I’ve been asked by, well, nobody yet. But I bet some of you are wondering: why Tumbler RidgeLines?
The name has multiple meanings. Of course, if you take and break Ridge Lines into its component parts, you get Tumbler Ridge Lines.
Lines are important in newspapers. We have headlines (the title), datelines (when a story is written) bylines (that’s the author), guidelines (the rules of writing, from how to write to how to tell a story to the paper’s overarching principals, sometimes spoken, sometimes not) lines agate (one of the most obscure measurement systems ever invented) and baselines (the line that everything alines…I mean aligns to).
And that’s not even taking into account the lines of text that are written.
But when you stick Ridge and Lines together, you get RidgeLines, which is a good outdoorsy word for a town nestled beneath a ridge. The RidgeLine, of course, is the highest point of land that stretches between two points. It’s a goal and a reminder to aspire to the highest standards.
Also, a RidgeLine often separates two watersheds. While it can be looked at as a dividing line, it can also be looked at as the shared point between two disparate valleys. The place where they connect.
That’s one of the things I’m trying to do. We live in a world where some people are trying to drive a wedge between people. Sometimes it’s just for the LOLs. Sometimes, it’s for political reasons: not because they believe one thing or another, but because by separating us, by causing us to fight amongst ourselves, we are weaker. We are not moving forward. We are made lesser.
The word ridgeline is often used to describe the highest point of a house. For me, this is a symbol of community, of gathering under one metaphorical roof. Of belonging. Of place.
And that, of course, brings me back to a line, which again, can be used to divide (a line in the sand), or connect (lines of communication). Our goal here, of course, is the latter.
So, if you have any comments, thoughts or just want to say hi, drop me a line.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
