This is extremely hard to write, but here I go. I've decided to step down as the editor of The Dentonite, effective immediately. The reasoning is fairly complicated, but fact is this gig is a lot of work (& time & money & sanity lost) for no money and although I am passionate about the work that I do for this website and this town, I am burnt out. I have a full-time day job. I don’t sleep. I need a change. Pretty sure I've aged ten years in the last 18 months. 

That said, The Dentonite will continue on, just under a different editor. I think it'd be extremely selfish of me to peace out and shut everything down. As he transitions into his new role as editor, I have full faith that Mateo Granados will do an outstanding job. I will remain the “owner” or whatever word suits it best and will be available to advise the staff when needed. We will have a couple of integral roles open (all intern-able) that will be public later this week. It ain't dying, folks. Not that easily.

In the next few weeks, I will be working on getting three annual events that I organize in the hands of interested folks. (DAM Awards, Planned Parenthood Benefit, Help-Portrait: Denton). This is Help-Portrait's 5TH YEAR IN DENTON! And this will probably be the last year I help out with the event. Mateo + crew will cover DAM Awards and I am sure someone from our planning group will want to oversee the Planned Parenthood benefit show.

The week before last, I resigned from the Greater Denton Arts Council's board. I strongly value the lesson's I've learned having volunteered for a board that I wanted so badly to be apart of these last thirteen years. I strongly support their mission, and like any project I am or have been apart of, I hope they strive for intersectionality in the future.

I will continue to write for the Dentonite, Denton Record-Chronicle, and Eater for as long as they’ll have me. Maybe somewhere else in the future, too. Who knows.

I've lived here for the last 13 years, I love this town. However, I am ready to make my peace and move on. I've left two times before, both ending with me moving back less than a year later. I am confident that this time it’ll stick. As much as I love this town as a whole, I am having a hard time determining if I actually like being here right now or if it's the convenience, the complacency that keeps me here. Good jobs are hard to come by in this town for people my age, and although I have an incredible job based out of Lewisville (that I'm not quitting), I feel like I am hitting a ceiling here in Denton. I think I've maxed out my growth potential here and stagnation is not an option in my journey. (Mind you, this is how *I* personally feel. This is not a dig at this town. It's doing the best it can, leave it alone.) 

To put a cherry on top of this incredibly depressing cupcake, my father's health is declining on a day-to-day and that is proving to be pretty difficult for me to emotionally handle. He will be in Houston tomorrow for a blood transfusion. The cancer spread to his bones, his spine. They are afraid it may be in his brain as well. I will likely be moving back to Lufkin after dad passes (not to sound morbid) and help my mom who will be raising two boys by herself, 6 & 7 years old. I do not plan on staying in Lufkin indefinitely, but maybe for a year or so before I decide to reroot myself somewhere farther away, maybe somewhere in West Texas. 

I am incredibly behind in sharing articles I've written on this blog, but I will get around to updating it. I hope that I will soon be able to write more for myself as well as spend more time focusing on what I need to do to prepare myself for the future.