The year 2020 just could not leave quietly; it had to get in one last parting shot.
If you picked up a copy of the Dec. 31 edition of The Graham Star, first of all, thank you. Secondly, no; the 2021 Business Card Directory was not inside, despite the promotion being plastered across the top of the front page.
What happened, you ask? Rather than bore you with a lengthy play-by-play analysis, summarizing will do: through a series of miscommunications, the directory did not make it to our press plant in time for insertion. Though every editor’s dream of yelling “stop the presses!” literally laid in my hands at one point in the scramble, alas, the difficult decision to print without the special brochure had to be made.
And, no, the irony of miscommunication within a communication product is not lost in translation. Or transit. Pick your pun.
Fingers crossed, the business directory can be found within these pages. And though this column has attempted to put a lighthearted spin on what turned into a major headache last week, we do sincerely apologize to our readers and, more importantly, the advertisers that purchased space and were promised inclusion in our 2020 finale.
Yes, human error happens, but we strive to deliver what we tout, and as the mess was being sorted out, it was hard to ignore the fact that it happened in a year unlike any other in history. Just when we thought it was safe to put 2020 in the rearview mirror, it kicked us in the butt one last time.
Here’s to 2021, right?
“You can’t get out backward. You’ve got to go forward to go back, better press on” – Gene Wilder, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1961.
Kevin Hensley is the publisher/editor of The Graham Star. He can be reached via phone, 479-3383; email, editor@grahamstar.com; and on Twitter @KevinHensleyCNI.