Nominate your loved ones for a story:

Nominate your loved ones:

Letter From the Editor: Dreams Come True

by | Jul 2024

WHEN I was 8, I wanted to be a teacher. I remember my third grade teacher clicking the chalk on the green board on the wall. And when I was 9, I wanted to be a director. My parents bought me a camera for Christmas, and my cousins and I would recreate our favorite movies in the yard. When I was 11, I wanted to be a writer. I remember classmates telling me how terrible my stories were. While they probably weren’t, it felt like a crowd of kids surrounding me, pointing and laughing. I went home and ripped the pages over and over, trying to hold back tears. I thought, “No one will ever read another word I write.” The 11-year-old me was wrong. My story — my dream — didn’t end there; it was just the beginning. Today, I can offer you living proof that the wildest dreams do come true. 

Our dreams are like shooting stars across the night sky. They’re beautiful; they’re exciting. We think, “How in the world does that work?” And we spend our entire lives chasing that shooting star. We spend every day, step after step, trying to make our dreams come true. Dreams don’t always take off into space like a rocket. Sometimes, we land too hard. Sometimes, we never get off the launchpad. Thankfully, we have the launchpad we need. Our hometown is a place where dreams come true, and this issue of Good News Magazine is living proof of that. 

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” The goal of this issue is to prove your dreams are beautiful and the future is brightly dazzling. The truth is, the shooting star has always been inside us — we just had to realize it. GN 

More Good News

Letter From the Editor

Letter From the Editor

A nurse walked down the hallway his mother walked decades before he did. Beep … beep … he could hear the sounds from patients’ rooms. He kept a small keepsake pinned to his scrubs, a pin his mother...

read more
Chris Crowell: Rooted in Service

Chris Crowell: Rooted in Service

It might be at a city council meeting, at a Rotary Club fish fry, or at Liberty State Bank’s veteran’s breakfast, but you will always see Chris Crowell involved with the community. Crowell’s roots...

read more
Letter From the Editor

Letter From the Editor

The people of the year 1000 faced division, uncertainty, and fear for the future. They didn’t know it then, but they stood at the edge of change, transitioning from the Dark Ages to the Middle Ages....

read more
Letter From the Editor

Letter From The Editor

AUTUMN SETTLES into our town like a puppy in a warm bed. There’s a magic in the air that only this season can bring. Golden leaves drift gently from the trees, painting the sidewalks in shades of...

read more
Help Is a Click Away

Help Is a Click Away

WILSONHELPS.ORG IS a large-scale, comprehensive, and user-friendly guide to Wilson County’s broad array of available aid. This is the most general way to describe what is an enormous,...

read more
Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

PAYING IT forward describes the beneficiary of a good deed repaying the kindness to others rather than paying it back to the original benefactor. It has also been referred to as serial reciprocity....

read more
A Story of Faith & Peace

A Story of Faith & Peace

IN 2020, less than 6,000 people across the United States became living organ donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Lebanon is proud to be home to one of those brave donors:...

read more
Los Compadres: A Lebanon Favorite

Los Compadres: A Lebanon Favorite

WHEN I’M in the mood for an authentic Mexican dinner, one of my go-to restaurants in Lebanon is Los Compadres. It always hits the spot, and my most recent visit was no exception. Our server, Manny,...

read more
Letter From the Editor

Letter From The Editor

SHE FLASHES her lights and pushes the gas pedal a little harder. The walkie-talkie is too quiet, so she spins the dial and makes her bulletproof vest a little more comfortable. She worked hard to...

read more
A Safe Haven

A Safe Haven

HEROES COME in many shapes and sizes, but at the end of the day, each has the same important quality: they are willing to do difficult things to help people in need. A hero might rescue someone from...

read more
David Ashley: Pick Up Your Cross

David Ashley: Pick Up Your Cross

WITH EVERY heavy step down the road, Pastor David Ashley’s rugged hands grip the weight of a wooden cross — a symbol of strength and sacrifice — carried not for himself but for the countless victims...

read more
Letter From the Editor

Letter From the Editor

OUR FOOD nourishes us, from the soil beneath our feet to the table where we gather with family and friends. The hot sun beams from the sky into the field of sprouting seeds. Farmers rise early,...

read more
Kansha Japanese Express

Kansha Japanese Express

KANSHA JAPANESE Express was an excellent choice for a quick lunch date. It’s a charming restaurant with a nice variety of Japanese cuisine. The atmosphere was laid-back, with a few subtle touches to...

read more
Christy Mock Opens the Prom Doors

Christy Mock Opens the Prom Doors

THE PROM is an American rite of passage that has, through cultural ups and downs, become an enshrined part of adolescence for almost a century. Yet the costs associated with the prom — costs that...

read more
Sherry’s Run

Sherry’s Run

FOR NEARLY 20 years now, in August and September, green bows have been found all around Wilson County, Tennessee. Some people pass by the vibrant bows not knowing what they represent, while others...

read more
President Stumb

President Stumb

AS THE president of Cumberland University for the last nine years, Dr. Paul Stumb has become an important figure both on campus and within the broader Lebanon community. President Stumb recently...

read more
Unexpected Delight

Unexpected Delight

LET ME start by saying that I’m not a fan of bar food, so I wouldn’t choose a sports bar for lunch. However, I recently met a business associate for lunch at Coach’s Eastgate Grille off Highway 109...

read more
From Katrina to Compassion

From Katrina to Compassion

THOSE WHO lived along the Gulf Coast braced for impact or fled further inland despite gasoline shortages and lanes of traffic that steadily crept north. As a nation, we held our collective breaths,...

read more
Recipes: Fuel for Focus

Recipes: Fuel for Focus

RISE AND shine to breakfasts that fuel minds and bodies alike! Celebrate the power of wholesome, delicious meals to kickstart learning and energize young students. We’ll dish up recipes packed with...

read more