I was only a few weeks post-graduation from the University of Florida and looking for my start as a television news journalist. A UF grad had “done her time” in Dothan and was moving on. Her reputation as a trained reporter led to my first employment, at WTVY-TV. (“Your local news leader!”) My family was back in Tampa, and had no idea what I was going to do in Dothan, Ala. None of us had ever heard of it. I was here with no family, and no friends. You would like to think that the community embraced me, and it did, but it was years later that I found real, lasting friendships through Southeast Alabama Community Theatre. My first role was as Elaine from Arsenic and Old Lace, 1996.