Weekly Editorial
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Yankee Heading to ‘Bama
As I write this missive, those of us in the North Country have just weathered our first severe winter storm. Many inches of snow, winds exceeding 40 miles per hour, followed by below-zero temperatures. No big deal … just life on the tundra. And in truth, this sort of weather makes me feel invigorated. But at the same time, I just can’t help remembering my wife saying to me, “You know, there are places where the words snow and shovel are not combined to form a noun.”
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A New Year of Woodworking
Well it’s happening again — we are about to put an old year to bed and plunge into a new year full of hopes and expectations. I personally am looking forward to 2010 with a goal of making the most of every opportunity that comes my way. But before I move furiously into the future, please allow me to take just a few moments to thank all of you who regularly read the eZine (and the print magazine, too, for all to whom that applies).
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Speeding to 2010
For some reason, I am surprised that the last month of the year is here. For me, December always arrives with a mixed emotional impact. For example, on a personal level, I cannot get 2009 into my rearview mirror fast enough – it was a lousy year. On the other hand, December not only contains the regular run-of-the-mill holidays (which are great) – but also contains my birthday (December 11th, for those of you not yet my Facebook friends).
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Thankful for Woodworking
Next week is the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S., a holiday known mostly for its food, family and traditions. While I’m in favor of food traditions – even though my doctor says that some of them aren’t good for me – I’m even more in favor of some other traditions. Like the traditional craft of woodworking. Don’t get me wrong: I’m no Ian Kirby, and you won’t find me trading in all my power tools for a hand plane.
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Are the Times A-Changing?
Those of us of a certain age may have felt this sort of thing before. Chronicled in art and poetry and tie-dyed shirts, that which we knew and were comfortable with moved on, and a new and different era began. With the loss of Sam Maloof and James Krenov to the way of all flesh, there is no denying the warp and the weft of woodworking’s fabric has frayed. And the news that The New Yankee Workshop is in its last season somehow brings an additional focus to the feeling of transition.
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Top Drawer T-Shirt Sloganry
Often, I lament the erosion of language use in our society: Text messages that are a jibberish of letters and trinary code, politicians whose syntax is the worst tax proposal ever, email efforts that are an inscrutable sequence of sentence fragments and phrases. But then there are times when I feel that all is right with the world — word wise.
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They Really Like Me! (And my gift certificates!)
Last issue we rolled out a brand-new contest — the Apple Polishing Contest — in which eZine readers were encouraged (by a trio of Rockler Gift Certificates) to offer compliments to the eZine and yours truly. I am only slightly embarrassed to admit how much I enjoyed this little exercise. You will find the first-place winner immediately below and some of the best of the remaining bunch in the Feedback section of the eZine. Oh, to bask in feigned adulation!
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An Apple a Day…
There is an old, old saying, I believe attributed to Ben Franklin, that goes something like this: “Such a one that tooteth not his own horn, hath not his horn tooteth whatsoever.” And a sad thing that would be: that a person – or an eZine for that matter – would go without a compliment. Never one to leave this sort of thing up to chance, personally, I am not above fishing for a good word (do you think this browser makes me look fat?).
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Woodworking Season Starts
It’s Go Time! With the arrival of September, many predictable things are happening: kids are heading back to school, the days are getting shorter, and my Minnesota Vikings are preparing to once more break my heart at some point in the season. But there is one autumnal event that always lifts my spirits — “woodworking season” kicks back into high gear. So with that feature of fall in mind, I want to announce a sweepstakes that we’ve designed to bring an even more festive atmosphere to your shop.
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The Next Generation: Making it So
Each August I have the opportunity to judge woodworking projects from school-age kids that have been submitted to our Minnesota State Fair. (The second largest state fair in the country — drat those hyper-competitive Texans!) I must confess that there is a small degree of tedium to the task — hmm, 30 nearly identical clocks … which is best? But with that said, I always feel a huge lift when I first see the pile of projects made by woodworkers who range from 3rd grade all the way through senior high. As I am sure you can imagine, the skill levels range widely and the projects vary with the interests of the builder, but the expression of their enthusiasm is nearly universal.
