The Power of Us

I remember this one time when a visitor to my office, finding that I was the only one in there, exclaimed, “Oh, I was expecting to see a team of people here working for ZOOM.” I smiled and said, “It’s only me. I’m the only one behind the magazine. There is no group of people running around, no big company backing me up, no team of salespeople, no copywriters. It’s just me. I am ZOOM.”

I used to think that way. However, I soon realized that I am not really the only one behind ZOOM.

Let’s consider this issue, for example. Work on it started not with the first click of my mouse to open a brand-new file. It began way before that. It started when our photographers first pressed the shoot buttons on their cameras to capture the images we showcase in these pages. It includes the many hours they spent trying to get that perfect light of day, catch a bird in flight, or capture a fleeting moment when clouds form a dramatic canvas above a shimmering waterscape.

This issue started with a painter’s first brush stroke on a blank canvas. It started when music festival organizers brainstormed for their new concert season and when other groups initiated plans for their annual events. Then it continued when some people slipped copies of ZOOM into travel bags to take with them to their destinations, to capture photographic mementos of their trips. Pet lovers joined in, too. They took photos of their adorable pets and sent them to us. Finally, local businesses who realized the value of ZOOM as a potent vehicle for their advertising message stepped forward and made it possible for this issue to go into print.

A series of beginnings, various acts of creation, both small and big steps from many individuals, community groups, and businesses, make up this issue of ZOOM. The power of community is definitely strong and alive on the Coast, and ZOOM is but one solid manifestation.

When I now get asked who is behind ZOOM, I say that it is the community that produces it. I just happen to be the one who weaves the many threads into the finished pages.

I used to feel so all alone when, in the wee hours of the morning, struggling to meet the printing deadline, I was still working on refining page layouts. I don’t feel that way anymore. I am not ZOOM—we all are. — Edmund Arceo