Don’t worry, get happy with the Ink

By Manor Ink Staff

Livingston Manor, NY – Four years ago this past summer, at one of Manor Ink’s weekly newsroom meetings – in this case, one held outside around a picnic table at Upward Brewing in town – many of the paper’s young staffers were looking somewhat glum. When asked why the long faces, the kids were clear. “This journalism business is a lot of work! It’s like a job,” they opined. “We never have any fun!”

Quite so. Reporting the news is work – often hard work. But management heard their plaint, and it was decided something should be done. Because local schools take a long break over the December holidays, Manor Ink had never published a January issue. This omission had long rankled one adult member of the production team, and he had a bright idea.

Why not print an abbreviated issue each January, consisting solely of articles the junior staff wished to write? On whatever was of interest to them? Video games? Of course! The latest pop hits? No duh! A fantasy to-the-death cage match between extreme fighters? Uh ... OK. (Yes, that epic tale was in our first January issue.) Because those sorts of stories usually could be found in the “Inkwell of Happiness” pages in our regular issues, we decided to call our January paper the “Happiness” edition.

So here it is for 2025, replete with fun stories, reviews, personal observations and even a little hard news. All chosen by our scribes, based on their thoughts and interests. We can think of no better way to usher in the New Year, and we hope you’ll agree!