A Year of Gratitude (Hunter Field Editor’s Note)

In case you didn’t know, we work several weeks ahead at Arkansas Business. So while Thanksgiving will have passed by the time you read this column, I’m writing it a few days before the holiday, pondering those things for which I’m thankful.

It’s a healthy exercise, one we ought not to reserve for just one week each November.

Here’s a nonexhaustive list of the things that came to mind:

1) An Election’s End. Yes, I’m glad that the divisiveness that comes with a presidential election season is in the rearview, but I think it would be foolish to believe the election’s end will suddenly heal our nation’s great political divide. I’m afraid that ship sailed after social media enabled us all to retreat into echo chambers.

The postelection season has ushered in a healthy business climate with an assist from the Fed. Mergers and acquisitions saw an almost immediate uptick after Nov. 5, and more capital spending is starting to unlock.

Capital investment and nonessential spending screeches to a halt in presidential election years for many companies. Nearly everyone I speak with who is in sales started confirming this over the summer.

It’s the same pattern every four years. Election anxiety cripples, and it’s back to business as usual after the election ends.

It’s further confirmation of one of my biggest annoyances — we unnecessarily cede far too much control of our lives to the federal government.

Maybe we’ll remember that in four years.

2) A Warm Welcome. I became the editor of Arkansas Business in March, and the reception from our readers and business community has been fantastic.

I’ve had lunch or coffee with so many of you, and I look forward to connecting with more in 2025.

I had such high regard for this publication before coming to work here, but I’ve come to more fully appreciate how valued it is by readers. For a journalist, that is one of the greatest joys of this work — to have people care. Sometimes that manifests itself in the many complimentary notes and emails I receive on a weekly basis about our reporting. Other times, it’s the criticisms when you think we missed the mark. I’m equally grateful for both.

3) An Arkansas Fall. I’m writing this from my front porch, overlooking a valley painted orange, yellow, green and red by the treetops. I love my hometown Memphis, but Arkansas in the fall feels like home.

4) A Changing List. I suspect this list will look much different next year and probably include things like sleep and silence.

My wife and I are expecting our first child in the next few weeks. So I’ll disappear from these pages for a bit to take care of him, a blessing that was a long time coming.

The word gratitude feels insufficient.

Email Hunter Field, editor of Arkansas Business, at hfield@abpg.com