Welcome to the Blog!
Just opened this blog, and somehow I feel it necessary to go through all of the usual "just posted" stuff. Like starting a new diary, "dear diary, today I am starting a new journal." Duh. Still and all, have to go through the hoops to get to the destination.
I'm hoping that this site works as a sort of conversation for those who want to contribute to the cultural landscape of Fresno, and the surrounding areas. It seems that we are in the midst of an artistic and cultural Renaissance here. I wonder though if Renaissance is the right word. Did we ever really lose the arts here? Or did we just sort of forget about them? Fresno was incorporated in 1885, and from everything I've been able to garner about the history it was a neat place to live. Of course, there is always the romanticizing about the past that people suffer from, but Fresno's history always makes it sound so... vital. First there is the architecture that doesn't exist anymore. Follow this link: http://www.sjvls.org/cgi-bin/dig_b3/fr/1 (but come back, because I'm not done) and then go downtown. Do you recognize any of those buildings?
If you ever listen to KMJ 580 AM, at 8:30 am and 5:30 pm they do little snipets of "The Valley's Legends and Legacies" by Catherine Rehart. Stories about Opera societies and art guilds and all these things that gave residents a rich cultural heritage. It seems that Fresno's history has been filled with its residents trying to make it the best place to live. We're the same sort of unloved step-sibling to San Francisco as Bakersfield is to LA. "Our" freeway, the road that connects us with the rest of the state is an over-crowded mostly two-lane state route that, despite the fact that we've been on the fastest growing list my entire life, never seems good enough to merit an upgrade to Interstate. State Route 99 is one of the busiest and most critical arteries of the country, let alone the state, and the quality of much of it is vastly inferior to its needs and services. But I digress.
The Renaissance is a revitalization of everything that Fresno once thought it could be. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a pass-through and start thinking of ourselves as a destination. When I was a kid, before I left Fresno (for what I thought would be forever), we used to ask new residents why on earth they would ever want to live here. Now that I have been to that cultural Mecca known as New York City for a good quarter of my life, I know. Fresno is a great place to live. The people are great. The history is fantastic. And the potential is limitless. The Woodward Shakespeare Festival, along with the Parks, the Met, the Art Museum, The Philharmonic, Opera, Ballet, Community Theater, The Rogue Festival, Arts Council, and so on, and so on are making this a great place to live. But also a great place to VISIT. Come stay for a day. Go see the underground gardens. Take the blossom trail. Tour the vineyards. Come see what we have to offer. And, oh yeah, if you have time, go to Yosemite too. But on the way, don't forget Oakhurst, and Merced, and Mariposa. And Selma, and Visalia. And Clovis. And...
Take part in our Renaissance. Create it. Join in. Get off your butt, turn off the TV and do SOMETHING!
I'm hoping that this site works as a sort of conversation for those who want to contribute to the cultural landscape of Fresno, and the surrounding areas. It seems that we are in the midst of an artistic and cultural Renaissance here. I wonder though if Renaissance is the right word. Did we ever really lose the arts here? Or did we just sort of forget about them? Fresno was incorporated in 1885, and from everything I've been able to garner about the history it was a neat place to live. Of course, there is always the romanticizing about the past that people suffer from, but Fresno's history always makes it sound so... vital. First there is the architecture that doesn't exist anymore. Follow this link: http://www.sjvls.org/cgi-bin/dig_b3/fr/1 (but come back, because I'm not done) and then go downtown. Do you recognize any of those buildings?
If you ever listen to KMJ 580 AM, at 8:30 am and 5:30 pm they do little snipets of "The Valley's Legends and Legacies" by Catherine Rehart. Stories about Opera societies and art guilds and all these things that gave residents a rich cultural heritage. It seems that Fresno's history has been filled with its residents trying to make it the best place to live. We're the same sort of unloved step-sibling to San Francisco as Bakersfield is to LA. "Our" freeway, the road that connects us with the rest of the state is an over-crowded mostly two-lane state route that, despite the fact that we've been on the fastest growing list my entire life, never seems good enough to merit an upgrade to Interstate. State Route 99 is one of the busiest and most critical arteries of the country, let alone the state, and the quality of much of it is vastly inferior to its needs and services. But I digress.
The Renaissance is a revitalization of everything that Fresno once thought it could be. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a pass-through and start thinking of ourselves as a destination. When I was a kid, before I left Fresno (for what I thought would be forever), we used to ask new residents why on earth they would ever want to live here. Now that I have been to that cultural Mecca known as New York City for a good quarter of my life, I know. Fresno is a great place to live. The people are great. The history is fantastic. And the potential is limitless. The Woodward Shakespeare Festival, along with the Parks, the Met, the Art Museum, The Philharmonic, Opera, Ballet, Community Theater, The Rogue Festival, Arts Council, and so on, and so on are making this a great place to live. But also a great place to VISIT. Come stay for a day. Go see the underground gardens. Take the blossom trail. Tour the vineyards. Come see what we have to offer. And, oh yeah, if you have time, go to Yosemite too. But on the way, don't forget Oakhurst, and Merced, and Mariposa. And Selma, and Visalia. And Clovis. And...
Take part in our Renaissance. Create it. Join in. Get off your butt, turn off the TV and do SOMETHING!
posted by Christien at 12:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home