WhatsUpHutch

I'm involved in a new project locally, and it's one I'm excited about. I think it has tremendous potential. It's www.whatsuphutch.com, an online magazine for Hutchinson, Kansas. It's the brainchild of Cody Heitschmidt, whose blog CodyTalks is always worth a look.

For a long time I've wanted something like this to exist - a place to go to for talk about the community and what's happening and what could happen. Possibilities. I love possibilities. Look at whatsuphutch.com and take time to be part of the community there.

I'll be doing a monthly column called, "Patsy Writes," and so will other folks - folks with very divergent views. You can find my column, as well as others, in the "reads" section.

I don't know Cody well - we've crossed paths a few times and chatted, but recently we've been working on a local task force together and have gotten to know each other a little better. We've also gotten to know each other better as we've exchanged messages on twitter. (Consider this your formal invitation to join us there - look for patsyterrell and codyks and you'll instantly have two friends. OK, I'm speaking for Cody without his permission, but I feel pretty confident on this one.)  In the brief time we've been communicating, we've realized we're in agreement about a whole lot of things and at opposite ends of the spectrum on others. I'm very comfortable with that, and I suppose Cody is as well. These interactions led to him asking me to be a columnist on whatsuphutch.com. I'm excited by the potential, and wanted to be in from the get-go.

You can also write. The site will depend on a lot of interaction from folks. You can blog there. You can comment. You can tell us we're full of it. You can tell us we're right on. You can write your own piece because we're all missing the obvious.

In one of those things that happen in a smaller city, Cody and his wife own LogicMaze, which is the company that was hired some months ago for web design by a local organization on whose board I serve. Frankly, this sort of thing is something I like about living in a smaller city. I like walking into a group and figuring I'll know at least one person there, but that's a-whole-nother topic - and perhaps something for a future column.

Go on over to whatsuphutch.com and take a look. Today is the first day it's live, so you'll be in on the ground floor.