My career in communications dates back to high school when my first article for the York High newspaper, a whimsical piece about wombats, prompted my classmates on the production team to name our paper The Wombat Weekly.
Read my salute to my dad, Ernest Breneman
After securing a bachelor’s degree in philosophy up the road at Colby College, it was time to get to work. I knew I loved to write but had little clue about what career to pursue. But my dad knew. He nudged me to the newsroom of our hometown York (Maine) Weekly – opening the door on a deeply fulfilling life in print and electronic journalism.
When my career path led me across the Piscataqua River to the Portsmouth Herald in late 1988, I was almost immediately sent out to Pease Air Force Base to cover the press conference where we learned the shocking news that Pease would close.
My consistently outstanding work in Portsmouth created an opportunity in Cambridge, Mass., as the editor of the Cambridge Chronicle. Highlights of my time there include meeting the amazing Miss Ruth Jones on her 100th birthday, covering the exploits of Bill Walsh, a city councilor who went on the lam after being indicted for bank fraud, and crafting the award-winning 150th anniversary edition of the Chronicle.
Page One essay: Sept. 11, 2001
I returned to the Portsmouth Herald as Sunday editor in 1998. And when I reflect on the coverage we did in the aftermath of 9/11, I still feel a solemn sense of pride. I was not scheduled to be in the newsroom on Sept. 11, 2001, but when I got there our city editor asked me to write this essay to lead the next day’s front page.
Boston beckoned once more in 2005, when I began a seven-year stint at the Boston Herald. Some of my favorite work there involved collaborating with an artist on comic-style pages for our Sunday edition – satirizing such topics as America’s addiction to oil.
Almost as soon as I returned to Seacoast Media Group in September 2012, the executive editor offered me the privilege of taking over the Sunday Page Two column. Since then I have enjoyed writing on a wide range of topics — from development issues troubling downtown Portsmouth to a piece about a kid from my high school who blasted off into outer space as an astronaut.
Along the way my passion for blending humor and humanity led me to launch a personal website called the Humor Gazette (est. 2003) and more recently to start a new project at JohnBreneman.com (also known as TripleActionNews.com) to showcase some of my writing, visual design work and humor.
I created this logo for the “Portsmouth” category on my personal website. Click on it to see some of the Sunday columns I wrote for the Portsmouth Herald.
Proficient in Photoshop, InDesign and other programs, I have deep experience integrating high-impact visuals and top-quality editorial for both print and web. I have also performed webmaster duties and am knowledgeable about WordPress, web design, html and SEO.
I pride myself on being a top-notch writer, editor, visual designer, content strategist and webmaster who enjoys combining strong creative and technical abilities with advanced listening skills to effectively and elegantly communicate information.
So thank you for listening. Click here to see my resume.
I can be reached at john.breneman.inc@gmail.com
— John Breneman