In the first few days of this new year, snow blanketed all corners of the State. It's fitting that this fresh sheet of powder composed a visual blank slate to match the resetting of the calendar from 2013 to 2014. In the continuity of a long existence, transitioning from one 24-hour period to the next often doesn't allow for the transformative change we might wish for. And yet ... and yet. The symbolism of shedding the past to reveal a fresh layer is one of life's most pure opportunities for reinvention and the re-avowal of purpose. This month, the New York States of Mind Magazine explores what it's like to begin — and, in many cases, to begin again. We're sharing of the most fun interviews we've conducted to date: with Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge, better known as the Beekman Boys. Following the termination of their jobs in NYC, these former men-about-town began a new life in the country. Improbably, the all-star advertising executive and doctor literally restored a historic mansion, built a goat farm, and cultivated an heirloom vegetable garden from the ground up. Since 2006, they have grown their estate-turned-franchise into a brand of home products, a TV show, a storefront and, not to be underestimated, the total revival of Sharon Springs, the town in which they live. And throughout the month we examine other interpretations of "beginnings": revisiting some of New York's "firsts" (Hammondsport's Glenn Curtiss received the first pilot's license ever issued by the United States); traveling from start to The End (Montauk, the easternmost point in the State); and look at some repurposed industrial spaces that are starting over with a new mission (including the Albany Barn, the Pfizer building in Brooklyn). Who says life can't have second (or third, or fourth) chapters? Here’s wishing you a beautiful new start.
From New York City,
Christine
Leave a comment