GreetingsView – Aaah Fall

Aaaaahh Fall.
There is just something magic about this time of year. It is chilly when I go out each morning to pick up my newspapers. Yes, I get three newspapers, the Modesto Bee, SF Chronicle and the New York Times. A nice cool morning with a cup of coffee, flipping the pages of a newspaper. It is bliss. Plus, there is something great about reading a newspaper, or a magazine like ModestoView as you can’t swipe left, or right and you read all sorts of things you hadn’t planned on reading. That is where a good education comes from is reading and understanding the different things that happen in our world. It’s different reading a printed page than a screen. I think that the more time we take to read and learn the better decisions we make and become good critical thinkers, as opposed to just parroting the stuff on cable news. This month, we take a deep dive in our local education as we meet and interview Dr. Sara Noguchi, Superintendent of Modesto City Schools. It is a challenge to try to education a diverse group of people, and it gets harder all the time. So let’s take time to celebrate our teachers and those that take that challenge to educate the next generations.

October went by so fast, it seems like school started, we had the MAMA Awards and then it was Halloween all in the blink of an eye. The tomato trucks are off the roads, and the fall flavors start teasing us about the holidays. I am a traditionalist. November is for Thanksgiving all the way through Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day off to be with family and friends. At our house, the Christmas light switch doesn’t go on until the day after thanksgiving, and even then, I don’t get near a big box. My time and my money stays at our locally owned businesses on Black Friday and Shop Small Saturday and especially at ModShop. If you do it right, you can take care of all of your holiday giving on this one day in downtown Modesto, or at boutiques in McHenry Village. You can always get a 55” TV, but you can’t always get a cool wonky felt creature or something hand made. Make your giving count this year,

Speaking of giving, there are people and families that are in need this year and we can all help. I am proud to be one of the kettle bell ringers at the Salvation Army Kettle Kick Off with my Graffiti USA Museum colleagues and our Modesto Children’s Museum friends. When you give, please make sure what you give goes directly to the programs that actually help people. I would be honored to take your Thanksgiving donation to the Salvation Army and make sure it goes to a good cause. Email me at Chrism@ModestoView.com<mailto:Chrism@ModestoView.com> if you would like to donate. We can make a difference and do good for others,

So let’s have some fun this month and enjoy the live entertainment in town, the amazing harvest flavors with butternut squash and other fall tastes and cheer to the sounds of our favorite football teams and make sure we take time to get outside and take a deep breath and really enjoy, maybe even run a Thanksgiving 5K at the Turkey Trot.

Rockin’ Holiday is coming on December 3rd. We will light the Rockin’ Tree, enjoy the Rockin’ Snow, and hang out with Rockin’ Santa and create a lot of holiday memories. If you would like to help us or sponsor Rockin’ Holiday, please let me know.

Friends this has been a tough year for many and hard on our local businesses. That’s why ModestoView features our hard-working local companies and encourage you to visit them. We are so very thankful that we have local businesses that believe in ModestoView to be the beacon of good news and positive information. Thanks to our ViewCrew, that each do their part to make Modesto better, and share what they are working on each month. Our ViewCrew are not just writers, they are the “doers” that create and make things happen and I am glad that we can help spread the good words. Thanks to all of them, we are able to design, print and distribute ModestoView all across our county. I am very thankful to you all.

Most of all, I am thankful for my family for being the true source of my energy and happiness. Everyday I am grateful that my kids live here in Modesto and we are able to share so much of our lives together. I wish each and everyone of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope that you find the thanks that you need this fall as we take time to gather.

And finally, VOTE on November 8. If you believe in preserving our democracy and our individual rights, this is essential.

See you all out and about and please say hey if you get a chance,
With gratitude,
Chris Murphy
Founder & Publisher, ModestoView
Chrism@ModestoView.com<mailto:hrism@ModestoView.com>