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Sadly, I don’t post to this site much anymore. My dreams for it have been on the side burner, like so many things that come and go in a lifetime. Back in Spring 2006, when I was finishing up my Master’s in Journalism at USC, I so wanted this site to become a thriving source of unbiased news for Sierra Madre. Then, journalism school ended and I returned to a work-a-day schedule. Being a mom and a wife with a full time job doesn’t leave too much time for reporting and blogging on the side.

Today, I was suddenly reminded of those early days publishing on this website, when a kind-hearted Sierra Madre local stopped me downtown to tell me that my friend Jim Snider passed away this past weekend.

I first met Jim when he contacted me and asked whether he could contribute some editorial cartoons to my site. I enthusiastically responded yes, that I’d love to have submissions. I told him that I was running inSierraMadre.com on a shoestring, literally on a grad student’s budget, and that I couldn’t pay him. Jim said he didn’t mind.

He contributed two cartoons to the site at a time when it was being carefully watched by my mentor and professor. (I started the site for one of the capstone courses in my grad program.) I really think that Jim’s cartoons were one of the elements that made the site stand out as something special to the person who was evaluating my work. My mentor was specifically looking for reader interaction with my site, and Jim’s unsolicited submissions fit the bill exactly.

Now, if you Google Jim’s name and search for images, one of his inSierraMadre.com cartoons comes up first. This makes me pleased and proud; I like to think that these two cartoons are a great way for Jim to be remembered.

But, maybe Jim would rather be remembered for his own website, the Sierra Madre Cumquat. Like many other Sierra Madreans, my husband and I enjoyed the early days of the Cumquat. Jim could be irreverent and pretty funny.

In my limited contact with Jim, I only knew him to be sweet, funny and sensitive, both in person and in our e-mail exchanges. Besides encouraging me to keep going with inSierraMadre.com, Jim was also a big fan of my husband’s writing and cartoons and offered many positive words about his work.

I do realize, of course, that Jim had another side — I heard things and read his later posts on the Cumquat and sensed that he had some troubles, to say the least. It seemed to me that being in the spotlight in Sierra Madre was bringing out a darker, unpleasant side to Jim’s personality. What a shame.

In spite of Jim’s complicated nature, what I’ll remember best about him was the afternoons I’d run into him when he was drawing outside of our city’s cafes. I will always be grateful to him for his encouragement and his cartoon submissions, just when I most needed them.

Goodbye Jim. We’ll miss you, funny man. Drawing man.