The heart of the matter

Sometimes people ask why I choose to stay in a rural area like the Adirondacks, writing about the people and issues in small towns.

A big part of the appeal is the intimacy, the sense that I’m working at a scale that’s human and neighborly.

The other day I needed a quick, deadline interview about the shortage of doctors in the North Country.

I called a good friend, Dr. Beth Bartos, a talented primary dare physician who works in Lake Placid and Keene Valley.

It was late, but she invited me to come over and talk. Before I could get off the phone, her husband, Bob, yelled, “Ask Brian if he still has that deer heart?”

After hunting season, Bob had loaded up my freezer with venison, including a huge heart. I asked Beth, “What’s he want it for?”

“Samantha needs it for science class,” Bob called. Samantha is their 12-year-old daughter.

“They’re going to dissect it. Tell Brian I’ll get him another one next season.”

So I dug that deer heart out of my freezer and took it along to the interview. Only in the North Country, I thought. And only in a small town.