As you read this offering during the first week of the new year, I’d like to initially wish you the most successful and happy 2023.

One reason I enjoy being a journalist so much – yes, I still consider myself a journalist – is that all journalists are professionally ignorant. Our job is to convey information to our audiences and every story gives us the opportunity to learn something.

I’m always very wary of the reporter who believes he or she knows what will happen with a story before they start work on it. While every reporter worth their paycheck may have an idea of what to expect, it’s vital to have an open mind and to pay attention.

Every year that I’ve been in this business I’ve learned something, and 2022 was no exception. The following are a few things I’ve observed and learned this past year.

In politics a clear road to victory is frequently more important that trying to slog one’s way through the electoral process. Attorney General Maura Healey is a great example of that. She ran for governor knowing full well she would win against any Republican candidate other than sitting Gov. Charlie Baker. If Baker had decided to go for another term, I’m willing to bet that Healey would have simply ran for re-election as AG and would have won handily.

Of course, in Western Massachusetts at least, Baker might have had a difficult time due to the terrible tragedy that happened at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, still a very sore issue.

It does say something positive about your character to take on a tough fight, but it also isn’t necessarily savvy politics.

Still, when you see someone who could have taken an easy path to re-election, but decided to roll the dice, such as state Sen. Eric Lesser in his bid for lieutenant governor, one does have to admire that person for flouting conventional wisdom.

In Massachusetts, the Legislature has only one gear: first. I’m well known for not being a sports fan, but I do understand its importance in the Bay State in terms of adding to the culture of the commonwealth while being an economic engine.

The fact we are moving closer to the Super Bowl without sports gaming in place is amazing to me. When other states have their legislation in place, why is it the story every time that we must reinvent the wheel?

Sports gaming, to a guy like me, is all about economic development. We cannot afford to leave any money on the table, and yet we have.

I’ve had the lesson underscored in 2022 that politics and religion clearly have one major thing in common, and that is the blindness that excessive faith can produce. I would think at this point, with all of the evidence that has been acquired through documents and testimony, that former President Donald Trump would not be seen as a viable candidate for another term as president.

And while there are potential Republican candidates sharpening their knives in anticipation of a primary fight with Trump, it clearly is not stopping Trump from acting as a candidate. That shouldn’t surprise me, as Trump still believes he is president and it shouldn’t surprise me that there is still a core of support for him.

I also learned of the local ingenuity that comes about when facing an apparently insurmountable obstacle. When the Basketball Hall of Fame decided to kick out the Mayflower Marathon from its parking lot in 2022, there were many people who thought finding a new location would be impossible.

Thankfully, the folks at Rock 102 and the management of MGM Springfield came up with a solution that worked very well. Congratulations to them all.

There were other lessons as well. In particular, that stories can rise like a vampire from the grave. You thought they were dead, but they are not. Earlier in 2022, I put in a blind item about the apparent sale of an entire block in Springfield’s downtown. No one wanted to go on record because the deal was not yet set, so I could not give details. The sale fell through, but now I’ve heard a new buyer might close it. We will see if the story of a sale can go on record in 2023.

I’ll close out this column by expressing my gratitude for all of people who have wished me well as retirement has changed my status in these pages. I’m going to freelance status now for The Reminder and I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue something I’ve been doing for years.

Thank you all.

And oh, yes, and in the spirit of retirement, I offer a shameless plug: the first signing for my new book about the Fleischer animation studio (the producers of the classic Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman cartoons, among others) will be Jan. 7 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Comix N’ More at 64 Cottage St. in beautiful downtown Easthampton. If interested, I hope you will come by.