Dear Gothamist Readers:
Today I have some exciting news. On Sundays, Gothamist will now feature editorials and opinion pieces written in the first person singular voice. So emphasis on the word "I"-- no "we think" or "Gothamist believes"-- these pieces are going to be written in each author's unique style, and will feature their uncensored opinions. Topics will include everything from politics (local and national), to arts reviews (theatre, music, books), to food reviews (restaurants, and bars), to off-beat personal observations. We (damn-- I didn't want to use that word in this piece!) will have only a few rules: the op-eds have to be well-written, interesting to read, and relevant to life in the city. Some will be serious, others will be funny. Some will be written by liberals, some by conservatives, some by people with views that are even harder to classify. It should be a very, very interesting experiment. If you are interested in writing an op-ed, either as a one-off or as a recurring columnist, please email me.
Each piece will be prefaced by a short disclaimer-- something to the effect of "the views here belong to the author, not to Gothamist, so go yell at them." I want you to read and remember that line-- apart from editing the pieces for glaring typos or bad HTML, no member of the Gothamist news staff is going to have anything to do with the content of the op-eds published on the site. If something in an op-ed offends you, respond in the comments, email the author, or publish a response on your own site. Let's take the first few editorials as practice. The first one, which will be published very soon, is a piece by Michael Malice-- an old friend of mine and the creative genius behind Overheard in New York. Though I have not read it, I am sure it will provoke a strong reaction-- and I'm excited to see what happens next.
The rest of the week will be business as usual here on Gothamist. We (there's that word again!) will continue writing in the plural voice, and will continue to focus like a laser-beam on what's going on in the city-- news, events, arts, food, interviews, etc. We've got a lot of exciting stuff happening in the next couple of months-- new cities, new features and community tools for the sites that already exist, and an increased volume of editorial each day. As always, if you want to be a part of the fun, please contact me or Jen-- we're constantly on the lookout for new writers, new cities, and new ideas.
Thanks for reading! Apropos of nothing, here is a recent picture of my cat.
