Starting anew

Welcome, Sabrina Hornung and Chris Hennen; a grateful send-off for Diane Miller

We’ve known for several months that HPR editor Diane Miller will be moving to the Twin Cities. We fully expect she’ll soar to new heights in her new environs.

That said, it will be with full hearts as we wrap up Diane’s tenure as editor-in-chief here at the High Plains Reader. She’s done a stellar job to say the least and we love and respect her.

When the inevitable move away from Fargo became apparent, Diane let us know. Her desire was to give us as much notice as possible so as to plan things going forward. That lead time was valuable. We brainstormed and we reached out. We talked with people who could take over the editorial reins of Fargo-Moorhead’s newsweekly. We had time to think, plan and then to act.

Sabrina Hornung will be HPR’s editor beginning with our Sept. 4 edition. Chris Hennen, our primary news writer, will be stepping up his role as assistant editor. As a team, they are already two weeks into their cross-training with Diane. A month from now, they will be prepared.

One of the unwritten skill sets we desire when naming an editor-in-chief is what you could loosely call community engagement. While some media outright limit their staff involvement with their communities, we encourage it. We want our people out and about, participating and even leading. When news people are entrenched in their community activities, they in some ways are closer to its pulse as well.

Granted, HPR’s niche and primary focus is on food, entertainment, music, art and culture. Whereas Diane was a mover and a shaker in the music world, Sabrina will be equally involved with the arts here. Our intention is to keep our music coverage rocking and to step up our game more than ever before in the arts world. Chris will focus on hard news.

Much like Diane who was affiliated with HPR for years before taking over as editor, Sabrina has been on our team for years as well. They both are seasoned leaders, experienced organizers and creative geniuses.

When Diane informed us of her forthcoming move, one of our many reactions was to let her know all of us here in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo fully expect she’ll remember us once she’s famous and hitting new orbits. We will not be surprised when her musical skills especially catapult her a real distance toward fame and success. That she’s moving with her music soul mate and future husband, Tom Johnson, is exciting as well. They make good music together.

We don’t expect, however, to hear Sabrina practicing rap song riffs while working through editorial tasks in our offices here at our historic downtown brownstone. Nor will we be listening to Sabrina working through lyrics to Rage Against the Machine in our otherwise serene working environment. These are just a few of the things we’ll absolutely miss upon Diane’s departure. We’ll also miss her song and dance performances with her mom, Emy, on stage, moments that fill our hearts beyond words.

Yet, Fargo will invite her back, and we expect as much, especially after she hits the charts and goes platinum.

This is neither our final nor sole acknowledgment of the change coming to all of us in the editorial team that you all know so very well. You’ll see this transition unfold naturally and subtly. It will be relatively seamless, but rest assured there is change coming and there will be a new flavor in HPR in the years to come.

In many ways, as the High Plains Reader approaches the beginning of its 22nd year Sept. 10, we’ll be celebrating on many fronts. While acknowledging the wealth of our past and the contributions of so many talented folks over the years, we’ll also be starting anew and setting new, different benchmarks going forward.

Please join us in shaping this transition as best we can.