Settling in at Heritage Newspapers

Greetings to all.

I couldn't be happier to have found a home at Heritage Newspapers, writing for both The Saline Reporter and The Milan News-Leader. It's been a pleasure getting to know my new colleagues.

I've lived in Washtenaw County for ten years now, and grew up in Wayne County in a suburb of Detroit.

I bounced back and forth between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor while attending undergraduate and graduate school at Eastern Michigan University, and have now settled in with my wife and pug in Northeast Ann Arbor.

I absolutely love the cultural gems spread so liberally throughout this community. Museums, parks, bookstores, bars, great grocery stores, theaters and many other organizations and entities make this an unrivaled place to call home.

My interests outside of work reside primarily within the humanities. I'm a life-long student of history, always striving to better contextualize my surroundings and define how it is we have collectively come to be.

My graduate research is in literature, and I've developed a fondness for American fictional writing from the realist phase through early modernism. Jim Harrison is my favorite regional author.

I spent some time commuting between Hillsdale and Ann Arbor, a huge daily drive, while I worked as a staff writer for The Hillsdale Daily News. Now that I'm back in Washtenaw County, I look forward to meeting many of you.

Just one more thing......

I'm considering beginning a series of stories concerning the founding families of Saline and Milan. If you can trace your lineage back that far, or know someone who can, I'd like to hear from you. As always, pictures and relics from this foundational era are great as well.

Best regards.

Steven Howard

showard@heritage.com

734-429-7380