Old soul with talented craft joins Bladen Journal

ELIZABETHTOWN – If you see a new face and some fresh ink on our paper – it is most likely Noah Britt, the new intern for the Bladen Journal.

In January 2003, his parents had a 20-week ultrasound done. In this ultrasound they discovered that Britt’s lower spine was not formed properly, and that he had water on the brain.

“Doctors told my parents I would not be able to walk, and I might have brain damage later on,” Britt said. “My parents, despite recommendations, decided to continue the pregnancy despite being uncertain of the future.”

Six months later, July 7, 2003 Britt was born in Dayton, Ohio, with a rare birth defect called Spina Bifida. Basically, his spinal cord was not formed properly, resulting in various problems in his lower extremities. It affects things such as balance, endurance, walking speed and more.

“I was transferred to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital for surgery,” he said. “I stayed in the NICU for 16 days to make sure no problems arose, after that I was free to come home with monitoring every month or so. This was only the beginning of numerous doctors appointments.”

A young man, forged in the fire of adversity, he seemed to excel against all odds and is the quintessential example of a miracle Phoenix rising out of the ash of circumstance.

“Ever since I was a child, I have been a writer,” Britt said. “I can remember writing short, comedic stories in elementary school just to make my friends laugh. Later, when I got to high school, I also began writing poetry.”

Even though Britt wrote a lot, he never thought he was good at it, or that he would later be considering writing as a career option. It took many people throughout the course of his life to get him to believe in himself and make him the talented writer that he has turned out to be. Many saw his talents and that the only thing he lacked, was confidence.

“I remember my first real writing assignment,” he said. “I was in the second grade and we had to write a story about an animal. It could be any animal we wanted it to be. Most people chose a cat or a dog. I chose the water buffalo. I knew that many people were going to go for a well known animal, so I went in the opposite direction. When we had to present them in front of the class, I was unsure of how people would respond. I mostly thought they would hate it because of the water buffalo’s lack of popularity. As I shakily read my story, I noticed people seemed to enjoy it. There was laughter and smiles. This dumb, silly story about a water buffalo, would be the beginning of my writing journey.”

Britt finds the obscure, the different, the interesting and writes upon the road less traveled. He is kind of a Paul Harvey writer who keeps an audience at bay and then drops “the rest of the story.”

Over the course of the next few years, he would write short stories in his free time and would share them with his friends and family. He had the ability to put smiles on their faces.

“They always said they enjoyed them,” he said. “At the time, I just thought they were being nice. I personally never thought they were any good. I thought they were a little dumb. However, my parents always said that I would be the writer of the family. I thought they were delusional. It turns out they were just trying to get me to be passionate about something.”

And they saw something in him that he could not see, being to close to his work. They saw a passion that was fueled with talent and candor.

“In my junior year of high school, I got a chance to work for the school newspaper,” he said. “This gave me a chance to embrace my creativity on a level like never before. This time, my work would be seen by everyone in the school. Normally, I would be terrified, however, I was excited.

“I loved working for the paper, and was eventually promoted to co-editor. However, that didn’t last long. Eventually, the Covid-19 Pandemic happened and we went on lockdown. Because everything went online, the general consensus was that the school paper wasn’t important anymore and it was shut down.”

Even though the paper was shut down, his newfound love of journalism wasn’t. That small school paper led him to become who he is today, working as an intern for Champion Media.

“If I had not worked for that paper I would still be without a plan for life,” he said. “That paper changed my life forever, and I will never forget it. When I got to college, I didn’t really know what to do. I just knew I wanted to write. As long as my field involved writing, I was in. I ended up majoring in English Education at UNC Pembroke.”

During my freshman year of college, his professors began to notice that he had a knack for writing. Both of his English professors saw that the papers he was writing were actually pretty good. They both suggested that he work at UNCP’s writing center as a writing consultant.

He would end up helping other students who maybe weren’t as skilled at writing as Britt was. He ended up saying yes, and he’s been working there ever since.

“What I noticed about Noah was his ability to go straight to the heart with his stories,” Mark DeLap, Bladen Journal editor said. “He is an old soul with a very strong creative thread that knows how to weave a story and make people wanting to read more. He leads with his heart, not worrying anymore whether he thinks people will like it, but he has found a truth that many don’t find until much later in life. If it makes you happy and brings peace to your soul, that is all you need to know.”

As a tutor, he has helped reshape many student’s perspectives of writing.

“Writing isn’t something you are good or bad at,” he said. “If you are focusing on that, I think you are more focused on what other people think about your writing and therefore what they think about you. The question I ask students when I complete a session isn’t ‘What would your professor think?’ Instead, I ask, ‘What do you think?’ If you go through life questioning your every move, wondering what everybody thinks about you, you will never be able to live freely.”

He spent a vast majority of his past questioning what other people thought of him because of his disability.

“I was also miserable for a large portion of that time,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what everybody thinks about you. How you perceive yourself will, in turn, shape the way others perceive you. Writing is no different. If you think something is wrong with the way you write, assess it. What can be fixed? What can be improved? Write as though nothing else exists but you and the piece of paper you are writing on.”

He came to the conclusion that, if you come out the other side with a paper you are proud of, who cares what anybody else thinks? You tried. Therefore, you succeeded. You didn’t give in. You made it farther than a lot of people did. Write as though you are going through life as an exciting journey.

“Go through life as though you are writing everything,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. Just do whatever makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody.”

DeLap said that he has never had such a talented intern and sees a lot of himself in this young man.

“I hope he decides to stay on permanently,” DeLap said. “I would enjoy working with him, learning from him and mentoring him.”

Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To email him, send a message to: mdelap@bladenjournal.com