letter
… Paved With Good Intentions
I
t’s January (as I write this, anyway), and so naturally I’ve got my New Year’s resolutions on my mind. My No. 1 goal for 2023 is simply to treat myself – mind, body and soul – better. If I’m being honest, I’m failing at the moment. I had one glorious day where I felt at ease and tried to keep the momentum going, but inevitably I fell back into some lousy routines. I literally just ate a cookie for breakfast (not knocking it if that’s your jam; it just probably shouldn’t be mine). I keep thinking back to the The Morning newsletter from The New York Times that I received in my personal inbox (teeming with 37,000-plus unread emails) on Jan. 7. I do open these most often, at least, and I’m especially grateful I did this day. In it, editor Melissa Kirsch encouraged her audience to “resolve to always be resolving. … You don’t need a specific day of the year to start to change your life. You can resolve to do something differently … anytime.” I’m trying to take that to heart and, rather than waste time punishing myself for what I haven’t accomplished, I’m choosing to focus on the changes I can make, even if they are small. I finally did purchase a new planner, and I swear this will be the year it keeps me organized. (To quote one of my favorite TikTok creators, Annakprzy, “It’s called manifesting, look it up.”) In our annual Influencers feature (page 54), we asked each person we profiled to share their hopes for the coming year. They, too, have some lofty dreams for the future, but I have no doubt that they’ll put in the work and be on pace to shape our community in positive ways. This also happens to be a big year for our company – 15 years ago, founder Dan Shannon and a small team of about 11 were putting the finishing touches on the first issue of Durham Magazine. I spoke to him about those early days, and all that’s happened in our city and at our little publishing company since 2008, on page 38. And if you want a visual representation of the magazine’s evolution, turn to page 30 to see all 112 of our covers. As a pervasive ’90s rock band so famously put it, “the years start coming, and they don’t stop coming” – may this one be your best yet.
amanda.maclaren@durhammag.com THE COV E R Photo by John Michael Simpson 4
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