Thanks for everything
Jaquie Brown signs off
We've covered a lot of ground, haven't we? I've talked about my struggles as a parent raising a 2-yearold and a 5-year-old, iPads, marriage, money, guilt – the things a lot of us think about.
John Key and I have more in common now than I thought. I’m leaving this back page. I’m passing the baton to someone new, so this is my last column for the Sunday Star Times.
Disappointingly, I wasn’t fired and I’m not leaving under any hidden scandal. I’m quite boring I’m afraid.
Simply, it’s just that I’ve occupied this space for over a year now, and I think in the interest of publishing a range of points-of-view, it’s the right time for me to step aside and let a new voice come through. (Plus, I keep getting cramp in my hand).
It’s been a great privilege writing each week and I owe Star-Times editor Jonathan Milne a debt of gratitude for letting me write whatever I wanted. He’s great editor and I’ve learned a lot from him, and either he trusted me or was too busy with more important columnists. But either way, having that freedom is very rare. It’s allowed me to explore ideas, work out my thoughts and on a few occasions almost treat the column like a confessional therapy session.
We’ve covered a lot of ground, haven’t we? I’ve talked about my struggles as a parent raising a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, iPads, marriage, money, guilt – the things a lot of us think about.
I shared my grief with you when my sister-in-law Michelle died in May this year and have never had so many emails on the subject. I wish I could have replied to them all.
This has to be the greatest thing I’ll take away from this experience and that is the connection to you through what I’ve written. If you’ve enjoyed it you shared it, if you didn’t you told me and if it moved you, you’d email me. Thank you.
I won’t be gone from the StarTimes for good. I’ll be back at some stage with some longer interviews with people I think you should know about. In the meantime, we’ll wait to see who takes my place on this page. Oh, exciting. Who is it?! We will know in the new year.
But until then, have a great summer and thank you for taking the time to read my columns each week.