Happy New Year Ashland!
It seemed fitting to me to begin a new decade with a revival of the weekly news from the Center of the Universe. The closing of the Herald-Progress was tough, it felt like some had died and there was a big emptiness in town. I wrote letters to the publisher and I tried get other newspapers to pick up this column by telling them about the importance of news in a small town. I even thought about just buying reams of paper and printing up a column on my own and distributing it. That might have worked in a 1930's movie, but didn't really make a lot of sense with me juggling a full-time job, grad school, and a family.
I thought that any on-line column that I could write would be unnecessary because of all the social media news sites and pages these days. I found out the the beloved sushi restaurant Yokozuna was closing by reading a friend's Facebook page, and I use Twitter to keep up with the sports teams at Patrick Henry.
I also hated the idea of the Ashland News ONLY being available on the internet- I kept thinking of all the residents who don't regularly use social media and would be left out.
We were at a holiday party last week and started talking to a town employee about all the changes that are going on in our Center of the Universe these days. Personally, I have been wary of the development and the construction, but our friend was excited about what our town would look like in another two years. Change is tough; I don't really like it, but I know it needs to happen.
So what can we look forward to in 2020? Besides just living in the center of the universe?
Two housing developments will add people to the town, but these projects promise to be attractive uses of land with sidewalks, walking trails, and improved surrounding roads.
Our train station is getting a major upgrade with ADA sidewalks and ramps to make it easier for everyone to travel, as well as indicators to let people know which side of the tracks to stand on. Imagine, no more looking down the line and squinting at the bright headlight of a train while trying to determine on which track its traveling, and then everyone scrambling across the tracks (IN FRONT OF A MOVING TRAIN) to be in the correct side.
Bravo to all those who have helped reduce our risk of being run over by a train!
We think that the new nursing programs at Randolph-Macon may help attract more health-care providers to our town. Maybe 2020 will have us looking back to our roots as a center of relaxation and serenity, where the healing spring of the slash attracted Richmonders to travel north in the early part of the nineteenth century.
You can watch the daily progress from the college in a web-cam, available here.
Besides all of the construction, all the building and changing, Ashland seems to spend these chilly winter month in the warm company of friends. We are lucky that there are so many places to gather! We have the Theater, all of the restaurants, and I have seen lots of creative people gathering at the Center of the Yarniverse, which reminds me of a creative collective where space is available for artists.
I always think of Ashland the way that it was when we first moved here, like when we first met. Don't you remember when you first fell in love and how wonderful that felt? And maybe like any relationship, the honeymoon is long gone and sometimes we feel like we're looking at a stranger. My goal for this new decade is to bring back my weekly column. God knows that I need an outlet to keep writing, and maybe someone else will read it and be informed, or at least amused.
Here's to a new decade and all the changes that it will bring- lets be brave and face them together.
xo,
Meriwether
It seemed fitting to me to begin a new decade with a revival of the weekly news from the Center of the Universe. The closing of the Herald-Progress was tough, it felt like some had died and there was a big emptiness in town. I wrote letters to the publisher and I tried get other newspapers to pick up this column by telling them about the importance of news in a small town. I even thought about just buying reams of paper and printing up a column on my own and distributing it. That might have worked in a 1930's movie, but didn't really make a lot of sense with me juggling a full-time job, grad school, and a family.
I thought that any on-line column that I could write would be unnecessary because of all the social media news sites and pages these days. I found out the the beloved sushi restaurant Yokozuna was closing by reading a friend's Facebook page, and I use Twitter to keep up with the sports teams at Patrick Henry.
I also hated the idea of the Ashland News ONLY being available on the internet- I kept thinking of all the residents who don't regularly use social media and would be left out.
We were at a holiday party last week and started talking to a town employee about all the changes that are going on in our Center of the Universe these days. Personally, I have been wary of the development and the construction, but our friend was excited about what our town would look like in another two years. Change is tough; I don't really like it, but I know it needs to happen.
So what can we look forward to in 2020? Besides just living in the center of the universe?
Two housing developments will add people to the town, but these projects promise to be attractive uses of land with sidewalks, walking trails, and improved surrounding roads.
Bravo to all those who have helped reduce our risk of being run over by a train!
We think that the new nursing programs at Randolph-Macon may help attract more health-care providers to our town. Maybe 2020 will have us looking back to our roots as a center of relaxation and serenity, where the healing spring of the slash attracted Richmonders to travel north in the early part of the nineteenth century.
You can watch the daily progress from the college in a web-cam, available here.
Besides all of the construction, all the building and changing, Ashland seems to spend these chilly winter month in the warm company of friends. We are lucky that there are so many places to gather! We have the Theater, all of the restaurants, and I have seen lots of creative people gathering at the Center of the Yarniverse, which reminds me of a creative collective where space is available for artists.
I always think of Ashland the way that it was when we first moved here, like when we first met. Don't you remember when you first fell in love and how wonderful that felt? And maybe like any relationship, the honeymoon is long gone and sometimes we feel like we're looking at a stranger. My goal for this new decade is to bring back my weekly column. God knows that I need an outlet to keep writing, and maybe someone else will read it and be informed, or at least amused.
Here's to a new decade and all the changes that it will bring- lets be brave and face them together.
xo,
Meriwether
