Intro-Communique’

Daily Globe Readers,

I’m honored and excited to be asked to occasionally write and blog some curious insights and experiences. My wife and I spend three months each year traveling this great nation like modern day gypsies. Over the past fifteen years, we’ve attended hundreds of juried art festivals from Fargo to Cody to Tucson, Arizona. We’ve come to know many other artists and artisans who make their living on the road, as we travel together making our living in places distant.

I’ve kept a loosely written journal called Road Notes and it is combined with UnVarnished Essays. These essays were originally written for people outside the Worthington region. Many of these essays are a reflection on the changes I’ve witnessed in our community over the past forty years. It is my hope that these essays offer you some insight into how I relate and project my community to the outside world. A community in which I am proud to call home.

Recently there has been some excitement over in Rochester. The Vice President of the United States was touring and doing some campaigning for the upcoming elections. I was asked/selected to introduce Vice President Joe Biden and share some of my thoughts and concerns. Since that time I have had people ask if I would gather my thoughts and reflections of that day. The reflections were hastily written and were originally meant for consumption by my relatives! I’ve been praised by people for doing this and I have also been dismissed by others. It is my effort to maintain a wide group of friends from all political stripes.

As a business man, I am mindful of my customers and realize that I can nary afford to divide my meager customer base by becoming politically active (rather unintentionally). It is my fervent hope that my customers have sufficient, if not broad intellectual capacity and can appreciate the opportunity and understanding that it is important to try and create an informed opinion that is based on objective thinking and understanding.

Bill Keitel