Connecting the Dots

Readers of the Mountain View Telegraph in the Estancia Valley and East Mountains of New Mexico have delighted in Rory McClannahan’s award-winning column for more than seven years.
For the first time ever, 82 of these columns have be gathered in a single collection. Written between 2008 and 2012, these short essays are guaranteed to make you laugh, cry and think. McClannahan invites you into his world, and the world of his readers, with a deft hand. Laugh along as he tells you about the frustration of finding a new vacuum cleaner, the utter fear of getting a haircut and the rise of robot overlords.
Turn the page, though, and you find pieces contemplating the nature of existence in a world filled with sometimes baffling technological advances. Read along as McClannahan wonders aloud whether Thoreau would have used social media or how future historians will sift through our email.
McClannahan also introduces readers to some of the people who call the Estancia Valley and East Mountains home and come together to understand the true meaning of community. Open these pages read about how the “corner horse” brought a neighborhood together, the healing effect of music and the joy a teacher brings to learning.
Like the title suggests, McClannahan uses his talent to recognize that we are all connected to each other by thin lines. Those tethers aren’t always apparent, but it doesn’t keep us from trying to connect the dots.