See You On Sabbatical

I’m taking a sabbatical. I’m taking an adult gap year. I’m taking a leave of absence from my job. I’m giving up my good, wage-paying job to do nothing, to do everything I want and can afford for at least the next six months, but hopefully a full year.

I’m going on an adventure.

I’ve been saying some version of all of this over and over throughout the last month since I’ve decided to step away from being a full-time journalist to be a full-time, quasi-vagabond.

I’m not taking time off specifically to travel, though I will be doing some traveling. I don’t have a new job lined up, though I am looking for a new career path. (Shoot me a message if you have any ideas.)

And no. Paul Bass didn’t fire me or force me out. This was all my idea. Instead, Paul refused to clip my wings. He’s the best boss I’ve ever had and totally my co-conspirator in the adventure on which I’ve decided to embark.

For some time now, I’ve been feeling myself withdraw from the excitement of journalism. While I still enjoy telling stories — and it has been a real pleasure to tell the stories of the Elm City the last nearly five years — I don’t enjoy newsgathering much anymore. I’ve had great fun running around this town writing about the exciting developments that have happened from inception to completion all in the span of my tenure here. I know more people than I would have known if I hadn’t had the opportunity to tell their stories. (Read some of my favorite stories here, here and here.)

And I’ve eaten all the things in the name of good, local journalism. But truth is, I’m exhausted and full. I’ve had enough.

Working at the New Haven Independent is the culmination of a desire that I’ve had since I fell in love with journalism as a young co-ed at Johnson C. Smith University and continued when I was a Knight Fellow in Community Journalism at the University of Alabama. Being a community journalist is exactly what I wanted to be. And that’s what I became. And I got to chase stories with some of the best practitioners in the business. Mission accomplished.

But now, at almost 40, I want to do something different, even if I’m not quite certain what different looks like. It’s time for a new career mission, a new adventure.

So what will I be doing in the next six months to a year?

For the first time since the summer of 1997, I’m taking the summer off. I’m not working, not thinking about working … OK, honestly, I’ll be thinking about it a little. But I’m not committing to the act of trading my precious time for money for at least the next six months.

I’m staying in the Elm City. New Haven is home and unless a really great opportunity comes along that requires me to move, my goal is to stay here. When I’m in town, I’ll likely still find time to opine on the news of the week with the world’s best talking heads on WNHH’s Pundit Fridays.

I’m (finally) starting a podcast with my friends. We’ve been talking about it since we spent a hilarious week on Martha’s Vineyard yelling, ​“This would make a great podcast!” So be on the lookout for details about ​“Ma’am, WHAT?!” soon.

I’m going to learn to swim. I would be pissed at myself for drowning when I could learn to swim. I’ll have the time. I have the means and access. I’m doing this.

I aim to see more of the world including these United States. I’ve been to South Africa but not California. I’m going to fix that. I might even get back to blogging, the road that actually led me here.

I’m going to read a lot more books, so look for me among the stacks of our libraries and bookstores. And finally, I’m going to have more deep conversations with people. About their lives, how they’re navigating change. What they’re working on and whether they might need some help. And I probably won’t write about any of it.

So invite me to coffee, or meet me at Ordinary for a beer. I’ll be around. Don’t be a stranger.

Signing off,

Markeshia Ricks
Recovering community journalist