Off to A Wild Start

Here we are, barely a week into the year, and already so much to process.

As the news cycle moves on from exploding Cybertrucks and the horror in New Orleans to the final installment of American democracy and Emma Stone chopping off her hair, 2025 does not portend to be any less rocky than its predecessor.

At least none of us are that poor clumsy kid on the sideline who cost the Georgia Bulldogs their playoff spot for the national championship. I guess that’s one person who can appreciate how even the most shocking events get lost in the spin.

While the doomscroll may be dizzying, we must remain loyal—to our beloved Dawgs and to the mysterious unfolding of our own singular, precious lives. It’s too easy to fritter away our most valuable resources—our time and presence—into our phones, and we deserve better.

My New Year’s intention (so much less stressful than resolutions!) entails paying attention to and nurturing what’s in my sphere of control and unpinning the rest from my home page. (That said, I’m really going to miss Justin Trudeau.)

More community, less politics. Fewer headlines, better information. Less followers, more friends and family. (Subscribers fall in the latter category, obviously.)

Actions matter more than words, and let us trust that those who fuck around will find out soon enough.

Narrowing the scope doesn’t mean taking a myopic stance. The first 25 years of the century has brought much to bear, but our dear little city doesn’t seem to be buying into any quarter-life crisis.

Yes, affordable housing and the ever-widening wealth gap remain pernicious issues, but Savannah finally seems to be catching up to all the post-COVID growth. There’s been a palpable shift as all them sugarcubes fill up with renters, and new businesses and restaurants abound.

From my begrudging perspective, the positive economic development of the last few years is undeniable, though I’m thinking more about the enlivened commercial district on Waters Ave then the megalithic Hyundai plant up the road. (Speaking of the water drama, congratulations to the Ogeechee Riverkeeper on a balletic legal win that will reduce the suck of six million gallons of aquifer water a day by the car manufacturer over the next 15 years.)

If you listen closely to the breeze ruffling the camellia trees (get ready for a spectacular bloom season, my pretties!), you may also notice the sweet chime of change in certain community institutions.

In the good news cycle category, New Year’s week brought the announcements of several career step-ups of longtime locals:

Public relations dynamo Cynthia Cradduck has parlayed her phenomenal decade with Cecilia Russo Marketing into the Assistant VP of PR & Marketing position at Savannah Technical College, the region’s most undersung educational option. With its jewel of a main campus and high-tech, award-winning programs (including a historic preservation degree with far more hands-on learning than the very expensive one downtown), Savannah Tech offers affordable pathways into the area’s most lucrative jobs. Now it has Cynthia to shout such accolades from the solar-paneled rooftops—well, it’s more her style to just calmly raise the school’s profile to the stratosphere like the classy lady she is.

Lovely Cynthia at the uber high-tech Savannah Tech campus

More elevation comes from that honey-voiced angel Mia Mance, now helming the Savannah Downtown Business Association as Executive Director. Whether you know her in previous roles as drive-time radio DJ or her Mia Talks series or the vivacious host of any number of good works galas, you already know this marvelous mama of two can do it all and does, often with a baby on her hip. Local business owners need and deserve more advocacy than ever, and Mia’s diplomacy and networking web will surely help smooth out these cobblestoned streets. Here’s to your executive era, my friend!

The marvelous Mia

Then there’s your favorite writer weirdo, who extracted herself from spreadsheet purgatory back in October mere minutes before my soul died in a sad puddle of corporate boredom.

I was relieved, but back at the bottom of career Chutes & Ladders once again. Professionally, all I’ve ever wanted is to be part of a team of functional, kind, capable people working towards an ethical, exciting mission. (I’m also a big fan of a regular paycheck and health insurance.) The freelance life might be right for some folks, but I’m tired of the hustle and talking to the dogs all the time.

Over the years I’ve contracted out my skills to many different endeavors—from newspapers and magazines to microfinance and sustainability nonprofits to cannabis companies—and I’ve kind of ended up something of an employment unicorn.

Whatever came next, I vowed, would have to include an unwavering appreciation for magical creatures.

So I penned one of those requisite, phonily optimistic “open to work” posts on LinkedIn and went back to moping with my lazy hairy coworkers. Within weeks, I learned of an interesting opportunity: Three years after moving into its new architectural marvel, the Tybee Island Marine Science Center had grown so successfully that it now needed a full-time person to tell its story.

Longtime readers know that our family and TIMSC (pronounced “Tim-ZEE”) have a long history. Back when we moved from California to inhabit the family beach house for a year, our youngest child wanted to shove her chubby toddler fingers in the touch tank every single day, and we acquired many plushie animals from the gift shop. The ebullient main educator, Chantal Audran, showed us endless patience, imparting valuable knowledge about our new home. (That's how I know that palm trees aren’t trees, and Spanish moss isn’t moss.)

Over the next 19 years, TIMSC became a constant in our lives. I wrote about Chantal when she rose to the organization’s top role as Executive Director. Mark rejoiced in the new facility, signing up for a lifetime membership and rallying donors. The curious touchy toddler grew up and recently spent a summer off from college as a curator in the gallery showing off the corn snake and hermit crabs—a full circle moment that swelled our hearts bigger than the waves visible from the Shipwatch Loft.

And now that circle has become a spiral: As I enter my own new career era, taking on the mantle of TIM-Z’s Communication & Marketing Director feels like coming home.

There aren’t any unicorns, but my coworkers are definitely magical. There’s Charlie the Box Turtle, exuding way more sass than any reptile should, and Westie the Loggerhead hatchling, who will be released into the ocean this August.

Most importantly, the humans radiate a level of brilliance and cheer I can only aspire to as I get my feet wet at the intersection of ecology, education, and community. Don’tcha worry, I’ll still be here spilling the tea and spreading the jam every week—deadlines are a hard habit to break.

There’s a lot swirling around us as we enter this new year, and it’s easy to get swept away if we don’t hang on to what we know. I hope your eddy is rippling gently as the bigger currents surge past.

The tides are just gonna keep on turning, and all we can do is go with the flow.

~ JLL

Westie and I hanging around the water cooler