By Michael Armstrong

Editor, Homer Independent Press

In my first editorial in the Homer Independent Press about starting a new online paper, I quoted a passage from “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau: “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

I think the foundations of this castle have reached the ground. In our first six months, we’ve done the following:

• Starting Jan. 1 and as of today, put out 22 editions;
• Recruited a solid roster of volunteer and paid contributors;
• Published some enterprising articles on everything from feral bunnies to photo permission disputes;
• Formed a nonprofit corporation that is now a 501(c)(3) tax deductible organization;
• Received some grants, including the Gary Thomas 100 Men grant;
• Added more than 1,000 subscribers;
• Created a creative marketing department with dozens of ads;
• Raised enough money to hire a new reporter, and,
• Oh yeah: hired that new reporter, Delcenia Cosman.

Hiring Delcenia is the capstone to our work over the last six months. When this rag tag group of free and independent press advocates started NZP4H (No Zombie Press 4 Homer), the nonprofit umbrella for HIP, we had a goal of being able to have a full-time reporter as well as pay for freelance writers.

We’re lucky to have Delcenia (pronounced “Dell-see-nuh,” or as she says, “Three syllables, not four, and the ‘i’ is silent.”). She ticked off all the boxes in our job requirements. Since 2023, Delcenia has worked as a reporter for the Homer News, and since October 2025 as regional editor for the Homer News and the Peninsula Clarion. If it seemed like she single-handedly wrote most of the local stories in the Homer News and the Peninsula Clarion over the past eight months, she did.

“I’m really excited and grateful to have the opportunity to work for a locally owned news company that’s ready to serve our community in the best way it can,” she said. “I want to tell people’s stories and I’m looking forward to continuing to tell the stories of the Southern Kenai Peninsula.”

Delcenia, now 30, grew up in northern Virginia, and after graduating from high school, moved to Alaska in 2013 to be closer to her family.

She attended all three University of Alaska campuses, graduating with an associate of arts degree from the Kachemak Bay Campus-Kenai Peninsula College-University of Alaska Anchorage, a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from UA Southeast, and a dual degree with a master of arts in English and a master of fine arts in creative writing from UA Fairbanks. During her academic career she worked as an editor for Permafrost magazine and as a teaching assistant in writing and after graduating as an adjunct instructor. Oh, and she’s done that quintessential millennial job, barista. 

I first read Delcenia’s writing when she started doing freelance work for the Homer News in 2017. When I left the Homer News, Delcenia applied for a reporter position opening up there. For her first assignment, former Homer News regional editor Erin Thompson had her report on a mass challenge of children’s books a citizen group asked to be removed from the children’s section because the group claimed the books had LGBTQ+ content. 

I have a bit of enlightened self-interest with the hiring of a full-time reporter. I’m serving as a volunteer editor out of my commitment to democracy, our republic and the 250-year-old tradition of a free press in the United States of America. 

I retired from journalism four years ago, and I want to do that again, soon. When we advertised for a reporter, we put in the usual “opportunity for advancement” clause. The right candidate could eventually become editor and I could go back to writing weird science fiction stories.

I’m confident Delcenia can do that. We’re happy to have her as our first reporter, and I hope you’ll welcome her to the Homer Independent Press.