Melissa L. Jones likes to end things on a positive note, and she did so in print on June 6, but her inner thoughts were a little more somber as she wrapped up 18 years of writing the Tech Spotlight column for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Jones had written the weekly column, reviewing computers, phones and gadgets for the business section, since 1998. She wrote as a freelancer, and was a special sections advertising manager for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette until April, when she left for a different job. “I intended to keep writing the column,” she said, but it wasn’t to be.
Jones hopes to write Tech Spotlight for another publication, and is searching for opportunities. “I hated to see it discontinued. My goal was to approach tech from a layman’s viewpoint and to translate tech talk into English,” she said.
The column’s end came as the Democrat-Gazette was cutting other freelance work, sources tell Outtakes.
“It was a surprise to me,” Jones said. “I got an email from my editor telling me to write my last column and to mention in it that it would be the last.”
So she did so on short notice, thanking her readers for all the years of comments, thoughts and questions.
“I’ve appreciated all of it,” she wrote. “Take care, and stay tech savvy.”
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