I’ve said many times that election cycles are learning experiences for me.

The lessons are taught to me by candidates for public office. Many of these candidates have long years of public service under their belt when they seek another office or seek to return to the office they occupy. They know about their community than I do and they usually are unafraid to share that knowledge with others.

This has occurred in cycles over nearly two decades in Amarillo. I’ve been here for just more than 19 years now, most of that time as a working daily print journalist.

I’m no longer subjected to the daily grind of producing a newspaper but a new role awaits — and it will enable me to keep learning more about our community.

I write a blog for Panhandle PBS. It’s titled “A Public View.” The folks at the public TV station have provided me a forum to comment on public affairs programming and other matters relating to public policy.

Beginning this morning, I’m going to take part in the first of three candidate forums that will be aired later this month on Panhandle PBS — formerly known as KACV-TV. I’ll get to question candidates for — in order — the 13th Congressional District, Texas Senate District 31 and Potter County judge.

It’s a new role and an old role for me all at the same time.

I’ll be doing the thing I’ve done before, only in a different medium — although I have taken part in previous televised candidate forums representing the newspaper that used to employ me.

Every election cycle teaches me something I didn’t know about my surroundings. It did in Beaumont, where I worked for nearly 11 years before landing in Amarillo. It did in my home state of Oregon, where this grand adventure all began.

I cannot define precisely what I learn through each election cycle. It’s just that the candidates fill in nebulous blanks here and there.

It’s doubtful I’ll ever know everything there is to know about the Panhandle. Frankly, I don’t want to know it all. How much fun would it be to stop learning about the place I call home?