I eat pretty much the same foods day after day, watch the same television shows, go to the same movie theaters…in fact, my wife often tells me that I’m in a rut.

Back in my early teens, I bought the same pair of trendy back-to-school shoes year after year after year: light brown, suede-looking Hush Puppies. (I liked them, so why change?)

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Once, in college, one of my classmates became so concerned with what she perceived as my lack of energy and excitement that she started telling people I was catatonic. (Actually, my eyes just glazed over when she started talking).

If change is a mantra to some people, it’s a menace to me. That’s why I have to laugh about my business predicament as publisher of a magazine that always seems to be changing. We’ve had to, because you’ve changed, too.

Since we started publishing the Advocate years ago, we’ve noticed gradual but persistent change in our neighborhoods: Increasing house values, higher average incomes and more focus on homes and families.

And we’ve done our best to reflect these changes over the years, just as we’re doing again this month.

Starting with my picture, you’ll notice that we’ve changed and refined our magazine’s entire look and feel to help reflect these changes in our neighborhood.

Among our improvements:

  • Lots of additional color photography, most taken by neighborhood photographers
  • A two-page “Home” spread that highlights unique and classic homes and gardens in our neighborhood
  • A new “Taste” section featuring a recipe from a neighborhood restaurant
  • “Entrepreneur,” a monthly feature celebrating those among us who dare to start their own business
  • A larger, brighter entertainment, arts and activities section devoted to pointing out our neighborhood’s top attractions each month
  • A special photo feature titled “Collectibles,” unveiling a neighborhood resident’s unique collection
  • An expanded section featuring the many neighborhood photos you send us each month highlighting the special honors and moments in the lives of you and your friends and loved ones

You know, it almost would be easier to talk about the things we aren’t changing, because there’s really only one: We aren’t changing our focus on neighborhood activities, events and people.

That’s kind of an inside joke around here, because I don’t think any other publication in America uses the word “neighborhood” more often each month than we do.

It’s not a particularly trendy word, and not a particularly exciting one, either. It doesn’t evoke images of change.

But “neighborhood” is what this publication always has been about, and that’s one thing we won’t ever change – at least, not as long as I’m around.

And given my sedentary lifestyle, that’s probably going to be quite a while.