Notes From The Cabin in the Sky 09-26-2025

We live in exciting times. Then again, it may just be that living chronologically is always an exciting experience. Was there ever a boring time? I can't remember one, at least on the Comstock. Reno, perhaps.

Back to my point. Things move fast these days. Words, in particular, move fast, circling the world with the click of a mouse. Much is made of words spoken or spewed online, and a lot of it is forgotten in the tumult of the next 24 hour news cycle.

One of the things I love about assembling a weekly printed paper is the balance of intention and alacrity that we must bring to the craft. It has to be timely. We only have so many pages. It can't contain everything under the sun. And we get to think just long enough about it, because every week this gets printed on real paper and goes out to real people and gets filed in real brick and mortar Storey County offices as the official Paper of Record.

Maybe it's intention and permanance that is missing from online discourse. People call their friends and neighbors the worst things from behind a screen, confident that the algorithm will hide it the next day in a pile of new screeds and ads selling happiness one click at a time, manufactured in China.

I don't think that's all it is, but I do think it would help to add some weight to the process. Try it next time you're tempted to call someone out online. Imagine printing it out on paper and handing it to them in person. And then filing a copy with the county clerk...hello everyone in the Storey County Clerk's office, and thank you for reading.

There's still one ingredient that we need to add to online conversation, and every conversation. Throw out the measuring cup; you can't have too much of this part. It's love. Love for your fellow man. Love for life. Love for each breath you take.

People get wound pretty tight about the intertwined concepts of love and God and sometimes they fight wars over them. It's funny because there's so MUCH of both that nobody needs to worry about running out. But we walk around sometimes as if we've only got so much love in our pocket and we're saving it for the cat. If we give some to the people around us, we'll find that the well never runs dry, and that we end up grateful for the experience and start to feel that glow within us that is often described as spiritual transformation and faith.

I've always found the Comstock to be full of love. Some of the happiest days of my childhood were spent in Gold Hill. I have found deep friendships and brotherhood in Virginia City. It's a wonderful place to raise my family. But online, it's the same battle lines as anywhere else. If, like me, you're tired of watching people whose company you enjoy in real life be rude to each other on the internet, write me a letter about how great somebody is and I'll print it in the paper.

Love conquers all, and the sun is up over Devil's Gate. Time to go to print. May you ever walk in the sunlight of the spirit.

Signing off, AG