A launch to remember, making history in Macon

Last week was a dream come true.  It’s rare to say (or write) that, even rarer to mean it. But I do. 

Launching the Macon Melody was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It’s difficult to express how grateful I am for the support, or to explain the myriad of ways our community has embraced what we’re doing. Here’s one anecdote from last week:

I dropped off about 20 newspapers with Patrick and Lauren at Macon Bagels, two friends who very graciously agreed to sell The Melody in their store. Their excitement about the launch was infectious — sometimes, all I see are deadines. It’s important to take a moment to celebrate!

By Saturday morning, all the papers had been sold: a friend texted me that he’d picked up the last one. So I drove by the office, grabbed 30 more and headed downtown. As I walked up the steps, the woman in line in front of me asked the cashier Billy if there were any more papers. They’d just sold out, Billy said. But then I walked up, dropped the papers on the wooden counter, and handed the woman a copy of The Melody. Smiles all around.

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After leaving Macon Bagels, I drove to Rhythm and Rally to cover a weekend pickleball tournament (my story is on Page B1). Hundreds of people packed the indoor facility for the 24-team tourney, including a four-person team made up of my friends Heather, Jon, Derek and Jessica — they earned a bronze medal!

It wasn’t only Maconites there: my story features a four-person team made up of two Texans, one Long Island native and one player from Florida. 

Word is starting to get out that Macon is the Pickleball Capital of the South. Southern Pickleball Association founders Mark Spackman and Paul Midkiff (who taught me how to play) were there too, as was Mayor Lester Miller.

The visiting folks were very complimentary of Macon and “in awe” of our indoor pickleball facility.

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Last Friday, Historic Macon published one of their “This Day in Macon” social media posts. It was particularly special to my newsroom: “This Day in Macon History: the first print edition of a new Macon newspaper.”

Recording history is part of our job, one of the most critical. Algorithms change, websites die, memories are frail. We need a written, published record of what happens in Bibb County. It allows us to hold people in power responsible, to see where we’ve come from, to get a sense of where we’re going.

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I had good reason to consult the written record recently. My Uncle Dale Slinkard, who received a double-lung transplant earlier this year, died on June 22. I am so proud of him for all the hard work he put into getting ready for it, on the rehab and recovery. Uncle Dale fought with tremendous tenacity. 

He taught me what being a uncle meant. If my nephews and niece love me half as much as I loved him, I’ll have done something right.

Uncle Dale was so funny, sarcastic and witty and deadpan. He was an architect — building hotels, homes, houses of worship — a great golf player and a talented poker player. He was a sports fan, particularly football and the San Antonio Spurs, competing in our annual family college football pick-em for decades.

He was a loving husband to my Aunt Brenda and a great stepfather and grandfather to my cousin Garon and his family.

The indelible image of my uncle won’t be the last time I saw him a few weeks ago in the hospital on a ventilator. It’ll be him in sandals, shorts, a button down and aviator sunglasses, reading the newspaper or watching his Spurs, sitting by the pool with a beer and teasing Aunt Brenda, one of his beloved dogs on his lap.

Uncle Dale loved me and my brothers like sons. I could always count on a goofy e-card several times a year, which he loved sending for birthdays and holidays. He was proud of my work with The Macon Melody.

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I spent some time last weekend searching for old newspaper articles about him. There were quite a few from his days at Churchill High School in San Antonio and the University of Texas where he competed on the golf team. And later, advertisements for the homes he designed and my grandfather, James Slinkard, built. 

One clipping stuck out to me. It was from the April 6, 1978 edition of the Omaha World Herald. “Wedding Well Planned” read the subhead in what appears to be a sort of society column. 

The brief clip tells the story of a package my great aunt and uncle Barbara and Bill Foster received containing blueprints which turned out to be an invitation to my Uncle Dale and Aunt Brenda’s wedding. 

“The ceremony and reception were to take place in the home depicted in the drawing,” the column read. “Draftsmen’s lettering indicated where various activites would take place, including the room for ‘dancing and lollygagger,’ the location of the ‘getaway car’ and the area where rice throwers were to congregate.”

I’d never heard that story before. It’s a glimpse into the past that I’d never had unless someone had written it down and printed it in a newspaper. 

I’m grateful they did.

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That perspective is valuable, the look into the past. Ed Grisamore provided two great looks back this week in his columns about the 1994 flood and the origins of a classic story from the Busbee family. Michael Pannell’s retrospective on Bo Ponder, who Macon lost last weekend, is another meaningful glance in the past, at the folks who have made this community into what it is today. 

I’m encouraged by the number of folks who have reached out since we launched to share ideas for stories, columns and photos. Please continue to do so!

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It may seem a little odd to focus on the past so much — The Melody, after all, is brand new. This is the first time in who knows how long that anyone started a general interst community newspaper. Our business model is unique.

But our belief system is somewhat more ancient: that every community deserves to have its story told, in ways big and small. Those small stories, like blueprint wedding invitations, can still make a big difference.

Caleb Slinkard is the managing editor of The Macon Melody. Email him at caleb@maconmelody.com.