Scott Underwood: Lots of Herald Bulletin special projects coming soon
Jan. 30—Along with chasing down the most interesting and important news, features and sports stories in Madison County for the print editions of The Herald Bulletin and for around-the-clock updates at heraldbulletin.com, our determined staff has been working on several special projects.
Here's a rundown:
—The Spring issue of Madison magazine was distributed with Friday's newspaper and is available at The Herald Bulletin offices (1133 Jackson St., Anderson) and other local businesses. You can pick up a copy or two for free.
In past years, we've sometimes devoted much of the Spring issue to weddings, but we took a different tact this year, expanding the cover story to include not only weddings, but engagements, birthdays, graduations and other celebrations.
On the cover, many of you will find a familiar face, that of Anderson Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Darla Sallee. We asked Darla to be our cover model not only because she's photogenic but also because her fun-loving personality would show through. And it does!
Inside the magazine, you'll find compelling photos and lots of cool stories about local people doing cool things — like visiting the Grand Canyon, as freelance contributor Julie Campbell did.
—Simultaneous to the production of Madison, we were working on a second magazine, Heritage, which focuses on Black History Month in the Madison County area.
While I wouldn't recommend taking on two magazines at once to other editors at community newspapers, we learned a lot from gathering the content for Heritage. It includes stories about local Black trailblazers, the settlement of Indiana by people of color and the amazing life of actor Bill Walker.
The magazine also highlights two articles by Madison County Historian Stephen T. Jackson, who writes about the history of the underground railroad and relates the tale of Frederick Douglass' brush with death in Pendleton.
Heritage will be distributed with The Herald Bulletin this coming Friday, Feb. 2. It, too, will be available for free at the newspaper offices and other locations around the county.
—Voting in the newspaper's annual Best of Madison County survey concluded Friday, and we're making preparations for a Feb. 24 special section announcing the winners in dozens of categories honoring special people and organizations across our coverage area.
—Also coming up, the Spring issue of our 50+ special tabloid, which will be distributed with The Herald Bulletin on Feb. 21. The continuing series of tabloids publishes twice a year, in the spring and fall, and focuses on lifestyles, finances, family, health care and other topics of concern to the 50+ crowd.
—In late March, we'll publish our Annual Report, looking back at what happened across Madison County area communities in 2023 and also looking ahead to the future. This yearly undertaking culminates in roughly 32 broadsheet pages of content.
—I'll close by noting a project that's particularly interesting to me and, I'm sure, to many of you.
In late March, we'll publish a booklet looking ahead to April 8's total solar eclipse. It will include information about the best way to watch the eclipse (hint: don't look directly at it unless you're wearing special sunglasses) and the history of total eclipses.
This eclipse booklet is a once-in-a-career venture for us, given that total eclipses can be seen from the Madison County area roughly once every several centuries.
I hope you enjoy reading these products. And, as always, don't hesitate to send story ideas to me.
Editor Scott Underwood's column appears Tuesdays. Like him on Facebook. Contact him at scott.underwood@heraldbulletin.com or 640-4845.
