Time Flies

The older I get, the more I realize the truth in the Latin saying “Tempus Fugit”; time flies. Plus a second truth: “As time flies, the world changes.” 

I’ve read the Anderson Valley Advertiser for most of my life; as a kid in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Homer Mannix was editor/publisher, as a young adult in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, when Maurice Tindall wrote his “Down to Earth” columns, and in recent years, with Bruce Anderson at the helm and Mark Scaramella as his able associate. All or part of eight decades, each one of which seemingly flew by faster than the last. 

Have I agreed with everything the Anderson Valley Advertiser published? No. Indeed, I have disagreed so strongly on some matters that I have shared my views in letters and in the online “Comments.” 

Whether I agreed or disagreed with the AVA, I have always appreciated its role; to provide local, regional, national and international news and views to Anderson Valley and to provide Anderson Valley news, views and history to the wider world. 

Time flies, the world changes and now the Anderson Valley Advertiser is discontinuing its print edition and moving entirely online. For those of us who like the heft of newspaper in our hands, the ability to move from page to page to read stories and advertisements, and the freedom to read them without dealing with a computer or smartphone, it is a transition we are loathe to make. But make it we must. 

Which brings me to the point of this article. Even with only an online presence, the Anderson Valley Advertiser deserves support. It is one of the reasons Anderson Valley is unique: one of the reasons it is (mostly) loved by residents, former residents and visitors alike. Readers, renew those Anderson Valley Advertiser online subscriptions. Local businesses, consider advertising in the AVA online. Local folks, send the AVA editors ephemera that highlight Anderson Valley and Mendocino County, past and present. Local writers, put pen to paper (see how things change) and give the AVA first opportunity to publish the results. 

However it is presented, may the Anderson Valley Advertiser long continue to be an accurate chronicler of the local scene. May it also continue to – by turns – enlighten and aggravate its readers. Because that is what journalism is all about.