At Volume One we do our best to keep tabs on everything interesting that happens throughout the Chippewa Valley. Thankfully, it seems the velocity of interesting things happening – good things – continues to increase with each passing year. With that in mind, every December we stop and take a quick look over our shoulder at a few of the most notable of these happenings, compiling them into our annual Year in Review Quiz. All the big news (and much of the small news) can be found there, but it’s your job to tease out some of the finer details. You can do this here in the mag or you can do it online at VolumeOne.org and share your results on social media for all to see. On a national and international level, many people would acknowledge significant parts of 2016 made it an awkward mess of a year. Wars, shootings, fake news, public figure deaths, elections … a whole bunch of crappy stuff. Or it would at least seem that way if you ingested a steady diet of TV news. But down here on the front lines of the Chippewa Valley, we’ve got a lot to feel good about. Sure, we have our struggles. But we’ve got a community that genuinely works together toward its own betterment. A place that increasingly embraces new ideas and initiatives. A place that takes pride in constantly improving itself. So in a way, while all these national and international issues are highly important, we can at least take solace in the fact that around here, we mostly have our act together. So let’s pivot out of 2016 and take aim at what’s ahead – another year of collaboration, creativity, and community.