Finally, I got it . Instead of waiting for someone else to publish a new age newspaper for Gainesville, I realized I could do it myself. In fact, I felt Divinely inspired to do it. Since hardly anyone had a computer yet, I typed all the articles myself on an electric typewriter. It was truly hand-crafted and unless people had their own graphic, logo, or business card, all the ads had to be made by hand too. The whole process was exhilarating for me.
A project like this couldn't be done alone and I was blessed with the greatest people to play with. Dottie Zavada, Associate Editor; my husband Gordon Greenwood, Copy Editor; son Richard Greenwood, Art Director; Mary Masidonski, Advertising Manager; Lonnie Lockett, Distribution Manager; and Ronni Gardner, Consultant and Columnist.
Since I'm obviously on a nostalgia trip, I'll share the editorial I wrote for the Premiere Issue, May, 1983. Gordon and I celebrated our first anniversary that month. I still called myself Patti Normandy then, but that would change after awhile. So here's the editorial.
ANOTHER LINK IN THE NETWORK
There is a new age and it is here and now. You live in it even if you have never heard of it. It is a transformation of consciousness happening all over the planet at once, driven by centers like Gainesville, Florida. An underground, of sorts, is coming out of the closet, into the light.
Because it is "...continually being formed as it is being informed, the new age resists definition," according to Paul Hoffman, a Gainesville networker and publisher of Light Streams, a new age directory. It is a state of mind, a transformed attitude toward life as we experience a cultural and personal awakening. Some of us know about the new age because of experiences we have had that have changed our perception of what life is all about. Some of us are asking, "What do you mean when you say New Age?" For those of us who know, no answer is necessary. For those of us who are asking the question, no definition is satisfactory.
As the consciousness changes, thousands of networks have formed to facilitate the shifting paradigms. "Transformative ideas also appear in the guise of health books and sports manuals, in advice on diet, business management, self-assertion, stress, relationships, and self-improvement," says Marilyn Ferguson in The Aquarian Conspiracy. These networks create mountains of magazines, directories, newsletters, and even directories of all these publications, such as Networking: The First Report and Directory, by Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps. As we grow to feel the connection within ourselves, with each other, and with our planet, we reach out and link up in these boundless structures we call networks.
There is a "NEW AGE gainesville" and it is peopled by consciousness revolutionaries sharing a positive attitude toward life. More of a parallel culture than a counter-culture, the new age speaks to our uniqueness as evolving beings and allows that the search for truth is an intensely personal quest. There is nothing to join and we represent no organization. This publication is a love offering, a means of sharing our selves with each other, to offer possibilities outside the mainstream for linking up with people and ideas, to share the new awareness of collective goals and planetary consciousness.
We share a common vision of a positive future and a dream that if we somehow mobilize our energies for the good of our human family and our planet, we can reverse the trend toward adding humankind to the list of endangered species. We suggest alternatives. The choices are yours. We are one.
In love and light,
Patti Normandy
