Want to hear a magic trick? Admit to a small child that you, a grown-up who they do not see on a regular basis or may not even recall seeing, know their name. 

As a photojournalist for this paper, it’s a trick I get to pull out often, always to the utter delight and amazement of kids, whose eyes widen in surprise. 

“But how?” they ask, as if I’ve suddenly produced a quarter from the depths of an ear or bent a spoon only to bring the metal back into perfect alignment just moments later. 

Photographing kids is something I do with my trusty reporter’s notebook tucked in the back pocket of my jeans. Sometimes my pen is there too ... when it doesn’t go AWOL as I’m crouched in an awkward position out of the way of the hullabaloo and trying to avoid the “cheese” pose that kids automatically turn to when they realize there is a camera trained in their direction. 

Pulling the tools of the trade out to gather names of kids who I’ve only just met, it’s inevitable that those I’ve known since they were still glimmers in their parents’ eyes move in to ensure that they’re part of the moment. 

“What about my name? Do you need my name? Did you get me?” they ask, names tumbling forth. 

Knowingly, I smile. 

“Yup. I know.” 

Others will offer up the spellings of their monikers, at which point I’m able to trot out my second trick — the ability to accurately spell some of the more complicated surnames that pinpoint a particular person as “local.”

Raised with a 10-letter name that I abandoned at marriage purely for the chance to sport a name that wouldn’t be regularly butchered, I recognize the looks of surprise that come from this one. I’ve worn them myself on occasion. 

And when I did, the explanations were often the ones I proffer now. 

“I went to high school with your mom,” I’ll say, or sometimes, “You look just like your grandma.”

“I remember when you were a baby,” I announce, or “I live around the corner from you.”

The “whoas” and “oh my goshes” I get in response are part of the joy I get from being a reporter here in my own small town. As delighted as kids are to realize they are connected in some small way to a broader world, I’m equally happy to feel the ties that bind me to my community.