We recently had the chance to connect with Susan Dickenson and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Susan, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: What makes you lose track of time—and find yourself again?
Flyfishing.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m a former home furnishings magazine editor and present-day keyboard warrior focused on the underreported threats to our local water supply, air quality, land and health in southern Guilford County, North Carolina. I briefly touched on this in my last CanvasRebel interview – how I’d started using my writing to share information as my fellow residents were demanding more accountability from local authorities with respect to an ongoing wave of ill-conceived, fast-tracked overdevelopment in our fragile Upper Deep River watershed.
Piggybacking off the work of an actively-engaged group called Jamestown United (founded by a local furniture industry executive named Katie Gumerson), I launched The Jamestowner in January 2023 as a way to organize, discuss and broadcast our findings and messaging (it was easier to share website links in emails and on social media than to overload our mailboxes and mobile devices with big attachments).
When the enormity of Guilford County’s water supply contamination revealed itself to us (via searches in the state’s public trove of site assessments, inspections and wastewater reports), I established Jamestowner Inc. as a non-profit 501c3 and – with the help of partner organization Jamestown United – began soliciting contributions to fund water testing for PFAS, 1,4-Dioxane and volatile organic compounds.
Having a better understanding of what the industrial landfills and manufacturing facilities of High Point, Greensboro and Jamestown are discharging into our water supply, and how much of it flows back to us in our tap water, has added a regulatory dimension to our ongoing watchdog efforts, and resulted in more community dialogue, governmental engagement, “Public Comment” participation, citizen-initiated water monitoring, and facility site inspections.
Last fall, our efforts expanded into air quality when the Environmental Protection Agency supplied our group with air sensors for a year-long citizens’ monitoring project.
Through social media, the Jamestowner/Jamestown United audiences have expanded to include members of other North Carolina communities, with whom we exchange data and advice. Members of our combined groups have attended and spoken at public events, met with government officials from the town to national level, led community clean-up events, shared Deep River’s pollution story with former members of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (at their inaugural “People’s Speakeasy” event); attended seminars at Wake Forest University’s Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability; participated in workshops led by nearby river keeper organizations; and shared our story in a photo exhibit at the National Press Club in Washington. Most recently, the daughter of Jamestown United founder Katie Gumerson launched a clean water advocacy and awareness group for children called “The Dragonfly Club,” so named because dragonflies are a sign of a healthy stream.
Unfortunately, after three years of research, testing, speaking, commenting, letter-writing, exhibiting and publishing, the residents of Jamestown and the Upper Deep River watershed have been unable to get local authorities and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to initiate a consistent, ongoing program of monitoring, testing, assessment and pollution load limits for Deep River, our drinking water supply, and its key tributaries. Our PFAS levels are rising along with the particulate matter readings on our air sensors.
Which brings us to now, and why I’m currently running for Mayor of Jamestown, North Carolina. I filed to run last month, and the election is this November. I’m sitting on a lot of data and have made a lot of contacts, but have reached a point where it’s going to take more resources and access to achieve actionable results and put Jamestown on a path toward progress. I’ve learned too much about what’s going on here not to give it a try.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
A writer. When I was at UNC and about to declare journalism as my major, my dad advised me to major in business administration instead. “You already know how to write well, and you’ll make more money with a business degree,” he told me. My professional career has always involved writing, mostly for and about business. So, in my case, it was good advice.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
When I became a stay-at-home mother of three at the ripe old age of 34, I was certain that was the end of my 9-to-5 life as a marketing researcher. Ten years later was when my professional life as a full-time, all-in journalist/writer/editor actually began.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
100%
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: Are you doing what you were born to do—or what you were told to do?
Yes. Now more than ever. I’ve tried to put down my keyboard, stop digging through the public records, take a break from preaching about our contaminated water and the inaction of local authorities, but I can’t. I’m always feeling driven to write more, speak louder, dive deeper. I guess some would say that’s a “calling.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thejamestowner9.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susandickenson/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanformayor
