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Meet Terry DeMio
Position at The Enquirer: Reporter covering the opioid epidemic as it evolves. I’m also a cover-the-bases reporter, jumping in on an array of stories as I’m needed.
Why I became a journalist
I wanted to write stories since I was a little girl, but I really didn’t see myself as a fiction book writer. My English teacher in my junior year of high school suggested journalism. This was when newspapers were very "report" oriented, but I thought how cool. I can write stories about truth. Stories about people and society. And that got me excited.
What I like best about my job
I love that I can learn new things all the time and meet new people – and convey their complexities in a way that evokes understanding or empathy or, sometimes, change.
A story I worked on that has had a lasting impact on me
Writing about Ali in Seven Days of Heroin still affects me. Ali is this shy, uncertain young woman addicted to fentanyl, fighting to feel well by injecting this into her veins. She’s had collapsed veins and substituted by shooting into her neck and other parts of her body just to temporarily eliminate the pain of withdrawal. I have since seen Ali several times, and sometimes, she’s healthy, in remission from drug addiction and just beautiful! But once again, Ali has disappeared. She is in the wind. For me, she personifies all the challenges we have in our communities, in America, with addiction disorder. She’s been shamed, trafficked for sex, left alone. People like Ali need lifelong, evidence-based treatment for their chronic health condition. Too few are getting it. Too many will die unnecessary deaths.
What is the biggest challenge I face
I’ve been a single mom since my husband died nine years ago. My child was 7 at the time. Now she’s 16. Being a single, working mom (with no relatives living nearby) of a child who’s experienced this kind of loss is still the biggest challenge I face.
What I like to do when I’m not working
During the pandemic I’ve learned how much I like to watch documentaries. The last one I watched was “No Direction Home,” about Bob Dylan. And I like to spend time listening to my daughter and even sitting on her bedroom floor watching as she builds her village and home in Animal Crossing.
[ FROM THE EDITOR |Keeping us connected: It's one reason journalism matters ]
Favorite event or Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky tradition
Who doesn’t love Oktoberfest in Cincinnati?
Why journalism matters
Journalism is living history that tells truths we might never learn otherwise. It quickly informs people, and the rapid publication of journalism is essential in our busy times. Even our in-depth projects are published relatively rapidly. What I love about journalism is that it brings us closer together with understanding. And what’s "extra" about it for me is, it can evoke empathy and it can elicit change. I don’t know what else can do that.
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