Might this be just the sort of thing to discuss at the Virginia Forum  
2008, next April 11 and 12 in Fredericksburg?  See http:// 
www.virginiaforum.org/, and perhaps consider contacting the Program  
Committee to see what might be possible.

--Jurretta Heckscher


On Sep 28, 2007, at 4:51 PM, Walter Waddell wrote:

> 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?