Staff profile: Meet Jennie Geisler of the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com
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Meet Jennie Geisler
Hello. Thanks for reading this. I'm about 27 years into a career that most of the time asks you to leave your "self" at the door, so this feels a little funny. But here goes.
I was born in Manchester, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, when my father was an assistant principal at a school in Barberton, Ohio, which was another suburb of Akron. Mom was an English teacher in Copley, Ohio.
Sometime in 1971, Mom went to the doctor thinking she had a hernia. Instead she had me.
When I was 5, we moved to Madison, Ohio, a small community about halfway between Erie and Cleveland. Mom went back to work as an English teacher when I was 7 and my brother, Matt, was 5. I graduated from Perry High School — where my father was principal — and attended Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
I did brief stints as an associate editor at a trade magazine firm, and editor of a weekly newspaper, which is where I met my husband, John Arthur Hutchison. We've been married 20 years and have a sports-addicted 16-year-old son, J.R. Hutchison. We live in Conneaut, Ohio. Mostly, I've worked at the Erie Times-News, while John has worked his way around Lake County, Ohio, most recently as a grant writer for a homeless shelter and freelance writer.
Mostly, I write features and a column about area restaurants and food and entertainment, as well as any hard news that comes out of those subjects. But it can run the gamut.
Recent story: The Erie restaurant scene exploded in 2021. If you've been away, here's what you missed
Why I became a journalist
When I was in fifth grade, we had a "newspaper" for the elementary school and I was the editor, probably because I was the bossiest. When I was in sixth grade, I started keeping a journal in a notebook that my dad had brought home from a business trip. Since then, I think, I've written something nearly every day. When I was growing up, I remember thinking I wanted my words to sound "normal," which I think meant with easy flow and details galore and with a love and respect for the language.
I knew then that no matter what happened, I was going to be a writer. But that sounds scary to parents, so I cast about for something more practical to call it. I discovered that telling other people's stories — the heart of journalism — was both more intriguing and less physically taxing than chopping wood to heat a one-room cabin at the edge of a pond like Henry David Thoreau. Which is not to compare myself in any way to Thoreau, for goodness sake. I wanted to be a reporter. I didn't allow myself to call myself a "journalist" until I graduated. Now I usually just say "writer."
What I like best about my job
Everyone has a story, and I've found if you sit with them long enough and ask enough questions, they'll tell it to you, even if they didn't think they wanted to at first. When we finally connect, there's a rush I can't get anywhere else. In a way I fall a little bit in love with everyone I write about.
A story I worked on that has had a lasting impact on me
Swinging Door column: Millcreek Township pizzeria owner selling business, will train new owner; 2 new franchises on the way
I've been lucky enough to have spent most of my career on the lifestyles team at the Times-News, where I have the freedom to pull on a multitude of threads just to see what would unravel. As a small-town girl who grew up pretty sheltered in a very white-bread community, the stories I've written about Erie's diverse cultures have changed me the most. I know a lot of people who can count elementary school pals as lifelong friends, and that's great, but I also want to jump up and down and yell and scream about the things they don't see every day — from either side of State Street in Erie. I don't have a specific story in mind, but a feeling that there is so much changing and blossoming in our community today, I'm thrilled to have a front-row seat and a voice that might help bring it more closely together.
What is the biggest challenge I face?
I have many more story ideas than I have time to explore. Making the decision to leave any story untold is difficult.
What do I like to do when I'm not working?
My first love: Thanksgiving dishes that belong on every table. Four of Jennie Geisler's favorite recipes
I love to cook almost as much as I love to write. Due to the fact that I wrote a weekly column about cooking for 17 years, food and words are hopelessly entwined for me. I love everything about the process:
Finding the recipe (I usually like to start with one, and then ignore it).
Grocery shopping is like a treasure hunt.
I consider chopping and prepping to be meditative.
Building layers of flavor in a saute pan is as much a creative outlet for me as writing.
I also love to read. My tastes are hopelessly eclectic, making no sense at all. I'm currently reading the third in a series of trashy novels I won't even name, as well as the autobiography of Satchel Paige and a plain old chick-lit novel, set in a kitchen. Go figure.
I also love to bake, which I consider completely different from cooking, and more like worship than work.
Oh, and I walk every day. This one is kind of new for me — about six months — but a day without a walk for me now makes me feel a little sad. My husband — who is more of a runner — often walks with me and, as a working mother, I cherish that time together.
Favorite event or Erie-area tradition
My biggest story of 2021: 'Ghost kitchens' no apparition; virtual restaurants hide in plain sight in Erie
I don't know if it's an event or a tradition, but Erie has a rich, wonderful collection of restaurants and lounges, both new and classic. I love all the local breweries, distilleries and wineries, and lately, as the population changes due to immigration, there are always new other-worldly places and dishes to try, as well as old places to relish. In fact, I should have said earlier that the only thing I love more than cooking is going out for a meal. Any meal, anywhere. If it weren't so presumptuous to say, I'd describe myself as the Anthony Bourdain of Erie. But I can't even.
Why journalism matters
Recent non-food story: 'Quiet' minister leaves a thunderous legacy of service, kindness — and a simple message
Complain all you like about the "media," a word I've grown to hate, but our society cannot live without it. Maybe if somehow we each could keep tabs on all the government ourselves, or find beauty in our neighbors and neighborhoods face-to-face, or find another source for trick-or-treat times, the fact is we're social beings. We want to connect. We want to know what's going on with the people around us. Those stories are like water. No matter the medium — paper, digital, TV, word of mouth — those stories will always find and join a stream that eventually leads to an ocean. Those streams are fed by journalism.
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Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Follow her on Twitter @ETNgeisler.
Meet more of the Erie Times-News staff
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Staff profile: Meet Jennie Geisler of the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com
