Monthly Columnists

We can all agree that monopolies are only good for the company that has achieved dominance.

We can all agree that Google, Facebook and Amazon hold virtual monopolies on search, social media and online shopping, respectively, and combined are the main provider of news to a majority of Americans.

The Lowcountry is a special place in the spring.

As the last bit of cold fades away and the wisteria and Carolina jasmine bloom, we’re ready to get back outside and explore all the Lowcountry has to offer.

Here at Monthly, we’re celebrating mothers in this issue. We hope you enjoy writer Laura Jacobi’s story about the sacrifices made by parents of promising young athletes, and our feature about a Hilton Head Island mom who is a social media entrepreneur. We also sit down with Laura Cramer, who is 93 years old and still actively — and very successfully — selling real estate in Sea Pines with her daughter, Carol.

Thirty years ago, a new way of communication emerged. I vividly remember hooking up my Olivetti microcomputer to a landline and transmitting five lines of text to a friend. At the time it felt like we had joined a secret society with a select few in the circle. We couldn’t have anticipated how much the invention of the HTML protocol would transform communication. 

Spring in the Lowcountry is glorious:

Mother Nature showers us with magenta azaleas, pink camellias and snow-white dogwood blossoms, accompanied by the songs of Carolina wrens, wood thrushes and other local birds. With green-themed March in the rear-view mirror, April is time for Hilton Head Island to get its plaid on — more specifically Heritage Plaid, the modified Royal Stewart tartan created for the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing golf tournament, played annually at Harbour Town Golf Links since 1969.

Fifty years ago, Charles Fraser was in tune with the environment long before words like “sustainability,” “organic” and “environmentally-friendly” entered the American mainstream. When he pioneered the modern development phase of the Lowcountry, the term “green” meant the color green. Sea Pines at the most southern tip of Hilton Head Island became one of the first developments to use covenants and deed restrictions to protect the environment. The homes were designed to blend in with the pine forests.

Spring is here and it’s time to open our windows and our hearts. It’s a season of rebirth and reawakening, and at Monthly we are springing into it, full of enthusiasm and ready for new adventures. 

PHOTOGRAPHY BY IVS PHOTOGRAPHY
Members of the Monthly team were all smiles at the Hilton Head Bridal Show. From left: Mary Ann Kent, Carol Weir, Cathy Flory, Anuska Frey, Meredith DiMuzio and Katie Hatfield. 

Good leaders see needs and concerns and bring people together to fix them.  My wife would say I have been blessed with this gift, I’d say this is something I love to do. I seek to serve.

Marcia and I adore living on Hilton Head Island, this beautiful place we have called home for 18 years. Both in Maryland, where I spent most of my career as a corporate planner, and here in the Lowcountry during our retirement, I’ve been involved in numerous efforts to improve our community and have developed a strong ability to bring people together to get things done. This requires a lot of listening and developing a high level of trust.

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”

While reading about love and thinking about Valentine’s Day, we stumbled upon this quote by late African-American author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Even for those who proclaim themselves cynical about the holiday, her words are uplifting: Love makes you brave enough to come out of hiding and reveal yourself. But it’s also complex. Hurston’s use of the verb “crawl” shows how difficult love is — we sometimes enter it reluctantly, slowly, almost against our will.

JARRETT NIXON HELPS PROFESSIONALS WORK FROM ANYWHERE

Jarrett Nixon has had enough of excuses like, “I’ll have the time and money to travel and see the world when I retire.” That’s why he works for Remote Year, a company that helps people work remotely from anywhere in the world.

The company’s mission aligns with Nixon’s “carpe diem” philosophy: “We’re not guaranteed tomorrow,” he said. “You have to live life to the fullest and get out there and make some stories.”

THE LOWCOUNTRY COULD BENEFIT FROM RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 PER HOUR

The Town of Hilton Head Island and the town of Bluffton should raise compensation to a living wage — and Beaufort County businesses should follow suit. 

I know some of you cringe hearing me say that, but hear me out.

At Hilton Head Monthly, we believe in the power of positive thinking. We’re sure that 2019 will be a great year to live in the Lowcountry.

Since January is here once again, it’s time for our annual “Intriguing People” issue featuring some of our area’s most fascinating men and women. This year, we celebrate local innovators and inventors. According to the dictionary, while invention is the “creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time,” innovation happens when someone “improves on or makes a significant contribution” to something that has already been invented. To put it another way, Thomas Edison was an inventor and Steve Jobs was an innovator. We’re grateful to the Don Ryan Center for Innovation for connecting us with the creative, forward-thinking folks we feature this month. 

The holiday season is the most wonderful time of year for many Lowcountry families, and we appreciate you sharing yours with us by reading this issue. The great American writer Washington Irving once said: “’Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart." We couldn’t agree more.