07/29/2026
It’s been two weeks and one day since the death of U.S. Marshal Drew Hanson, and the images of the day still remain with many who attended the memorial service. Just prior to the twenty-one gun salute friends and family waited for him to be carried by the honored few to the place where they would lay the body, but Drew was not in the casket. He was in a place that our finite minds can only dream about.
Watching from a distance, attempting to get the right shots and often falling short, now as time has passed I find myself feeling guilty for not posting these images sooner … My journalism mindset of get it on the air ASAP, and if it’s old news you’ve failed … is actually a paradigm that as a recovering journalist I am grappling with.
I know I want to continue telling the stories that matter to me and the people in Cenla, but I am still struggling to find my place here again.
There is a phrase, “You can never go back,” but in many ways I never left. I love the people and the places here, but it is not all roses and daffodils. Will I have to sacrifice talking about the controversial and the political to have a place in this town?
In actuality I am not a film company. It takes more than $20,000 to invest in the equipment that it takes to make a feature film or a documentary these days. Today’s price for the steady cam that I want for my camera is $869.99, plus tax and shipping. It may be doable for some at their point in their career, but not yet for me.
I can choose to feel two ways about this. I can go to negativity or I can use this as a valuable learning experience for bettering myself and placing a goal for my work.
Steady cam or not, I know my worth as a storyteller. I know I have a lot to say about this community and I do it well. I work well to do fast turnarounds for 90 second videos for folks who want a quick and “easy” story about their business.
Yet, how do I justify the cost of what some businesses are charging, because they have the equipment for doing great four and five hour setups of lighting? I want to collaborate, but of course conversations are give and take, and like it our not, there are not terribly many clients who have the budget to keep me working only on media projects in Alexandria.
So what does that mean for my business? I am still prayerfully considering that as I attempt to take all my passions and interests and leverage them into something that can contribute to me financially.
I had a conversation with a trusted mentor about inventory recently. What is an inventory? It can be many things to many people. For me I am working on doing twice as much listening as I do talking. To show genuine interest in what others are doing and having a conversation that is good, and if it turns into a gig, paying or not, so be it. I was able to show that I cared about what that person was all about, even if the conversation only lasted a few minutes or less.
My friend said to always remember to do what I could about the negative choices or words I made for the day, but to then to dwell on the good that I did. It takes far more positive words to eliminate the careless or cruel words given, by others or yourself.
So for me I am asking my Father to help to show me that I am loved, accepted, forgiven and a child of the king.
Something that Drew Hanson gets to say in person to Him and his Son, and to rest in that love.
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