Friends, you haven’t heard much from me in recent weeks. I would have predicted a more prolific collection of writing since it’s practically the only thing I have to do in this age of isolation. Then again, when writing is the only thing you have to do, what in God’s name do you write about?
I could tell you what a struggle it is to know that the tumors are slowly growing inside of me and that I get pretty pissy about it because there are still a lot of things I’d like to check off my Life Well Lived List. How ironic is it that I’m dying of cancer, but I can’t go out because I might catch COVID19, which could kill me?
Don’t worry. I’m staying in for the most part. My goal after all is to squeak out as much life as possible, whether that time is spent in Atlanta, drinking all of the Coke at the factory before watching the Braves battle the Pirates; or spent on my couch, drinking a can of Cherry Coke while watching another B-list celebrity reveal him/herself at the end of this week’s The Masked Singer.
We’re all trying really hard to be grateful, I think. To find upbeat news and things to look forward to. It’s in that spirit that I’ve been tuning into my town’s Thursday live streams and podcasts with two of our fantastic select board members. It’s called Windsor Live, and I couldn’t be prouder of its hosts, Christopher Goulet and James Reed.
I don’t have data to back up this claim… but that’s never stopped anyone on the internet before, so… I’m pretty sure Windsor’s is the youngest select board in the state of Vermont. My dear friend Heather (she’s my age, so I’m calling her young) is only the second woman to serve on the board, and has been rocking it as Chairperson for a couple of years now. Christopher was elected alongside another very enthusiastic young person in March, and the fresh-faced, eager board was thrown an immediate curveball. I believe they may have had only a single “normal” meeting before COVID19 shut us all down.
Luckily, although his experience in town government was minimal, Chris knows tech. The board meetings quickly moved onto the Zoom platform, and Chris found a new way to hear the ideas of his constituents. What began as a twice weekly live stream conversation hosted by him and James (Heather’s esteemed co-chair) grew into a popular Thursday one-two punch featuring a lunch time live stream and an evening podcast. Topics covered include concerns of government, science, and pretty much anything else that the hosts find interesting. If you decide to trust them with some of your time, they’ll take you on some fascinating deep dives.
I’ll let you go to the Windsor Live link and explore their history as well as what they have coming up, but I’ll say this as a final plug: they know a lot of things, but their most attractive quality is their eagerness to admit what they don’t know and to find out more about those things right alongside us. James has access to a wide variety of really smart folks at Dartmouth, and Chris seems to savor his role as the guy who isn’t afraid to ask all of the dumb questions the rest of us are thinking.
Chris also has the optimism of a guy who has lived here his whole life and whose love for this town has done nothing but grow through some terribly difficult life events where he felt wrapped up in his community. He knows how Windsor is perceived by surrounding towns. We aren’t that far from a time when our Yellow Jacket sports teams were referred to by everyone else as the “Prison Towners.” His mission is to take control of that message and change it – to shine a light on what’s great about this town: its history, its people, its natural beauty, its culture of creativity, and – most of all – its future.
As Chris and his fiancée prepare to introduce the newest little Windsorite to his/her forever hometown in October, and as I continue to shout from my own meager soapbox about supporting local businesses and building a dog park, we’ve got a lot to look forward to. I’m going to stick around for as much of it as I can, and my boys have orders to pick up where I leave off, even if they move off to Timbuktu. At least I know they’ll be able to Zoom in every once in a while.
Thank you so much for reading. If you feel inclined to support this blog financially, please click over to my Patreonpage for a safe way to donate. Another way to support the conversation is to share on social media. But truly, I’m just really happy that you are here!