The Monday Shorts are an opportunity to look back over the past week at some of the positive local stories in our pages. Last week, that included The Recorder’s 38th Citizen of the Year, Susan Samoriski, founder and retiring executive director of the Mary Lyon Foundation.
Reporter Anita Fritz’s story about Samoriski left no doubt that she was a great choice for the honor. We only regret the COVID cancellation of the Chamber of Commerce breakfast event that traditionally feted the recipient and gave us a chance to hear from her.
But we have a feeling we’ll be hearing from Samoriski in the future. She said she’s sure she won’t be able to stop at least some of the work she’s been doing for so long.
The Montague Historical Society announced its new website and online database of historical artifacts that you can find at montaguearchive.org. “We’re hoping to strengthen and develop a community around history,” Chris Clawson, a Historical Society member and the manager of the website, said. One of its exciting features is a to-scale, 3-D model of the former Strathmore mill that Clawson is creating using computer software and a set of photos of the former mill. You don’t have to be from Montague to enjoy its history.
And in Warwick, Warwick Free Public Library’s Ivan Ussach is ready to loan out new Chromebooks for work-from-home residents, students doing remote schooling and elders who may be interested in using the laptop computers to communicate with family members by video chat or other means. Add that to the so-called “library of things” that are expanding the scope of public libraries’ mission.
Every year around this time, news organizations including The Recorder run stories like “Top stories of 2020” and “Newsmakers of 2020.” From a purely practical standpoint, such retrospectives serve to fill space during a slow news period. But that’s not the only reason we do them. We do them to offer perspective on the year that was.
It’s easy to get caught up in the hamster wheel of breaking news, chasing a never-ending news cycle. By contrast, the look back makes us decide what was enduring.
According to The Recorder, enduring stories included: the local impact of the death of George Floyd; the proposed Dollar General in South Deerfield; COVID-19’s impact on nursing homes, schools, events and fundraisers’ the Big Box decision; the new Greenfield Fire Station; the new Greenfield library; and the demands on local food programs.
The Top 10 Newsmakers in our region included: Mayor Roxann Wedegartner; Phoebe Walker of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments; Keyedrya Jacobs; U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern; the Wendell State Forest Alliance; local legislators Reps. Paul Mark and Natalie Blais and Sen. Jo Comerford; and Brieanna Arsenault, who responded locally to the death nationally of George Floyd with marches and calls for action.
But how about our personal look-backs? Does anyone keep a diary anymore? A simple list of the day’s activities has long served as a historical record, as a literary plot device (think of the cryptic notation of a doctor’s visit in the diary of the eponymous protagonist in “Rebecca”), and as a treasured memento for future generations.
Can we all start a diary today? It doesn’t have to be “literary” or even literate. Let’s simply recount what we did, who we met, what we bought, what we ate each day. Then, at the end of 2021, we can look back and make a list of our own top stories and top newsmakers.
Maybe it will help us through trying times by showing us, “This too shall pass,” and by opening our eyes to life’s “Wow!” factor — the ubiquity of small miracles.