David Martin – Reporter

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

“It’s not a good idea to run away from something just because things get hard.” – Frank Millar, my University of Wyoming faculty advisor.

How many cups of coffee, tea, or beverage-of-choice do you have each morning?

It really depends. Some mornings I can make it without caffeine. Other mornings I need two or three cups of something just to function. The mornings I’m firmly on the struggle bus are often after covering evening city council or school board meetings.

How would you spend your days if you had unlimited time and resources?

I would travel. There’s so much to see and so little time to explore the world with.

My favorite word in the English language is…

Donnybrook (noun)

1: free-for-all, brawl

2: a usually public quarrel or dispute

(source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

It is my life’s mission to find a way to use this word in an article.

What ice cream flavor sums up my personality?

Ben and Jerry’s Marshmallow Sky. I daydream a lot.

When you aren’t at work, what are your passions/hobbies?

I’ve been learning to make better meals and have taken an interest in Chinese cooking in particular. I can make a mapo tofu dish that is, as the kids say, fire. I play video games in my free time too. I enjoy some modern games, but my favorites are older arcade games from the 80s and 90s.

What’s the most inspiring part of your job?

I’ve focused more on local government than anything else professionally and there have been times where issues I’ve written about have gotten attention that led to change. Issues where an elected official using their budget to hire family to make greeting cards for their employees or a special district board using public funds to send gift cards to people within the district don’t happen every day thankfully, but knowing action was taken after I highlighted those issues and others is something that inspires me to keep doing this.

What’s your favorite quote?

“What we want, and what we shall have, is the royal American privilege of living and dying in a country town, running a country newspaper, saying what we please when we please, how we please and to whom we please.” — William Allen White

James Riter – Community Reporter

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.

How many cups of coffee, tea, or beverage-of-choice do you have each morning?

I need at least two sources of caffeine throughout the day. Whether it’s coffee or redbull, I need my daily fix or I’ll crash out.

How would you spend your days if you had unlimited time and resources?

I wouldn’t ever stop visiting new places. I would visit all the national parks first, then every state, then every country.

My favorite word in the English language is…

Pontificating

What ice cream flavor sums up my personality?

I don’t actually like ice cream, which is pretty boring, so I would say vanilla because it’s so plain.

When you aren’t at work, what are your passions/hobbies?

During the summer my hobbies are playing golf and fishing. I just started playing golf and I’m already looking forward to when the course opens up next year. During winter time, I hibernate and play video games, watch movies, and read books.

What’s the most inspiring part of your job?

Showcasing community events. It’s really easy to only pay attention to what’s happening in Washington D.C., I think a lot of people don’t know what’s going on locally. By showcasing what’s happening locally, I hope it brings the community together.

What’s your favorite quote?

“You can’t fool me, I listen to public radio,” Squidward Tentacles.

Stephanie Peterson – Photographer/Design

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

Trust God even when nothing makes sense.

How many cups of coffee, tea, or beverage-of-choice do you have each morning?
Honestly… way too many. I’m running on about five caffeinated drinks most mornings. 

How would you spend your days if you had unlimited time and resources?
I’d be somewhere warm, spend my days with my dogs and Brandon, read as many books as I want, and not feel guilty about ignoring the rest of the world.

My favorite word in the English language is…
“Anyway.” It’s the perfect reset button for life. Chaos? Anyway. Drama? Anyway. It works every time.

What ice cream flavor sums up my personality?
Chocolate. It’s classic, dependable, and hits the spot every time. Plus, it doesn’t need to be overly fancy to be good, kind of like me.

When you aren’t at work, what are your passions/hobbies?
Photography and reading. Both let me escape in different ways!

What’s the most inspiring part of your job?
Capturing photos that genuinely make people happy. There’s something special about helping people capture their memories.

What’s your favorite quote?
“Do it anyway.” The Mother Teresa line about how it was never between you and them anyway. I remind myself of it a lot.

Jayson Klepper – Sports Director

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is…

Everything in moderation, including moderation. Sometimes you need to treat yourself or someone else to something good.

How many cups of coffee, tea, or beverage-of-choice do you have each morning?

Honestly I have too much energy as it is so I don’t rely on any caffeine in the morning usually. If anything I’ll have a zero-sugar soda around noon.

How would you spend your days if you had unlimited time and resources?

I’d probably travel. If I had unlimited resources I assume that means infinite cash so I’d probably buy my family whatever they wanted and make sure they are all good and set some aside for my niece so she can go to whatever school she wants. I’m pretty minimalist, I got my gaming system haha so I’m all good.

My favorite word in the English language is…

Geez I don’t really know. I say a lot of dumb stuff, haha, but I think my favorite word stems from my favorite part of my life: being born and raised in Wyoming, so I’d probably say my favorite word is home.

What ice cream flavor sums up my personality?

Well my favorite is Mint, but I am a person who likes familiar things that are different, for example, a rock cover of a pop song, or a trick play in football when a lineman catches a screen pass and the wideouts block for him. So with that in mind, I’d say mint mouse tracks (it exists).

When you aren’t at work, what are your passions/hobbies?

I really love sports and thats why I think I love my job so much. Every Sunday I go hang out with my family and watch the Sunday night game, or if it is basketball season we watch that. Just whatever is on. I like to go to the movies with my cousin as often as we can. We are pretty close and used to work together and he still seems to like me haha. I’m definitely a gamer too, tons of Madden, Battlefield, 2k, and any stealth game. Red Dead Redemption 2 is my favorite game.

What’s the most inspiring part of your job?

Seeing the kids go on to college and continue their sporting careers. If it wasn’t for them I technically wouldn’t have a job. So seeing them succeed gives me all the fuel I need to write 17 articles in a week if need be.

What’s your favorite quote?

I have two, the first one is “death can have me when it earns me.” It’s from the game God of War. I just think if you worry about when you die or death itself, you never live. You have to be outgoing and sometimes dangerous in life to really live it to the fullest.

My second one is from the movie Whiplash. “There are no two words in the English language more harmful than ‘good job’.” This quote stuck with me through high school, being a band student. My friends and I all loved the movie and at the time thought it was wild and over the top. But this quote has so much meaning. It’s not stating that saying good job is necessarily a bad thing. What it is saying is if you do something and someone just says, “Oh you did a good job,” you will never grow. Even if it was a good job, I want to know what I need to do next time to make it great. Practice doesn’t make perfect, it’s perfect practice that makes perfect.