Seek Out Something New
The New Year—2021 in particular—is an ideal time to reflect on the past and seek out something new: a new way of doing things; a new perspective on how to live; or a new adventure. Perhaps this year I will settle with “explore more” as a resolution and challenge myself to step outside of my comfort zone—which has admittedly narrowed a bit more with COVID-19. My adventures will, inevitably, include Æsc, who is always looking for action and something to do. To occupy himself some as of late, Æsc has decided to share his rural adventures with Owl Light readers in “Small Town Hound.” His first outing is featured on the front page of this issue. In Owl Light News in print, our goal is to keep things light while being willing to explore more, to delve deeper into issues that need a closer look. Another new contributor, Sally L. White, will be exploring and sharing reflections on the “Fantastic Flora” across our region.
News dominates our lives, yet many of us no longer take the time to read…or even to listen. At Owl Light News—where inspiration & inquiry converge—we are reinvigorating exchange and reinventing what news is, and how it is told. Before planes and trains and automobiles, before the Internet, it took days or weeks, and in some cases months, for news to reach more rural areas. Now we can see (and organize) live social protests taking place around the world—and closer to home; we can buy anything, anywhere; and we can connect instantly and simultaneously with millions of people.
Despite this resource and our potential to come together as a people, as a nation we are still detached and isolated. Isolation has long been associated with life in rural places—many of us who live out here prefer the quiet and solitude of faraway spaces. To us solitude is nothing new. Yet, it need not define us. There is a togetherness that comes from being a bit more spread out geographically that is often lacking in suburban and exurban areas.
An aspect of rural life that is often misunderstood, particularly by those more attuned to urban environs, is the rich and inspiring culture found nestled comfortably within the landscape—and accessible along our less traveled by-ways. There is something about rural spaces that has inspired artists of all genres across time. Nature inspires art: from the earliest cave painters—who painted flora and fauna on walls using pigments from the earth—to today’s muralists creating with aerosol cans. The natural world offers imagery, spiritual renewal, and space: to design, to grow, to move, to compose, to slow down, to listen and reflect, and to share ideas.
The spirit found in rural living runs deep. It fills our senses as we stroll in quiet country cemeteries. It lingers and evolves in historic buildings reborn. It cascades down precipices and culminates in clear pools where water voices tumble over glacial rocks—whispers of times past. It rushes across open fields and echoes across the valleys. It settles into the most surprising places and blooms into a thousand possibilities.
Everywhere we travel across New York State, including the Finger Lakes Region—where Canadice Press is located—we discover something new. Art is a part of everything we do, and it is a part of everything that the many contributors to Owl Light News offer readers. We are not looking to share the struggles and travesties of up-to-the-minute news, except, perhaps, in reflections on how we live, how we survive and grow in troubled times. Rather we are a reflective “slow” news source, meant to be read during quiet owllight* hours, incrementally, with intent. Some readers have their favorite feature authors. Others turn to the cartoons or the crossword puzzle to fuel their imaginations. Many read it all, page by page. On every page of Owl Light News is something original and inviting that we do not find anywhere else. There is a sense of purpose and a deliberateness that guides and nourishes our inner muse.
There is an openness that invites and celebrates diversity and creativity. It is noteworthy, relevant, and topically timely. It offers something new. Now more than ever, perhaps that is what we are looking for.
D.E. Bentley
Editor, Owl Light News
*Owllight: dusk, dawn; the time of half-light when magical things can (and do) happen.