Heartland

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When Bryan Welch, publisher and editorial director of Ogden, turned to me at dinner this past January and asked if, assuming I could continue to play an active role, I'd ever consider selling Utne, I knew instinctively that Ogden represented our best possible future: The magazine can now thrive and evolve in trustworthy hands; our staff is part of a growing company that is a beacon in the field of independent publishing; and I will continue as editor at large (look for my column on the back page in future issues).

Eric's vision has endured and touched many lives over the past 22 years. It has been humbling and inspiring to hear how powerfully the ideas and images in these pages have reverberated in ways we never could have imagined. I speak for both of us when I say that we are grateful to you, our readers, past, present, and future, for your inquiring minds, open hearts, and courageous actions. You give us hope.

It's said that every cell in our bodies is replaced every seven years. So I am literally not the same person who stumbled into this role. I certainly have more gray hair, but I also have more patience, more compassion, and more willingness to look foolish. Now the sale of the magazine offers me the exciting and daunting opportunity to reimagine myself.

One thing that I know now that I didn't know seven years ago is that the discomfort of not knowing is an essential part of the process of creativity and change. The truth is that we rarely know as much as we think we do-or as much as we wish we did-so we might as well find some humor and ease in the fact that we are always in the unknown.

May your next seven years unfold in ways that surprise and amaze you. May you find ways to put your gifts to service. May you laugh and cry and dance with the vicissitudes of life.

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