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s the turn of the century approached, The Bee staff decided to ask a handful of Newtown residents to write a few words to help us celebrate this millennium moment.

It seemed like a good idea, but we soon found ourselves stumbling on our words as we tried to describe to them what we were looking for.

“Be reflective,” we suggested. “Take a look back at where we came from and look ahead to where we are heading.”

That’s a mighty big task to ask of anyone, especially when limited to 250 words. But we figured this is one of those rare moments when everyone will be taking time out of his or her life to reflect on the passing of time.

In the end, we left it up to each individual writer to come up with the right words to enable us all to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. A turn of the century does not happen every day. To think, a person could live to be 99 and still never experience tonight’s milestone of time.

This week’s Bee publishing date is December 31, 1999 – the last day of the 20th Century.

For sharing their thoughts as we prepare to cross the threshold, we thank our panel of writers: Dan Cruson, Mark Dennen, Thomas Draper, MD (see page 12), Nina Frankonis, Frank Gavel, Ginger Humeston, Joe Humeston, Fred Hurley, Sarah Mannix, Anne Ragusa, Josh Stern, Mary Thomas, and the Rev Dr Gregory Wismar.