Clarksville Living Magazine — January 2020
The January 2020 Clarksville Living Magazine resolves to bring joy in the new year, revisits the once-divisive Downtown Commons, and laughs at the confusion of modern life.
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The cover feature, “Bring Joy in 2020,” set an intentional tone for the year, trading the usual resolution guilt for a simpler aim: more joy, cultivated on purpose.
“Downtown Commons” took stock of a civic success story. The heated debates that surrounded the project's beginnings were now just faded memory, the feature noted, as the gathering space had become a beloved fixture of downtown Clarksville. “Confusion. Confusion Everywhere” brought a lighter, knowing humor, riffing on the viral Buzz Lightyear meme to make a wry point about the overload of modern life. The recurring departments filled out the issue, from a Pet Corner on New Year's resolutions for your pet to the Network pages connecting local readers and businesses.
Read in hindsight, the issue is a quiet time capsule of the last ordinary January before the pandemic — a community making resolutions, celebrating a downtown gathering place, and laughing at everyday absurdities, with the year's great disruption still weeks away. It makes the joy the cover promised feel, in retrospect, both innocent and worth holding onto.
The Downtown Commons feature caught up with the little park that had become a fixture of downtown life — its early, heated debates now faded memories for the few who recall them, while for many it was the site of new family traditions. Paula Atkins, Event Planning Manager for Downtown Commons on behalf of Montgomery County Government, walked the writer through its growth: a third ice-rink season underway and two summers open, the seasonal rink a real logistical challenge but a beloved one.
Table of Contents
- Bring Joy in 2020 (p. 6)
- Downtown Commons (p. 8)
- New Year, Better You (p. 12)
- Confusion. Confusion Everywhere (p. 16)
- The Holiday Fun Continues (p. 18)
- Pet Corner: New Year Resolutions for Your Pet (p. 22)
Regular Departments
- Petpix (p. 24)
- Fridge (p. 26)
- Calendar (p. 28)
- Network (p. 36)
