It’s been windy, blustery, crazy, wet and we have all been through a lot and here we are, on the doorstep of spring, waiting for the challenge.
You know what they say, April showers bring May flowers, but it is all about the March rain is bringing the April flowers this year. We had an amazing almond blossom season and the snow is higher than it’s ever been and we could be skiing until May. Think about this, people from all over came to town for almond blossoms, they came to town for the Modesto Marathon, and people are starting to discover that Modesto is a place to visit, to enjoy, to spend the night and to see a show, and hang out for a bit, maybe even stay. Are we ready?
When you get a chance to breathe, you need to take stock and plan out what you want to be, where you want to go, how to you want to prioritize and how we can become better. What new ideas can we generate and how do we get there. The Stanislaus blueprint is a good start, now we have to DO IT. I have always had a saying that has gotten me through a lot of stuff that read, “Checkpoint reality: face reality like it is, not as you wish it was”.
Last month, we had the 48 Hour film festival and there may have been the next George Lucas in the State Theatre. Creativity is our key, it’s what makes us different. We are the home of George Lucas so how to we create the next one? We are the home of Royal Robbins, how do we create the next one and the list goes on. We are the home of Jeremy Renner, Lindsay Pearce, and Tim Olyphant and we need the next one. Creative cities win, it’s all about getting the new companies and the owners of those companies here in Modesto. Arts, entertainment, food, culture and more. It is all about the attitude, and we need to think big, think bold, and learn from our history how to make our future better.
It’s Earth Day this month and speaking of history, Modesto was the origin of curbside pick up in the 70s and look where the world is. It’s not just our Star Wars and American Graffiti culture, it is our way of life and our common sense that we build the future on. We need to recycle, reduce and reuse our legends, our buildings and our culture. Forget the metaverse, and the ChatGPT that basically scans the world and steals someone else’s ideas. We can use our own real history and create our real future. Focus, be real, create, invent and try to do things different. We love Modesto and we can make it better.
Love is a many splendored thing. Love is why we love our families, our friends, our experiences and have the passion to do crazy good things, just like you would for your kid and grandkids. That’s why thousands of people gather each April to Love Modesto and make it better. That’s why we keep ourselves healthy by remembering to practice heart health at the American Heart Go Red Lunch on May 5. I survived my heart issues, and I need live to be better, to be stronger, and I am looking forward to my time with grandkids and I need to be there. Heart health, city health, family health, neighborhood health and so much more. We can do this. Get organized, focus and let’s make it happen.
So how do we do this? Success for Modesto isn’t that we have a Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang’s or other chain restaurant. It is the success of our own local businesses that will make us healthy. City of Modesto and County of Stanislaus; make it easy to create great local businesses. We the people of Modesto need to elevate our local people and our local businesses, just like ModestoView does each and every day. If we celebrate our people, history and future, and we have the support of our local government, we can do amazing things. Make it easy, make it equal, make it fair, make it fast, make it obvious how to create a new business, event or future.
I love our ModestoView readers. I love the people that follow us on Instagram, Facebook, I love the ideas from all kinds of people. We need our local people, we need to listen, we need to learn and we need to kick butt.
Thank you for reading, thank you for caring about our local life. Please support our local culture and build on it, not fight it. Our history is our strength. You can go ahead and invent a new history or brand, and it won’t worth any more than the ChatGPT that spit it our. Be real, be healthy, and be visionary.
With gratitude,
Chris Murphy
Founder & Publisher, ModestoView
chrism@modestoview.com<mailto:chrism@modestoview.com>
