I stumbled across a new opinion column from The New York Times a few days ago entitled, “Spend All Your Disposable Income on Events That Make You Feel Alive.”

As with most articles I read (and with most everything else in life too), there were parts I did and did not resonate with (sorry, who has that much disposable anything right now?). The writer, Rachel Feintzeig, even said she wasn’t sure she would have agreed with such statements five years ago, “but it’s been a weird summer.”

She mentioned the lettuce-induced explosive diarrhea parasite thing and the hazardous air from the wildfires as a couple of those real-life moments that made it hard to acknowledge the good around us this summer.

Locally (and according to Facebook, at least), some might consider downtown Eau Claire’s new paid parking system our version of the diarrhea parasite.

But I digress – the real point of that column was this: Despite it all, you can still experience some genuine goodness by getting off the internet and out into your community.

This past weekend, Fall Festival returned with boba and food aplenty, pumpkin-shaped and Spider-Man bouncy houses, interactive art exhibits, live performances and more along Barstow Street. What was surely thousands of people shared that street for a few hours and it was all smiles, bumping into neighbors, friends, and that person whose email you haven’t responded to yet (just me?).

That is the kind of thing that feels good. Sun on your back, milling around among folks of all ages, actively experiencing something normal, simple, good. 

Remember that – normal, simple, good things?

I know, having heard it from readers in-person and over the phone/email/social media, that most people like to read Volume One because it’s good news.

Now, not everything is rainbows and sunshine all the time, but there really is a lot of good happening in the Chippewa Valley. It helps to know the right place to look though. We'd like to think we're one of them. 

Here's to getting your dose of good news, somewhere in these 80-plus pages – hey, it's free, and there's no poop parasite in them. Promise.