Read, Write, Finch

Author: Heather Finch

  • Who Said a Midlife Crisis Was a Bad Thing?

    Who Said a Midlife Crisis Was a Bad Thing?

    I decided to blow up my life. In reality, I rebuilt it while I was still living in it. A letter arrived in the mail recently addressed in my own handwriting. There is something mildly alarming about seeing your name written by you on an envelope you do not remember sending. Then I opened it.…

  • Long After the Visitors Go Home

    Long After the Visitors Go Home

    This essay reflects my personal views and does not necessarily represent those of any publication I write for. I keep thinking about what happens after the meeting ends. The room clears. Visitors drive home. Reporters close their notebooks, and the township hall grows quiet again. But the people of Saline Township are still here. They…

  • When the Lights Go Out, the Math Gets Personal

    When the Lights Go Out, the Math Gets Personal

    I did not plan to spend part of the Fourth of July weekend hauling branches out of a neighbor’s yard. I also did not plan to lose power for about 48 hours, start mentally ranking the contents of my refrigerator by perishability, or become deeply emotionally attached to the sound of a generator. But there…

  • Public Trust Needs More Than Public Meetings

    Public Trust Needs More Than Public Meetings

    There is a particular kind of frustration I keep hearing in local conversations. People are trying to understand choices that affect their neighborhood, their safety, their taxes, their land, their school or their sense of home. Too often, they feel like they are piecing together the why after the fact, usually from a mix of…

  • The Strange, Lovely Thing About Being Seen

    The Strange, Lovely Thing About Being Seen

    I am going to say something that feels deeply Midwestern and wildly uncomfortable: I won an award. There. I said it. Specifically, I received the Excellence in Creative Expression Award from the English and College Readiness Department at Washtenaw Community College. Even typing that makes me want to add three disclaimers, two self-deprecating jokes and…

  • Copy Editing Manifesto

    Copy Editing Manifesto

    Copy editing is some of the most important work in publishing, and some of the least glamorous. Nobody throws a parade because you caught the wrong date in paragraph seven or fixed a sentence that was one clause away from wandering into traffic. The work is quiet. It is easy to underestimate. And it matters…

  • What Stays in the Notebook

    What Stays in the Notebook

    One of the funny things about journalism is how much never makes it into the story. Not because it is not important. A lot of the time, it is exactly what sticks with me. A finished news story has a job to do. It needs to be clear, fair and focused. It needs to tell…

  • Welcome to Read, Write, Finch

    Welcome to Read, Write, Finch

    Hi, I’m Heather Finch, and welcome to Read, Write, Finch. The name made sense for a few reasons: I love to read, I love to write, and Finch is conveniently already mine. I’m a journalist based in Washtenaw County in southeast Michigan, where I write about local news, community life and the people, places and…