Comments and emails have made it clear (they always make it clear), there are a few of you out there who aren’t happy that I’ve taken News of the Weird out of the Weekly. This, you’ve said, is the only reason you’ve read the paper these past few decades. I’m sorry. Sorry that this decision is upsetting to you, and well, sorry this is the only reason you’ve read the paper. In my past seven years at the Weekly, there have been some fine stories written by a group of talented Tucson writers who’ve taken time and a bit of their soul to give Tucson those stories.
You were missing out.
But I get it. I also recognize that as a community, change is hard in the Moldy Pueblo. I know when change happens at the Weekly, from staffing to changes in content, it is very difficult for some. Remember when we stopped running film times? Well, according to a few other readers, they can’t forget and continue to remind us every once in a while.
The Weekly, has seen many different changes the past two years, so I feel for you. I could say we’re done. I wish I could say the plan we’ve crafted is complete, but it isn’t, and frankly, part of me is glad we continue to look at how we can make a better Weekly. To me, ultimately, that’s the goal.
And I recognize that you aren’t always going to agree with every change that takes place or every opinion shared or every article written. That’s the nature of the business, and why a tough skin is needed.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t continue to let us know when we’ve disappointed you. Here’s my email: mari@tucsonlocalmedia.com. In the end, you may be right or we may have to agree to disagree.
Yes, there have been some content changes, and as a result, some changes in freelancers we no longer use. And at the same time, bringing in names you know. While reconfiguring music, for example, (the oldest living female rock critic in America) Linda Ray returned to handle Soundbites. The final Soundbites column runs this week. She’s staying on to continue writing music features and possibly more. We’re happy to share her voice with our readers—it’s always been distinctive and unique, and I don’t know many others out there with her enthusiasm and knowledge. Eric Swedlund continues to write music and has two music features this week worth reading. If you have music-related releases and stories, send them to heather@tucsonlocalmedia.com.
In our back pages, next to Savage Love, we’ve given space to Ally Booker, owner of Jellywink Boutique, a sex toy and sexuality resource center. Under The Pleasure Activist, Booker first wrote about lube and this week writes about BDSM. We reached out to Booker because, not only is her Fourth Avenue area store impressive, but so is her knowledge and genuine interest in helping people. Hope you agree.
What’s also important to know, even if you only pick up the paper for News of the Weird, is that we still write stories no one else is writing or we approach those stories in a different way. Our cover story this week is a great example of that. Staff writer María Inés Taracena interviewed a woman who used a gestational carrier to carry her genetic child. Once that child was born, she discovered she had no legal claim to her own child due to a state law, a law with conservative religious roots.
There’s an example of some real change that needs to happen.
News of the Weird is no longer in the paper. It wasn’t part of a conspiracy. It wasn’t because we don’t like you, guy who only picks up the paper to read this syndicated column. It was time, just like other areas of the paper. Sometimes a paper needs more than just a redesign. Sometimes it needs to change the way it tells the story about its community.
—Mari Herreras, Managing Editor
CORRECTIONS
In the Jan. 22 issue of the Tucson Weekly, we regret an error in our Cinema section in Bob Grimm’s review of “Blackhat.” We misidentified the name of the movie in the headline and artwork, and although Grimm thought it was hysterical, we still regret the error.
In the Jan. 22 issue of the Tucson Weekly, we regret that the wonderful photo of one of our Tucson faves, Sergio Mendoza, was not printed with a photo credit. The talented photographer who took this photo of our resident mambo-turned-Morrissey king is Kalei Harmon. We regret the error and apologize to Harmon for the omission.
This article appears in Jan 29 – Feb 4, 2015.
And just how does this make our community better?
I have been reading the Weekly since its inception with spates of skipping over many syndicated pieces as irrelevant to my life. While occasionally looking at News of the Weird when my sense of living in the Olde Pueblo was not bizarre in and of itself, I figured it, and other syndications were a way for the publishers de- jur to save cash, fill space and not employ local (more expensive) writers with all the employment obligations that entails.
SO – BRAVO.
Adding local reportage and people just might be a move in the best direction – one that — if reserved from political correctness and backed by facts (and a good legal team) might actually get to the roots of some problems, social, political and attitudinal and offer (in proper editorial response) real world solutions.
NOTW wasn’t the only reason I picked up The Weekly every week, but it was one of them. I don’t exactly understand the reason for removing it and instead adding that awful column. I’ve tried reading it and it’s just not doing it for me.
Savage love is kind of fun, often illuminating. The Pleasure Activist , not so much.
I just hope you don’t change too much. There soon won’t be any reason for me to pick up a copy every week.
I have to agree with Gonzo. News of the Weird, as I have already stated in a previous comment, was the reason why I have made an effort to pick up a copy of TW every week.
If you want to concentrate on making the paper more of a local effort, get rid of syndicated columns where the writer comes across as an egotistical and annoying self-promoter (“Buy my book…”) such as Ask a Mexican!; and/or get rid of a very biased sex advice syndicated column, especially now that a new and local sex advice column is being featured, of course I am talking about Savage Love.
Getting rid of News of the Weird does not “make a better Weekly.” It was the most unique column TW had, syndicated or not. It was about the only one which does not include any bias. Tree-hugging bleeding heart libs, tea-bagging right wing nut jobs and all of us who fit somewhere in between could enjoy reading it. That is one of the reasons NOTW is so great; another reason is that they feature stories from all over the world! Ask a Mexican! and Savage Love are way more limited in scope.
Hopefully you do not get rid of Hightower or The NY Times crossword puzzle, the two best syndicated things TW has going on at the moment. Otherwise, the comics (minus that awful Hooopleville) will be all TW has left that will be a guaranteed read for me. DC
What Mari is saying is: There’s no good reason to get rid of NotW except that sex sells more ads.
I reserve judgement. Any new editor has to put her stamp on the publication. There will be things we like, and those we don’t.
Personally, and I am dating myself, I miss Jeff Smith, who bounced around at the Weekly, the Star, and the Citizen over the years.. He made me laugh, he occasionally pissed me off, but was as authentic as any writer I have ever seen.