Meet Scott McLendon, New Times' Newest Staff Writer

My trek from small-town Alabama to the Magic City began about 15 years ago, when I spent most of my free time cultivating what would become a passion for writing in myriad forms, from poems and songs to novels and news stories.

While I share a birthday with F. Scott Fitzgerald, a fact I didn't know until college, my name is inspired by the notion that my parents couldn't think of a better middle name for Scott, which they had initially intended to be my first name.

And given that I knew almost nothing about one of the nation's writers until after graduating high school, it probably surprises no one to learn that I loathed writing assignments throughout most of my elementary and secondary education.

That changed when I realized I could successfully use poetry to impress girls. The writing bug bit me hard, and so far, it has given me a wife, two babies, and an intrepid journalism career that spanned the South.

While my career has been nomadic, I hope to replant the roots my grandparents unearthed from South Florida in 1975 after my pepaw's unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaigns in 1970 and 1974.

Born in a relatively small town in the South, there wasn't much else to do but write and read. While I wrote as a hobby through high school and the first years of undergrad, it wasn't until my sophomore year of college that I used my passion to try to help others through journalism.

I bounced around a few small daily newspapers in Louisiana and Alabama before landing a dream job at an independent, investigative weekly in Beaumont, Texas, in 2019. I uncovered a multi-million dollar gold business scam that led to federal charges, gave readers a first-hand glimpse of a busy intensive care unit (ICU) ward during the height of COVID-19, and uncovered illegal mayoral campaign contributions.

At the Examiner, I earned four local and five National Newspaper Association awards for my feature, headline, and opinion writing.

Before the move to Miami, I was a Jack-of-all-trades reporter for Texas' oldest newspaper, the Galveston County Daily News. I covered county and multiple city governments, courts, crime, tourism, and more. I've reported on the Galveston County Commissioners Court and a federal gerrymandering lawsuit that claimed Black and Latino voters were being disenfranchised, broke the news of the Pelican Island bridge crash that left students stranded and without power, covered heated debates between the city and park board over how the latter should manage tens of millions in tourism tax, and wrote dozens of compelling enterprise stories.

My boundless curiosity has led me to hundreds of captivating stories, and I'm thrilled to see Miami's kaleidoscopic blend of personalities inspire countless more.