Greetings friends,
Happy Summer and Happy 4th of July. July has always been the summer of Americana. As a kid, we used to travel around the USA in a VW bus, seeing the home of our democracy, our nations natural beauty and walk in the places where our founding fathers lived and visiting the historic places that make the USA special.
I am sitting here writing this in Washington DC, in the shadow if the US Capitol. The awe, the power and the feeling you get here when you realize this fragile thing we have called democracy is the most unique and special thing in the world. The freedom for all people to be who they are, who they can be, celebrating liberty for all, and realizing, most importantly, that it is not about ME, or I, it is about us, our people and others. Our founding fathers did not create this American republic for them, for their personal short-term gain, or to enrich their family and kids, they did it for the future, for you, for me, and all Americans. George Washington knew this was all bigger than himself as he stepped down for the next person to take the highest office in the land. We have fought hard to shed a monarchy and our brave soldiers have fought to destroy fascism and dictatorships. We owe it to them and our next generation, our grandkids to preserve and strengthen this United States of America.
Take time this month to do the things that are special. See the world around you and enjoy those moments with family and friends. An evening at the Stanislaus County Fair may bring back those feelings of your childhood, and a walk up the Vernal Falls mist trail will immerse your senses in natural beauty and a drive or ride up into our Gold country on a Harley will get the wind in your face like Peter Fonda in Easy Rider. Take your kids or friends to a Modesto Nuts game and enjoy the crack of a baseball bat and root, root, root, for the home team and even enjoy some tasty sweet fair food and savor the taste of a funnel cake or bacon wrapped hot dog. Enjoy our downtown, listening to a new band on a Friday night at Music in the Plaza.
Put down the phone, step away from the internet and breathe in the world around you. Take time to sit in the morning and enjoy a newspaper or this issue of ModestoView. Turn the pages slowly and read anything. There’s no swiping left or right, just a lot to learn about our community, our local businesses and each other. One of the reasons that ModestoView is printed to read in your hands, is that you read more, retain more and get more involved in what you are reading. Live deeper, not faster.
There are many changes happening in the media, and we learn about some of them from our friend Carlos Virgen, the new Senior Editor of the Modesto Bee. It is up to us to pay attention, hold people accountable, get involved in our community and government and make this the town that we know it can be.
Living local is good. Local information is good and when you hear something good, spread that word. That’s how we can use our social media and digital world the best, is to spread good news.
I have faith in you, the ModestoView reader, as you are choosing something food. It may not be flashy breaking news, but it’s something we all can build on.
Thank you to all that have sent in ideas, donated to the Graffiti USA Museum so we can build a new gem in our community that takes us to a different level. Thanks to all that volunteer to make great events like Graffiti Summer, 4th of July Parades and summer MoBand concerts.
Modesto is truly special. It’s up to us to make it a place where our kids and our grandkids want to build their lives and keep it going. I am enjoying every moment with our grandkids and have so much hope for them. We can do this. I’m counting on our teamwork to make it happen, one good thing at a time.
With gratitude,
Chris Murphy, Founder & Publisher, ModestoView
chrism@modestoview.com<mailto:chrism@modestoview.com>
