Introducing Southington Heartbeat

Welcome to Southington Heartbeat. 

This e-newsletter approach to publishing my stories and commentaries is intended to expand the readership and widen the scope of the content of my column, Appleseed, published weekly in the Southington Citizen for the last forty weeks.  

The excerpt below from my first edition of Appleseed published on May 31, 2014 will offer a sense of the idea of Appleseed, how it came about and what it covers. 

The following was published in the 
Southington Citizen on May 31, 2014:
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I recently got an email from my editor, Nick Carroll:  “Had an idea I wanted you to chew on. How about a weekly column about life in Southington? I’m thinking ‘slice of life’ type of stuff, nothing heavy. Think about a name for the column. I’ll call you tomorrow." He called. We talked. I chewed. Waking up at 4 am next morning, I heard myself muttering indistinctly: ‘apple seed’, over and over. Waking, my wife turned: “What’s going on? You’re talking gibberish.” So, I told her. She loved it. I sent it to Nick. Then three of us loved it. We hope you will, too!  

The name of the column: Of course, the apple is an icon in Southington, Connecticut, known for its great apple orchards. We’re in the heart of Apple Valley where, every October, thousands come to our famous Apple Harvest Festival, the Big Parade and two weekends of celebratory goings on promoting who we are and what we’re about, enjoying our local Apple Fritters, Shenandoah Steaks and much more. That’s right, there’s more, and it will be the mission of Appleseed, like America's famous folklore hero, Johnny Appleseed, to promote and spread ideas! What drove the idea of Appleseed home in my own mind, was the thought that my wife and I grew up in Brooklyn, New York's largest borough in The Big Apple.

So,  when  we moved to Southington 19 years ago, (now 20), we took our roots, seeds and all, with us for our journey into retirement in Apple Valley.  The final glue that set the name came after I hopped onto Google and discovered a national organization of collaborative lawyers doing pro-bono work under the name of The Appleseed Foundation: Sewing the Seeds of Justice. Case closed! Enter Appleseed. We expect you will come to see that Appleseed is really about the heart and soul of the people of Southington, their generosity, their spirit of community, family and faith, and their day in and day out endeavors to make our community healthier and stronger, serving the many, including the least among us who bear the worst of life's struggles.

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There you have it, folks, my first edition of Southington Heartbeat and an excerpt of Appleseed.  Subscribe via email to Fortunatoblog@gmail.com or save the URL as a favorite and drop in from time to time.