My 180-degree panoramic northwest porch view here in Verona, Virginia hardly compares with 
the ambient pleasantness and grandeur of the sweeping vistas viewed from Madison's 
Montpelier, Jefferson's Monticello, or Monroe's Ashlawn-Highland estates. Similarly, my 
life accomplishments, successes, and failures are hardly material for historical note. But 
I believe I did once enjoy something more than these great men may have had either the 
time or opportunity to do so during their occupancy of those great estates.

I keep an old, but beautifully restored, milk box on my porch. My wife has colored it in 
keeping with the porch's décor and weatherproofed it for me. I store varied reading 
material in it and after yard work and on other occasions when I am just enjoying my 
porch; I can reach in to my outdoor library and have, to my mind, some of the best of what 
this world offers.

In preparing the milk box to winter over, I was made to empty it contents. At the bottom 
of the stack were several issues of the Virginia Cavalcade. I thumbed through them and 
remembered that I had read one or two articles from each but had not read all the articles 
from all of them. All of these issues were very recent to the announcement to the magazine's 
death. I had this thought that I had at one time all the intentions of perusing their 
contents; but, upon knowing that the magazine would no longer be a regular in my mailbox, 
I "kinda" gave up -- succumbing to the sin of despair, disappointment, and defeat --  
nothing to look forward to so why bother.

As I write this, I remember the wonderful Virginia stories, the colorful and beautiful 
photographs and art work, and the engaging maps and drawings this magazine brought to my 
mailbox and the pleasure I had enjoying a good read on my very own porch -- again 
something I had that those fellows above may not have had.

James Shreeve said in his "The Neanderthal Enigma: Solving the Mystery of Modern Human 
Origins: "By all appearances, the people of the Upper Paleolithic came into an innocent, 
unexamined world and galvanized it with symbol, art, metaphor, and story. They did not 
simply invent better means of surviving. They invented meaning itself." The rationales for 
the emergence of modern humans are varied and many. "No matter the cause, 40,000 years ago 
our ancestors developed an imagination. They learned to ask, What if?.."

What if: a pool of authoritative, talented historians could submit digital material to an 
authoritative, professionally managed editorial staff?

What if: approved material could be published entirely and only in "html" or "pdf" format 
complete with photographs and graphics and published on a web site?

What if: interested readers could subscribe to that web site and enjoy complete 
"downloading" rights to published material?

What if: interested subscribers could print out that material in a variety of quantity and 
quality forms including, but not limited to, glossy 8 x 10 photographic paper?

What if: interested subscribers could bind or insert downloaded pages into plastic sleeves 
and create their own copy of a magazine?

What if: I could sit on my lowly porch and relish something that former magnificent 
Virginia "thinkers, movers, and shakers" couldn't even imagine despite the splendor from 
their own vistas?

What if: someone has a better idea?

What if: they made it known?