Looking back and looking forward…and taking a breath in between

Year in reviews, regardless of whether they are in print, on TV or online, can be convenient space fillers during a notoriously slow time of year. Of course, looking back at the past year is not exclusively the practice of news organizations. Even a fashion blog might undertake an exhaustive retrospective of “The Shoes of 2013.”

Often, though, looking back at the stories of the past year helps both those of us at the paper, as well as our readers, make some sense about the past year, about the daily or weekly events that, from a distance, form a pattern and create an overarching sense of where we were from one January to the next.

But as much as looking back helps us to see where we’ve been, looking forward clearly gives us an idea, as a city, of where we’re going.

Big changes to who will serve on the Board of Aldermen will likely bring equally big changes (and, no doubt, controversies) in 2014, and so, too, will projects and discussions ranging from extending the Green Line to Union Square (and all that will entail, for better and worse), possibly doing away with the McCarthy overpass portion of McGrath Highway and bringing it down to street level, Tufts’ plans for the Powder House School, the continued development of Assembly Row into something new and hopefully both innovative and accessible to residents, the possible rebirth (fingers crossed!) of the long-vacant Winter Hill Star Market building so its parking lot becomes something more than a marketplace of questionable evening transactions and the selection of a new police chief, just to name a few.

With another year down (remember to start writing “2014” on those checks!) and another year ready to begin, take a moment to take a breath, raise a glass and enjoy that very (very) brief moment of limbo between what was and what will be. Happy New Year, Somerville!