Vital Community

When folks hit the street in Midtown Ruidoso on Halloween, I was reminded again of how important our connections with each other are in a small community. Smiles, handshakes, and hugs were all around as people greeted each other, taking just a little time out of their day-to-day to enjoy walking up and down the sidewalks. The costumes were great, of course, and the merchants were generous in giving out candy to all the superheroes, princesses, and other characters (young and old) that promenaded - it reminded me of the Latin American tradition of strolling around the plaza on a Sunday afternoon to enjoy the local color and greet friends and neighbors. It would be so nice to be able to experience a vital Midtown a lot more often.

Keeping the arts alive

Vital Signs - Yes, the arts communities are alive and well ... well, depending on who you talk to! And, from my experience, they can remain so only if we all work together.

Designed to be an arts and entertainment blog that covers both Lincoln and Otero counties, it is intended to be a forum for ideas and suggestions, for collaboration and conversation, as well as a means for getting the word out about our adventures in all aspects of the arts.

I hope it will not only serve as a forum, but will also ultimately lead to a better ¡Vámonos! Our Ruidoso News Web site will soon include the means for posting your events, performances, gallery openings, community meetings and such, which will help get information to the folks you wish to reach, as well as assist me in getting them into both the print and online versions of ¡Vámonos!

For now, let's get the ball rolling. Simply post your ideas and suggestions. Start a conversation. How can we improve collaboration between various organizations? How can we better establish our area as an arts destination for tourists? What other questions come to mind? And share with us your dreams, your events, your accomplishments.

I will respond to as many comments as time allows, and of course you may use it to respond to each other's posts. Suggestions as to new topics may also be sent to me via email at skashmar@ruidosonews.com.

Thanks for joining in!