As creator of Good Day, Chattanooga!, a daily newsletter dedicated to happy stories, I worried the coronavirus crisis would make it impossible for me to do my job. Weeks ago, I remember joking about it with another reporter.
"Feel sorry for me!" I had told him, hunched over my laptop, ready to slog through the storm of endlessly depressing news.
So imagine my surprise over recent weeks as I've had an easier time finding content for Good Day than I sometimes did before the outbreak. Every morning, I scan our site and see glimmers of light, headlines that reflect our resiliency.
Deputies, for example, are delivering groceries to the eldery. Distilleries are mixing up hand sanitizer for those in need. Schools are providing meal delivery services to students. And communities are organizing to help sew face masks for under-supplied hospitals.
Perhaps I won't go as far to call these stories "happy," but I will call them hopeful. And amid so much uncertainty – so much depressing news – hope is everything.
Reach me at smontgomery@timesfreepress.com or 859-327-1328.
- Sunny Montgomery, writer and editor for Good Day, Chattanooga! and Chatter and Get Out magazines