What is the History of ValleyLists.com?

Who Created ValleyLists?

Hi there, I am Will Flanders, the founder of ValleyLists. I live in Shelburne Falls, MA, and have lived in the Connecticut River Valley since July 1983. When I moved to the Valley, I felt like I'd finally "come home."  I love to camp, hike, fish, hunt, track, ski, snowshoe, kayak, canoe, sail, and pretty much anything else that happens in the woods or on the water.

I have practiced law in Franklin and Hampshire Counties, Massachusetts, since 1987. My lawfirm's name is Flanders Law Offices.  For more information, see www.flanderslawoffices.com.

I also serve as the President of the Central Connecticut River Valley Institute, Inc. (CCRVI), which is the sponsoring organization for ValleyLists.com.  For more information, see www.ccrvi.org.

I am also very active in men's work through the ManKind Project which presents the New Warrior Training Adventure and other related trainings. For more information on this work, see the the ManKind Project of New England's listing on ValleyLists.

Why Did You Create ValleyLists?

I created ValleyLists.com because I have always enjoyed helping people get connected to the people, businesses, organizations, services, and the natural world. One of my first jobs out of college involved setting up an information and referral center which I ran out of the local public assistance office. This site brings me the joy of helping you find what and who you want.

Everything on this site is a tool I wished I had available to me. Even though I think I’m reasonably computer literate, I’ve often wished that the web sites I used were designed in such a way as to make them much more easy to understand, move around in, and find what I wanted.

I am very much into promoting the idea that ouir lives will be better if we can obtain the basic goods and services we need (food, shelter, heat, energy, water, transportation, health care, etc.) as close to home as possible.  I also believe that our communities thrive when the businesses and other institutions we use are as locally owned and controlled as possible.  So, you will see that ValleyLists, by its very nature promotes the use of local businesses and organizations.

I want this site to be available and useful to people of all ages so I have placed restrictions (no explicit sex, no violence, no weapons) on its use which I believe will make it family-friendly and child-friendly. I want both you and me to be comfortable letting kids visit this site knowing that they will not be exposed to certain material. If you find material on the site which violates these restrictions, please let me know.

I want this site to grow and mature over time. Your suggestions about how to improve it will be carefully considered as we seek to take it to the next level. 

One of my passions these days is learning about where I live and how to live more intimately with this particular place. As I do this, I’ve been intrigued with the “bioregional” approach to defining the “place I live.”

A bioregion is defined not by historical, arbitrary political boundaries but by “coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, and natural systems, often defined by a watershed.” It is a “whole ‘life-place’ with unique requirements for human inhabitation so that it will not be disrupted and injured.” (Quotes are taken from the home page of PlanetDrum, the organization which originated and has been promoting the idea of bioregions for a number of years.)

I have found that thinking about the “place I live” in a bioregional way helps to ground me here. This is why I have made this site searchable by bioregion. My hope is that by using the site to promote a new awareness that we share this place with those who live across artificial political lines will help us develop a greater sense of community and ability to work and play together.

I have defined “the place I live” as the six counties, two each in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont which share the Connecticut River Valley watershed and the “transitional” forest which lies between the northern boreal forest and the southern mid-atlantic forest. As I explore this bioregion, I am finding that I have a lot in common with those who live in this place with me - perhaps more in common than with those who live in other parts of Massachusetts. We are tied together by the quality of the River watershed we share, by our appreciation for the particular hills, streams, flora, and fauna which exist here, and by physical and economic proximity and interconnection.

My hope is that this site will help you to create more of the connections you want on a local level and encourage you to begin thinking of your bioregion as your “local” area. I also encourage you to connect with those you find through ValleyLists. There are many fine people offering goods and services in your local area and listed on ValleyLists. Anyone of them could be a new friend. I find that many of the clients I’ve served in my other business are people who could be and have become good friends.

ValleyLists can only prosper within the give-and-take of a real community.  I am looking forward to meeting and connecting with you, my neighbors, through my work with ValleyLists. I hope and trust that you will enjoy ValleyLists and find it useful to you in your life.

Acknowledgements 

While I have been the primary creative force behind ValleyLists, the following perople have contributed significantly to the development of the site and I could not have done it without their skilled and generous assistance: Art Zemon, of Hen's Teeth Network, along with software developers Ed Greenberg, William Riley, Scott Gurley, Bert Dinkins, and Scott Youmans; graphic artist Boysen Hodgson, marketing gurus Susan Wiggin of WigginWorks and Sheldon Snodgrass of Steady Sales Group, assistant webmasters Julie HawkOwl and Marcia Wheeler, and beta testers Jack Tannenbaum, Polly French, and Gayle Olson.

Will Flanders

August 2011