First time

This is my first issue as editor of the Tucson Weekly, and I trust they will get better with experience, as most things do. Forgive us our trespasses this time. In my experience, a bit of fumbling the first go-round is not unusual.

I am not new to editing. I've more than three decades of reporting, writing, and editing experience with newspapers in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and North Carolina, my home state.

Nor is Tucson brand-new to me, as I worked of late for the Daily Star and lived in Bisbee for a decade before that. And Tucson was an annual spring destination when I lived many winters in and around Boulder, Colo.

But I am new to this particular venture, and there is a learning curve to be scaled. First, I must figure out how and why we do what we do, then consider how we might do it better. Don't look for wholesale changes; expect, rather, incremental improvements.

It's important to please your partner, so we naturally will keep reader preferences in mind. Please let me know what you like, and what you don't -- preferably by e-mail to mparnell@tucsonweekly.com.

I am grateful to my predecessor, James Reel, for his successful endeavors at the Weekly. We will build on his efforts. Fortunately, James has not left us in the lurch; he will coordinate our arts coverage and continue to contribute his outstanding writing to these pages.

This, then, is a start. We'll do it again next week.