From the Editor

We’re starting a new year, the time for renewing hope and making resolutions about all the things we should and will be doing in 2009. For me, I can’t help looking for some good reasons to travel, like escaping the snowy Northeast for a warm winter weekend in Miami (“Miami Nice”) or a yoga retreat in Zihuatanejo, on Mexico’s Pacific coast (“Mexican Meditations”). Thinking about how you can make a difference in the world? Read about Frank Sullivan (“Board Games”), chairman and CEO of RPM International. He’s been instrumental in the success of Progress with Chess, a program that brings chess instruction to Cleveland’s public schools as a way to help youngsters develop critical thinking, math skills, and thoughtful patience. My hat is also off to Linda Abraham-Silver, CEO of Cleveland’s Great Lakes Science Center (“Popular Science”), who’s giving science a broader appeal and making it more fun.

As we’re making resolutions, we can take inspiration from others who’ve followed their ambition and succeeded, like Gerhard Reisacher, an eighth-generation Austrian winemaker who loved California wines so much he left Austria with a dream of creating a small family winery in Napa. His reds consistently get 90+ ratings from Wine Spectator (“All in the Family”). Of course, the new year is always a time to think about living more healthfully — committing to a regular fitness schedule, making stretching part of your routine (“Stretching 2.0”), and achieving overall wellness, a topic we explore in our special section on executive health (“Executive Prescription”).

One change we’ve made at Continental magazine for 2009 is with our new golf columnist, Joe Bargmann. Joe has written about golf for Esquire, Golf, and the New York Times, and we welcome him to the magazine with his first column, “Great Scottsdale.”

However you’ve chosen to begin 2009, we hope you’ll enjoy a year of fulfilled dreams, good health, and happy travels.

Gail Harrington, Editor

Contributors

Writer Samuel Greengard was impressed with RPM chairman Frank Sullivan’s (“Board Games”) work to introduce chess to students in Cleveland: “Sometimes, when the right people come together at the right place and time, a spark of an idea can ignite into something that changes people and the world in positive ways.”

Suzy Poling says photographing Linda Abraham-Silver (“Popular Science”) at the Great Lakes Science Center was an exciting assignment: “It was very cool to see the Rover model that toured the planet Mars. And I really wanted to see all the films there on space and on the Great Lakes.”

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