When Weston’s Kristin Barbieri reached out in January to bounce off us the idea of starting an online news source for our neighboring town, we were only too happy to encourage her. After all, Weston is way outside of our jurisdiction, and the more people that get into homegrown local journalism, the better we all are for it.
One look at the amusing local access show Wes-TEN produced by Barbieri, and it was clear that she operates on the same wavelength that we do. News to inform and amuse, infused with personal insights.
Meet the Weston Owl.
When we started Swellesley back in 2005, our site also reflected what we were coming across in our daily lives. Our kids were in elementary school and playing youth sports. So you got more than your fair share of Little League updates and school auction news. With Barbieri, who is very involved with the Weston Forest & Trail Association, you’ll see tabs on the Weston Owl homepage labeled Get Outside and Trees Rule.
You’ll also find a mix of irreverent items, such as The Pickup Issue (“Things you can fit in a Weston truck”), plus Barbieri’s knack for making the mundane (such as water bills) entertaining.
Who knows, you might even find The Swellesley Report and Weston Owl joining forces on projects in the future. What we used to call “collabor-action” in my old job as a tech business journalist, when we were inundated with unbearable tech marketing pitches and had to fight back with our own inane terminology. A Weston resident since 2014, Barbieri is no stranger to Wellesley either, as a Wellesley College alum.
We encourage you to broaden your horizons beyond Wellesley’s borders and check out the Weston Owl.
We’ve turned off comments on this post due to the tone of the dialogue.
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Can we please have The Swellesley Report begin a section on Weston like it does with Natick? We only have a vanity blog here in Weston that desperately tries to be funny but no real news in the same way Swellesley reports the town’s activities. The Swellesley Report tells it like it is with no arcane fluff or communal cries for acceptance. I promise your readership would increase! Please consider!
Hi Dawn,
Thanks for the encouragement, though we’re operating under limited capacity here. Would need to get freed from the day job to pull off anything like that. Bob
Did you try The Weston Daily News? It’s on FB and run by a Weston resident. It’s the sole news source in town at the moment. Some things posted seem random and without context but it keeps me up to date. We need to keep bugging Bob until he starts reporting on Weston too! 😆
(Kidding, Bob)