What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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JANUARY 9-15, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 37 A Fond Farewell Jocelyn Murphy looks back on time with NWADG T his time of year, I'm usually looking back at the homegrown moments from the prior 12 months that filled my year with memories and meaning. I started the tradition as a way to begin a new season with a reminder of the abundance of treasures we have here in Northwest Arkansas — a bounty that day-to-day routine can make easy to take for granted. As 2022 approached though, I found myself looking back further to everything that's happened in the past six and a half years because, as of January, my time with the Northwest Arkansas Democrat- Gazette has come to an end. Knowing that I'm not heading too far from where I found all those wonderful experiences makes the departure feel less like a farewell and more like a "see ya around!" The Features department at the NWADG was the first to take a chance on me after graduating college. Less than a month after receiving my diploma, I walked into the former Springdale office to staff the welcome desk in the mornings and write Features stories in the afternoons. When an opportunity to move to reporting full time came open, I made the jump and co-piloted the Features department and What's Up! through building moves, switching publication days, staff changes, company transitions, community growth, major milestones and everything in between. It was 6.5 years of my life; just shy of 1,000 stories — not including the roughly 320 music calendars and roundups I put together. I saw my 20s out at this job. I learned how to talk to a lot of different people about a lot of different things, and then write about it in a way that hopefully others would find it interesting, too. A few of the moments that most shaped my time here have included Art Garfunkel telling me we "have rapport"; speaking with Geena Davis over Zoom about her work with the Bentonville Film Festival and her career; an internationally touring trumpet playing saying ours was the best interview he'd ever done; hearing Jay Leno do an impression of his Scottish mother over the phone while we talk about cars and TV and having hope; attending, and discussing with the artists who brought them to life, more than two dozen Broadway performances; and watching folks who love Northwest Arkansas work each day to make it just a little bit better. I waded into a protective cage to be lowered into an exhibition full of dozens of reef fish, Goliath grouper, barracudas and sharks. I met and attended two enchanting, completely one-of-a-kind performances with perhaps the world's most charming Scottish mentalist/ illusionist. I rode a mountain bike for the very first time to tour a new trail system in Rogers before it opened to the public. I climbed more than 80 feet into the air to walk across the catwalk above Baum Walker Hall in the Walton Arts Center. I've looked back on careers and triumphs with legendary musicians and artists. I've had my worldview challenged and expanded more than once by brilliant curators and creators. I've discussed ambitions and visions for the future with those who have made the arts, comedy, fashion, music, biking and culinary scenes in our corner of the state what they are today. I am proud to have told the stories of those leaving their mark on Northwest Arkansas, and to have played perhaps a small part in celebrating who we are. I'm grateful to each person who shared a piece of themselves with me, entrusting me to get it right. I'm walking away from this job with a great many more friends than I had seven years ago and with the knowledge that wherever my road takes me, the foundation I built at the local newspaper actualized a greater confidence in my abilities than I could have anticipated as a new grad. Thank you for taking this journey with me. LISTEN HERE! Jocelyn Murphy jmurphy@nwadg.com Among Jocelyn Murphy's highlights in her time with the NWADG are the many adventures she found in our own backyard, as well as all the interesting, creative, funny, passionate folks she met along the way. (Courtesy & File Photos) LISTEN HERE!