For a holiday season anchored by a message of hope, redemption and love, this issue of Passport is filled with stories that highlight people, places and things that embody qualities that their potential audience might label as perfect, or close to it. At the outset, Passport Picks taps into the transformative powers of Shakespeare & Company and the Litchfield County Writers Project, and at the end, our Denouement features an artist whose holiday images of small towns stand as a testament that the glory and homespun quality of Christmases past is not gone but just veiled a bit by modern contrivances.
In between are stories about the enduring qualities of classical music, the appeal of traditional American landscape painting, the restorative nature of holiday entertaining at home, the value of houses with fireplaces and much more. Enjoy.

Giorgio Baravalle can define his work, graphic design, very simply. "It's the visual communication of ideas," he explains.