The Lost Coast Outpost is saddened to report that it has lost a little bit of its soul this week, as our longtime writer Stephanie McGeary recently elected to move on to the next thing.

An Arcata native, Stephy came to us right outta J-school in 2018 and very quickly placed her stamp on the Outpost brand. Her first big splashy story for us was about the big set-to over the “Cat Food” utility box mural that a nearby Eureka business owner viscerally loathed, which caused quite a fuss at the time, making it to the Reddit front page.

That set the tone. Through she did great reporting on plenty of hard-news stories — the closure of the Singing Trees Recovery Center comes to mind, as does all of her work on Arcata city government — Stephy’s heart has been in features, which is another way of saying that she liked writing about amazing things. For instance: The guy who busked Old Town with his singing dog. Or the guy who was trying to sell his giant statue of Predator. Or the Fortuna-based camel (RIP) who was friends with a donkey. Or herself, attempting to stalk Leonardo DiCaprio through Northtown.

Sometimes Stephy liked to think in terms of miniseries. She went on a burst of writing about local theater companies, one after the other. Though she is one of the least sporty people you will ever meet, somehow circumstances conspired to compel her to write about Humboldt people making it big in strange sports — rugby, paintball, Ultimate, paracycling and more. And of course she co-hosted our pandemic podcast.

Anyway, she’s great. Just go browse down her author page, if you like. You pretty much can’t go wrong.

During her time at the Outpost she got married, had a child, lived through earthquakes and wildfires and a global plague. Through her work she brought dignity and empathy to the downtrodden, and she celebrated her people — the Humboldt weirdos who make this place a special place, of whom she herself is a prime example.

Stephy will always be family, and she will be missed. If you see her around, say hi.