As the late great Conway Twitty once sang, “Hello Darlin,’ nice to you. It’s been a long time …”
It’s certainly been a while, and at Valley Review, it finally feels like the right time to get back to … well, we can’t say normal.
But it’s nonetheless time to get back to a schedule. We’ll get back to highlighting the art and artists, the people and places and all else that makes the Fox Valley such a special place to call home. Our routines have changed as have many of our opportunities, but our creative energy and expression remains strong here.
And we might all feel better to once again think beyond our living rooms.
What does that look like? I’m not sure, but we’ll make our path.
When I started up this website just about a year ago, it was a real discovery process. In my opening column, I set forth our mission to “document and contribute to what’s been a dramatic creative unfolding here in the Fox Cities.”
It took some time to figure out what hit, what missed and what features our readership depended upon.
I like to think we found our groove.
The pandemic and holding pattern that ensued stole the momentum, though perhaps there’s a positive to come from that.
It puts this website right back into a discovery mode. It presses the need for creativity and some deep consideration if we’re going to continue to meet our mission in a different landscape.
The bigger objectives remain unchanged.
We’ll continue to provide detail on local arts and entertainment that you’re not going to find anywhere else.
In an era of division, we’ll maintain our focus on that which brings us together and speaks to all of us.
It’s a website meant to provide a short break from the rest of the world. We’ll certainly focus on challenges and they’ll be all around us for some time to come. But the larger thrust of our content will continue to celebrate what’s being created.
Join us as we forge a path.
It’s felt as if the universe hit the pause button and we’ve been in a state of suspension for a couple months.
Yet as we’ve all been holed up, the creators among us have continued to create.
It might take time before there are places to go and things to do, though there’s still plenty to explore.
And we’ll all explore with new eyes and ears.
After the last few months, it’ll be difficult to take any of it for granted.
