The picture that you see with this column is our Drawn Together map displayed at the Clinton Public Library. Our Graphic Designer, Victoria Steele, put this map together, and our advertising partners made it possible to have it published.
It is a representation of just some of the landmarks of Clinton, Laurens and rural Laurens County, in a fun drawing that harkens back to a time before we all had GPS on our phones. Remember those days?
Dad spreading out a map on the kitchen table plotting the course to the next family vacation destination.
The Geography Teacher pointing out the path through the Panama Canal on the giant map on the classroom wall.
Dad (again, really!!??) not wanting to stop and ask for directions, despite being hopelessly lost, and Mom trying her best to read the map AND keeps you calm in the back seat.
These are the kinds of things we can do when we have you.
Subscribers.
Now, the Naysayers among you might say, what’s the use of a map in TODAY’S world. And, you would be right - everything is so much at our fingertips these days that the days of looking at The Atlas are quaint and probably unnecessary. We never have to work for anything - just click a button. However, I would argue, “unnecessariness” is why we need maps - and art - and great music - and books that challenge our imaginations - and beautiful flowers. These are the embellishments of life.
And we can make those happen, sometimes, when we have the support of people who pay a nominal fee to support our work. I’m looking at you, Subscribers.
This Drawn Together advertising/partnership project is over now - we distributed these maps far and wide and got a great response from them. Shout Out to the Clinton Library for putting Victoria’s work on their wall. But we are always brainstorming new ways for our advertisers to get their messages out, while at the same time staying true to our mission of support for the larger Clinton community. On another page you will see an advertisement for our next effort scheduled for culmination this month. We can do these because - and only because - we have you, Subscribers and Advertisers, in our corner.
Vic MacDonald is Editor of The Clinton Chronicle. June, 2025, marked his 50th year as a community journalist in South Carolina, following his graduation from Newberry College. Reach him at 864-833-1900 or at: news@clintonchronicle.net
