Letter from the Editor: Your Time Travel Adventure

Before we time travel into the future, I want to take a moment to step backwards into the near past.

It's 2023, and when I log into social media, I see people arguing over the content of paywalled articles, upset solely on the click-bait headline in the link. There must be a more equitable way to get information out to people, I think. And heck, while we're dreaming, we might as well pay reporters a fair wage, too. So, I imagined a future where we, the people who needed to know what's happening, had won.

Now let's jump into our time machine and set the dial for Today. Through the work of a handful of talented reporters, board members and donors, a fairly outlandish dream is now a reality. This is how I know it's worth thinking about a better future: we're living in it right now, and the bigger we dream, the better our world becomes.

So, what happened when I asked you to time travel ahead to 2036?

Here is what Nan Toby Tyrrell saw when she opened the door to her time machine:

"I imagine a community where the buses run smoothly and the bus drivers are kind and treated with respect. The streets are easy to walk and drive without potholes. Older people are respected for their experiences and are able to share their stories with students. The Rose theater is a thriving mecca and the Uptown theater is now given new owners who create a  meeting place for change and music. Poets and artists can share their ideas and work together in a peaceful setting. The Saturday and Wednesday farmers market are filled with many cultures, and people greet each other with curiosity and love. There is a harmony now with less anger and resentment and more open dialogue."

David Wayne Johnson's time machine opened onto a future I very much can't wait to be in:

"Port Townsend has just become the first recognized "Cooperative Based" City in the United States, meaning that, like the Food Co-op, a majority of the businesses in town are cooperative in that all the people who work for the business are co-owners of the business and share in the profits and participate in the decision-making process that guides the business.

This has radically improved the lives of all citizens, and people from all over the world are coming to Port Townsend to study the model and celebrate the jovial atmosphere and incredible beauty and bounty that exists here.

The PT Paper Mill finally seized operations as a paper bag manufacturer and sold the facilities to "Citizens United Port Townsend", an economic cooperative working in concert with the City and the Port of Port Townsend to re-purpose the site for light to medium manufacturing and wood milling as the Jefferson County Lumber Cooperative has taken up residence there.

Port Townsend just won the "National Cities of Innovation" award for their project to de-centralize home utilities by building solar, wind electrical generation, rainwater gathering, and composting waste systems into all new homes, and retro fitting the same systems into most existing homes, thereby making homes more resilient and independent from fluctuations in centralized utility service, while easing the strain on existing utilities and provided electricity back into the gird.

Port Townsend has also been awarded as one of the "healthiest, happiest cities on the planet" by Earth Zone magazine, mainly for its ability to feed itself with only local, organic, non-processed, non-GMO food and the reduced level of teenage obesity as measured by the Local Health Department. A huge contributing factor to this is the innovative "Kids First" program initiated in local school district and the County's Parks and Recreation program to continually provide active, fun and health things for children of all ages to do after school and on the weekend, providing healthy food, sports, games, building and science projects and activities that don't include digital screen time."  

I love both futures, and can't wait to join you all in them. As for this present, I'm taking off my editor's hat (it looks remarkably similar to my time travel helmet) and preparing to launch into a new future of my own. We're not ready to announce our new editor yet, but in the meantime, you'll be in great hands with deputy editor Rachael Nutting.

If you'd like to keep in touch, you can reach out to me at me@nhattnichols.com or sign up for my long-dead but soon to be revived newsletter on my website.

Fiercely,
Nhatt Nichols
Founding Editor