Coming Home: A New Season for OJH
Our Jackson Home began in 2014. That same year, I finally graduated college after changing my major from Journalism to Graphic Design and I took a job as a barista downtown. Everything was new and my head was full of dreams and fears that made every moment and conversation feel important.
I grew up in the suburbs of Nashville, so deciding to stay here was never a natural choice, but there were beginnings of so many things I was drawn to. Among those, I was branding and working for the new shop Alba Coffee, and selling paper goods at pop-up shops coordinated by Lisa Garner of Garner Blue, who was also part of this this new coworking space opening called theCO. Maybe I could grow here.
As a former journalism major who could never really let go, I was intrigued when I heard about a podcast called Our Jackson Home that Luke Pruett and Jim Wilhelm had started. Behind the counter at Alba, I told Luke I had some friends who would like to be involved: photographers, writers, and designers who wanted to see something beautiful and meaningful made here in Jackson. Soon enough, I’d jumped out from behind the counter for a spontaneous team photo that would be in the newspaper.
A Tale of Two Editors.
Around the same time, my dear friend Katie Howerton was beginning her Senior Show, the final project for art majors at Union. Her dream to start a travel magazine aligned perfectly with the momentum Our Jackson Home was building. A few months later, Katie had pulled together a beautiful collection of stories into this magazine. The rest is history.
Katie told that story here, but I can’t go on without taking a moment to honor what she has built as she moves to a new adventure of her own. Sitting at the finale of Porchfest this year, I thought back to when Our Jackson Home was just an idea, but is now something that hundreds of people can experience and enjoy. I think that what she built probably looked effortless from the outside, but doing something that no one’s ever done in an unlikely place requires a tremendous amount of determination and an imagination that can withstand the times when no one else understands what you’re building.
In her tenure, Katie designed and edited 15 issues of the Journal, published nearly 500 pieces of content featuring 130 different contributors (viewed by over 100,000 unique visitors to the site), visited over 150 restaurants, and introduced Jackson to a new beloved tradition, Porchfest and 731 Day. All of these stats are possible only because at the same time, she meticulously catalogued every step of the way in some of the most impressive Google docs I’ve ever seen.
I will always know that anything I am able to do with Our Jackson Home is built on the shoulders of what Katie poured every last bit of herself in to, along with the volunteers who continue to contribute their talents and time to telling the stories of their neighbors, and the support of theCO.
Coming home.
There is a part of me that wants to say that I never imagined I would be in this role, but as I settle into my first week, it feels more like a homecoming than a dramatic new beginning.
The last few months there have been three images hanging above my desk at home, which was built by my grandfather. The first image is a photo from my late great-uncle Jay Searcy, who along with his brother and my grandfather Charles, was a journalist. In the photo, a parachute hangs from a tree, onlookers gathered at the scene. Jay went skydiving because he needed something for his weekly column, and after a malfunction he ended up hanging in a tree in the front yard of a local woman, who thought maybe this was the young man she’d been praying to come her way. Anything for a story.
The second is an illustration by our neighbor Brad Montague in Henderson, and says “Dare to dream, but please also do. For the dreamers are many but doers are few,” and the third is an illustration of a hot air balloon in flight, given to me by friend and contributor Cari Griffith.
The last several months they have been icons to me, reminding me in the middle of a season that felt stagnant and unclear to keep dreaming and doing, to be unafraid when it comes time to cut the sandbags anchoring me down or to take a leap in pursuit of what matters to me.
I am honored to be given this opportunity to lead Our Jackson Home into a new season, continuing to build this organization into one that provides a space for all of our neighbors to tell their story and connect with each other and their city.
May we all find a place to grow here.
Courtney Searcy is the Program Director of Our Jackson Home at theCO. Jackson became home after she graduated from Union University in 2014, where she studied Graphic Design and Journalism. She thinks the best things in life are porch swings, brunch, art, music, and friends to share it all with.
