Columns

Maybe it’s my imagination, but I’ve begun to notice this weird phenomenon in my editing work. If I start working on an interesting story, or I get into researching a new topic, I’ll often have some sort of direct personal experience with the subject matter. Some of these serendipitous encounters are quite pleasant. Others, not so much.

For the past few months, my neighborhood has been slowly filling with signs. Lawn signs, mostly – signs about war and peace, signs rallying support for different points of view. One morning last week, I went out for my morning run and noticed that all the signs belonging to one camp had disappeared. Overnight, I presume, one side took down the other side’s signs – an effort that would have required both trespassing and stealing.

This being the Take Charge issue and all, it’s tempting to claim that when we relaunched Experience Life magazine a little over a year ago, we knew exactly what we were doing – that we planned it out and made it happen just so.

It starts when some nice clerk ma’ams you at the supermarket. Then you notice waitresses aren’t asking to see your ID quite so often. Next thing you know, you’re saying things like, “When I was younger,” and it no longer sounds even a little bit silly.

Every once in a while, we come up with a slogan or motto that helps articulate our organization’s philosophy. Earlier this year, we introduced one such slogan: “Grow Forward.”