Amendment, flip-flops, or any of the other eclectic topics that have graced this corner of the News-Herald over the years.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to receive that feedback. Apparently there are a lot of us in Unorganized Territory! I never know what I think about something until I read what I’ve written on it.
William Faulkner
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