Moving on: Nick Miller’s last week at SN&R

I joined SN&R in 2004 as a proofreader, eagle-eying the work of Cosmo Garvin, Melinda Welsh, Becca Costello, Jackson Griffith and others. I admired how their thumbs were firmly on Sacramento’s pulse. And I wanted so badly to be like them, for the chance to dig into this city’s earth. I even delivered copies of SN&R on my days off just to be closer to their world.

And now, nearly a dozen years and thousands of stories later, I am moving on. This is my final issue.

I tell people that working here was like one long vacation. In my early days here, I interviewed so many awesome people, from Zach Hill to Seymour Hersch to Animal Collective to NBA mastermind Pete Carril. Bands playing in Midtown basements threw beers at me when my stories pissed them off. Kanye West’s bodyguard threatened to break a camera on my face. What a gig!

Eventually, I squeezed into news, and was instantly drawn to stories about the disenfranchised and powerless. I’ll never forget my birthday on December 28, 2012: On a freezing winter morning, I watched cops evict more than 100 homeless campers from tents along the American River’s bank. Years later, I still see many of those same faces.

I believe in SN&R. We give a microphone to people who seldom are heard, and tell stories of artists and thinkers who give this city its spirit. We’ve frequently stood alone on critical public issues, like the arena and strong mayor. And I’m grateful readers had our back.

Now, I’m off to my next act, as editor-in-chief of Oakland’s longstanding alt-weekly, the East Bay Express. It stings my heart to say goodbye.

But SN&R is in talented hands. The story goes on.