I want to thank you for reading this paper and (if you did) my columns these last six months.
Thank you to the people who let me interview them and who shared their stories with me so that I could share them with others. It really helps to have a great subject. In Philadelphia, there really is no shortage.
Though I’ve not been editor of PW long, this job has meant a lot to me. It’s challenged me, enlightened me and invigorated me – and forced me to take some risks. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, so that I thought alternatively about traditional journalism – a new concept for me. That required creativity and imagination.
Thank you to all the freelancers who have contributed to this awesome endeavor – Eugene Zenyatta, Jesse Bunch, Paul Davis, Stu Bykofsky, A.D. Amorosi, A. Benjamin Mannes, Chuck Darrow, and Timaree Schmit – who has the most interesting, educational and steamy sex column on the planet! I am proud of the work we’ve done and I know there’s more where that came from.
I could not have put the paper together without my talented and dedicated editorial team, who’s worked with me late nights and early mornings to make last-minute changes to a product upon which we’re constantly trying to improve – even if that means switching up the cover story at the 11th hour. Thanks, fellas, for putting up with my impulsiveness.
Extra special thanks to Dan McDonough, my publisher, who is kind, generous, and committed to his work ethic – and really is a visionary. Kerith Gabriel, my predecessor, taught me how to be an editor-in-chief, and showed me the ropes when I first started this complicated job, which has so many facets and functions. I have no doubt these friendships will last.
My goal with PW has been to provide a platform for voices in the city that have not been given the time of day in other news outlets. While these are often conservative ones, many readers have expressed to me their frustration with the media bias that leans left in this town. Just look at whom other publications endorse for elections, name as “influential people,” or tap for “winners and losers.”
More than once, I’ve been blasted on social media for my role, but that’s only toughened up my thick skin. It’s nice hearing from people who appreciate the work we’ve done, even if they don’t agree with everything we write. And I’ll miss raising hell on our front pages. These stories have often led to readers expressing genuine gratitude for us simply “telling it like it is.”
PW has done an excellent job in telling stories that might otherwise go ignored. We have asked probing, uncomfortable questions, and encouraged people to think critically, outside the box, and beyond the scope of the mainstream media. If this concept makes you scratch your head, then that is what true, alternative journalism is supposed to look like.
The AltPhilly membership program has been a huge undertaking, but it has promise and a ton of investment, so check it out if you want to see what my team (many thanks, in particular, to Stephanie) and I have already created. It features video interviews with a public official, an ex-con/prosecutor-turned Good Samaritan, and a celebrity, thus far – all telling their own true stories. I interview them myself and don’t baby them with softball questions.
Lastly, thank you to the readers, subscribers and members of AltPhilly who have supported what we’ve done. You are supporting journalists who are holding your government officials accountable – not the ones who are in bed with them. This is still a work in progress, but every week you will see something in these pages you didn’t see anywhere else, and I think the paper does a fine job explaining those things.
It is, though, time for me to move on, as a new opportunity has come my way at City & State PA. I leave behind great memories at PW and look forward to watching it grow. I am humbled and blessed I got this chance to write in the first person, and I hope to see you around at the P&P sometime soon.
