The Shock of the New
The urge for travel is really a longing for the new, the different, the unexplored. That’s why travel invigorates us: When we plan a trip to a place we’ve never been, we’re inviting the unknown into our lives in a manageable way, on our terms. We’re orchestrating change while still leaving room for surprises.
That longing for new vistas can take us around the world or into our own front yard. It can take us back to a place we’ve known all along but now see with new eyes. That was Sandra Gaffigan’s experience. After a childhood spent reluctantly visiting her father’s special place, she came to understand and love it in a new way, as she writes in her moving essay, “My Father’s Cottage” (My Wisconsin).
Spring is the perfect time to be thinking about travel and adventure. There’s something about the excitement of new green growing things, the sharp freshness in the air, that makes us want to move, go, and explore. Many of the pieces in this issue are designed to help you do just that—like Michael Timm’s “Into the Deep," which brings you deep under the surface of Lake Michigan to look at some of Wisconsin’s most accessible shipwrecks. Or “Here Be Dragons," which takes you to 12th-century Norway by way of Door County.
In “Any Given Saturday," writer Amanda Wegner explores another kind of new: the utterly foreign perspective of a football field from the player’s point of view. Wegner put on pads, helmet, and spikes to spend a day training with the Wisconsin Wolves, a professional women’s football team. The world definitely looks different when you’re taking on the Human Tackling Dummy, as Wegner discovered.
The rest of this issue explores new terrain as well, from a hike through Cathedral Pines (Day Out) to a weekend in Stockholm (Gone for the Weekend) to dinner at one of Madison’s best new restaurants (Dining Out). And, of course, our photo contest winners, who are showcased in this issue, offer a tour of the state through images that matter to them.
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That longing for new adventures leads us in other directions, too. By the time you’re reading this, I will no longer be the editor of Wisconsin Trails. After nearly five years at the helm, and 29 years as an editor, I’m off to do something completely different. Come this fall, I’ll be an assistant professor of magazine journalism at the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. I’m thrilled to be heading back to New York state, where I’ve lived before. But I will surely miss the richness and flavor of the Wisconsin Trails community, just as I’ll miss the landscapes and people I’ve come to love here in Wisconsin. After 16 years, this state feels very much like home to my family and me.
Nothing stays the same—not us, not the people and places we love, not our lives, our jobs, our situations. But change can be a force for growth and maturity. Thank you all for being my companions on this adventure. I look forward to seeing how Wisconsin Trails grows and changes as the next editor comes on board. I hope he or she cherishes it as I have—and I wish you all new and ever more exciting adventures in the years to come.
—Harriet
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