I am very excited to have an opportunity to be a freelance writer for the Southern Standard. I wanted to take this moment to introduce myself to the readership.

I grew up as a teenager in Warren County, was involved in the Warren County Senior High School band program and graduated proudly with the class of 1992.  I left McMinnville pretty quickly after graduation to attend Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro with the major of print journalism and minored in English and political science.  During my time at MTSU, I wrote for a short time for the college newspaper, Sidelines, as an entertainment reporter.  Journalism has always played a role throughout my life, and I always aspired to write in some form or capacity.  It’s a great pleasure to be able to perform this service to the great people of Warren County.

One of the issues that is close to my heart is elder care, especially relating to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Both my parents were struck with dementia, and both my brother and I had to take care of them until the end of their lives. My father, who worked many years at Carrier, was a proud 22-year veteran of the United States Navy. Veterans are very important to me, and I made a promise to my father that I would take care of veterans whenever I had a chance to.  

This is a bittersweet homecoming of sorts for me, because after living in different cities throughout my adult life like St. Louis, Atlanta and Brunswick, Ga., moving back to Middle Tennessee is both wonderful and painful for me. I love the people of Warren County.  They are kind, compassionate, generous, and friendly. I felt their warm embrace the day I moved here with my dad in 1989. The landscape of this region is gorgeous. The rolling hills, the lakes, the waterfalls, the greens, pinks and purples are awe-inspiring. It is my opinion that the Warren County Farmers Market is unmatched by any other in the world. The vegetables and pastries such as the mouth-watering pies, cakes and cookies of various flavors and variations are found throughout the market. I’ve seen a lot of farmers markets around the world, and I can safely say the market here is the best I’ve seen. 

But when I visit my parents now it’s at a cemetery in Smartt.  My parents passed away in 2019 and 2020, and though I miss them tremendously, I’m glad their final resting spot is here in Warren County. 

I want to do right by the people of Warren County and the region. Newspaper and journalism help foster a more informed society by providing citizens with access to accurate and reliable information about important issues. My main goal is to inform from where there was darkness. This helps to promote critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making. This helps everyone make better choices and a stronger society.  

Standard contributor Simone DeLong can be contacted at simone.delong@gmail.com