From Where I Sit REFLECTIONS ON A MOMENTOUS YEAR
	DECEMBER 2004

by Richard Koscher, Publisher

The end of the year is an appropriate time for reflection upon the past. This was a great year for 110° Magazine, and we look forward to an even better year in 2005.

My favorite event this year was September’s Marsh Creek Cleanup. More than 350 people showed up to help us clean up the Creek. The number of volunteers was up from 60 last year and only 20 just four years before.

I want to thank everyone who came to help us that day. Because of your dedication, three tons of garbage — a great tower of trash — no longer clogs and defaces our lovely stream.

Something much more momentous than a community cleanup event happened to me personally this year. On the last day of August, my daughter was born. My wife, Amber, and I have been sleep-deprived during much of the time since little Ella’s birth, but we have been fascinated throughout the entire time. We are looking forward to observing her growth and development.

I’ve discovered that becoming a father for the first time changes many things for a man. Perhaps it is more true to say that it changes everything. Ella, I love you, Schatzi!

Political Recovery
One of the things most of us can rejoice over during this time of celebration is that the silly-season of national and local politics is over for a couple more years.

Most of us grew really tired of political ads, I think. Don Huntington, our Editor In Chief, said that he was tired of them when he received the first one. When was that? Did those things begin showing up in my mailbox in April?

I can’t imagine how many millions of dollars and tons of paper, candidates wasted on those flyers and print spots. And the TV ads hammered me to the point of numbness. I don’t know how many of those I saw. It felt like there must have been thousands of them, though probably they numbered only a few hundred. And I can’t remember the message on a single one of them!

Every four years my wife, Amber, wonders again if her vote really counts, especially here in California. By the time she gets home from her teaching job and casts her ballot, the media is announcing the winners.

Maybe we should be smart like Don Huntington. He and his wife always vote by absentee ballot. They cast their votes back in October.

The current issue is once again full of interesting articles. We’re covering topics ranging from firefighters who put their lives on the line for us, to a school choir director who has been inspiring her students for decades, to a remarkable Winter Wonderland vision for Brentwood. And many other articles that we loved reading ourselves!

What a great place East County is to live! What a great job I have publishing 110° Magazine!

May each of you have a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year!