Not that it matters to you as a reader, but the last six weeks have been a little strange for me.
I left the Weekly in August, but since I helped out with uploading each week's issue to the web through the monstrous Best of Tucson™ issue, sent blog ideas to my successor David Mendez via Facebook message and I spent a few Thursday nights with members of the staff at Bumsted's for quiz night, it sort of seems like I never left in some ways.
When Jimmy Boegle told me he was leaving to start the Coachella Valley Independent, I applied thinking that the gig would likely go to someone with a more prestigious editorial pedigree, but here I am, writing my first note for this space, which had the byline of someone for whom I have an incredible amount of respect for around ten years. It's a lot to process.
Understandably, people asked what I have planned for the Weekly ... and so far, I'd say the basic premise of what we're going to do will stay the same. I want to help tell great stories, help promote what's great about this town and help change what isn't. How that manifests itself in print and online will change style-wise as we do some redesigning over the year, but I'll also be asking for your input through an extensive reader survey and some focus group-styled events. Also, feel free to contact me via email (dgibson@tucsonweekly.com), Facebook (facebook.com/dangibson520) or in short bursts on Twitter (@dangibson520). Let me know what you like, dislike and what you'd like to see in the future (kindly and graciously, if possible, but who am I kidding, right?).
At this rate, the Tucson Weekly and the Arizona Daily Star will probably be absorbed into the list-churning Buzzfeed empire by 2014, but until then, we'll keep trying to inform and entertain. I'm incredibly thankful for the opportunity to be a part of that mission.
Wish me luck.
