The Home page entry on Rural Thoughts was posted one year ago today. That was the beginning of this webpage. In the year that followed, this webpage has has 153 total entries, or about 3 a week. While it started out with just Mark and Kristi, we now have other regular contributors - Craig Rhodes and Berry Craig - and we have had other guest contributors. This has really helped to give the blog a variety of writing styles and opinions. And, the Home Page entry will be updated to reflect this. Hopefully, in the next year, we can add more writers. We sure want to. If you think your writing would fit well with Rural Thoughts, let us know. Just submit a comment to this message.

I believe that Rural Thoughts has brought a different perspective, and when you compare it to what we have available in our region, it's like totally different. And we have brought a counterpoint to the ultra conservative voice of the Paxton Media Group, who uses their editorial space in the Paducah Sun to espouse the most conservative, reactionary political views that can be imagined.

But, we have not just brought an important local perspective with this webpage, but we have been on top of national and international issue also - with a rural perspective. This has been sorely lacking in the mainstream media. And, we have had some important insights. We predicted Obama's nomination while the mainstream media was writing him off. We have brought an important union perspective to the elections while the mainstream media writes off the unions. And, we recently reported that an Obama presidency will likely bring a Justice Dept. investigation into criminal acts by the Bush administration. The mainstream media hasn't touched this either, even though it came from the mouth of an important Senator.

We haven't advertised at all on Rural Thoughts yet, but we have a good group of supporters. We appreciate everyone who shares with us. Please help us spread the word about Rural Thoughts. Don't hesitate to contact us if you want to contribute. My email is markkris@earthlink.net. But, don't fret, because we are going to continue to write about progressive ideas, and give you nice original photos as a bonus.

Of course, those photos are property of Rural Thoughts, and while we don't care if they are used for the most part, you do need to tell us that you are using them and what for.

Thanks for all of your support. The next year will be even better yet, I'm sure.