Getting to know the new man in charge of LM

Seth Jones

Hello Landscape Management readers!

Our digital editor, Kelly Limpert, suggested I introduce myself to you all … I have a more formal introduction (formal might be the wrong word … very little of what I do is formal) in my first column in the January issue of LM. This is more of a get-to-know your new LM editor-in-chief, Seth …

I’m Seth Jones, I live in northeast Kansas, a little town of 6,000 called Eudora. It’s only seven miles from Lawrence, Kan., home of the University of Kansas. I graduated from Kansas University’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2000 with a degree in journalism. I’ve been working as a journalist since January of 2001, exclusively in the turfgrass field — for 12 years as an editor on Golf Course Management magazine, and the last eight as editor-in-chief of LM‘s sister publication, Golfdom.

Jones and his better half. (Photo: Seth Jones)

Adrianne and I have been married for 13 years and we have two amazing kids; Evey, age 12, and Boyd, age 7. Evey is a straight-A student and she shares my love of music and superhero movies (though sadly, Bucky is her favorite character, not Spider-Man or Captain America.) My son (named after my late father) has his passions, none greater than playing Minecraft on his Kindle … but I keep him active and get him out of the house often. He golfs with me, and he plays soccer and basketball in the local rec league. He also likes to go fishing and camping with me, and he’s really good at catching bluegill.

Beyond hanging out with my family, I have several hobbies, chief among them is watching Kansas Jayhawks basketball in my garage with my friends. I converted my two-car garage into a “man cave.” It includes a flatscreen TV, a kegerator, a 100-disc jukebox, a foosball table and a coin-operated arcade game (it’s a 1987 Sega Shinobi, for any children of the 1980s reading this.) If the garage sounds like your kinda place, then you’re my kinda person, and you’re invited to join me — the jukebox is always set to free play and the keg beer is always cold (and typically it’s Miller Lite.)

The full crew. (Photo: Seth Jones)

When the weather gets bad I shut down the man cave and condense all the gizmos on to one side so Adrianne can park her car indoors. My two vehicles sleep outside. My main mode of transportation is an oxidized 1999 Dodge Ram I inherited from my dad when he passed away in 2009. My other ride is a 1964 Chevy Impala … it was also given to me by my father, but I’ve been taking care of that car since I was 16. I would like to have it in the garage, but the paint job (its second) is already fading … the day I get the Impala repainted, I’ll have to troubleshoot the garage situation.

The Jayhawks are my No. 1 team but I’m also a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a fair-weather Royals fan. Because I’m a Jayhawk, I don’t believe in college football. I also watch the NBA playoffs and the occasional NBA regular season game. I don’t have an NBA team since I’m local to Kansas City, but I do root for the Cavs, since Cleveland is where my employer is located, and I catch games at the Q from time to time. I also like to root against the Golden State Warriors, because I think Kevin Durant ruined the NBA when he left Oklahoma City.

Normal things for a normal dude. (Photo: Seth Jones)

I’m also passionate about music and seeing live shows. Alternative rock is my genre, with the 1990s being my favorite era of music. The jukebox is outfitted with several CDs from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Radiohead. But I also like older stuff like Creedence Clearwater Revival, War, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull.

At this point Kelly is probably regretting asking me to write this (I think she doubted I would actually get it done, little did she know I had a three-hour direct flight recently) so I’ll wrap it up. But first, let me just say I’m incredibly honored to be the new editor-in-chief of Landscape Management. It’s a great publication and I’m excited to expand into this field. I look forward to meeting the magazine’s many readers. If you see me at a trade show or an event, I hope you’ll say hello so I can start making new connections in the industry.

Here’s to a great 2019, and the start of what I hope is a long and successful relationship.