Newsblog: The May/June issue of Utne Reader has an interesting piece about quality of life. The introduction to it is titled Reimagining the Good Life: There’s more to life than the pursuit of private splendor and the meat of the piece is: A Quality-of-life Checklist to help sort out what really matters in your world.
When I read it the first time, I had a strong sense of gratitude, both about the town of Northfield where I live, and the nearby Twin Cities’ metro area. I have most of these things in my life by living where I do. I made a note to include something about these articles in my weblog.
After a glorious thundershower yesterday afternoon and a tasty dinner of brats and turkey burgers, my wife and daughter and I leisurely strolled downtown Northfield to listen to the live music at The Contented Cow. I was in a trance of appreciation. As we approached the Riverview Patio at the back of the Cow, there stood Utne Reader editor Jay Walljasper, the author of those Quality of Life articles, along with his wife Julie Ristau, new co-publisher of the magazine, and their young son. They’d been bicycling on a nearby bike trail and stopped for dinner and a stroll. Now there’s a coincidence of significant proportion.
Julie said she’d been thinking about contacting me since her responsibilities include Cafe Utne, my baby, as she wanted some history on all that’s happened. And when I gave Jay my one-liner on Real Joe (“an irreverent Oprah for guys”), his eyes seem to light up and we made plans to get together so I can fill him in. Who knows what might develop.