I’m new here—to this magazine but not to South Carolina.
Let me tell you about myself by telling you a little about my state.
My South Carolina is a salty-aired sunset on Sullivan’s Island.
It’s rumbling bleachers at Williams-Brice Stadium on a September Saturday night. (No offense to that orange team in the Upstate.)
It’s a plate of pulled pork with a heaping side of hash at Little Pigs Barbecue buffet.
It’s a “howdy” and a head nod to the hiker shuffling through the leaves past my dog and me on the Foothills Trail.
It’s a sky so big and full of stars over the Chattooga River that it makes my eyes go blurry and my neck go sore from staring up in the dark.
This place, my South Carolina, is home to me and has been for nearly 15 years.
Now, this isn’t the home where I was raised—that’s up in North Carolina, off a dirt road named for my grandfather’s folks, where Mama and Daddy and our old German shepherd still live on the family land, and it’ll always be “home.”
But South Carolina’s the place my husband and I have made our very own home, where I graduated from the University of South Carolina and where I worked for a decade at The State newspaper. And this state is the place that’s shaped a lot of who I am.
Here at South Carolina Living, I believe I have the best job—to weave together the stories of the people, the land, the art, the history, the activities and the ways that life flourishes here—the things that make South Carolina the home you choose, too.
And the soul of this place we call home, well, I don’t have to tell you: It’s something special, something beautiful.
It’s a pleasure to be here as the new editor of this magazine. And now that we’re acquainted, let’s stay in touch. Tell me what makes South Carolina special to you and what you’d love to see more of in South Carolina Living. Drop me a line any time at sarah.owen@ecsc.org.
I look forward to sharing these pages with you.