At Large

How, you ask, have I enjoyed my first week as “editor at large?”

 

The answer is–it’s been great. Of course, in a way it hasn’t been that different–I still wrote an editorial (which you can read here), did a podcast (which you can listen tohere), and am writing a newsletter–which are you are reading right here. And I hung around the office, exchanging random thoughts and observations, and giving some advice, solicited and unsolicited, to colleagues old and young. So nothing was dramatically different.

 

On the other hand, as Richard Starr pointed out to me Friday morning, this was almost the first time in twenty years when I either didn’t stay late at the officeThursday night as the print magazine was put to bed, or at least didn’t call to check and make sure all was well, see if there were any decisions he wanted counsel on, etc. So while the fact is that Richard and his colleagues have for years done 95% of the work anyway, it was a change–and a relief!–to leave the office for a meetingThursday afternoon, and then just head home without hitting him on speed dial. And, needless to say, if you look at the new issue, you’ll see no decline in quality from the previous 1,025 or so. (If you see that the magazine’s improved, I don’t want to hear about it.)

 

So I can report that being editor at large is fine. The main thing I have to deal with is smart-aleck suggestions from friends that I should modify the title to “editor at loose” or “editor on the run” or “editor on the lam.” Which may still happen….

 

By the way, I think Michael Graham and I do a pretty good job in our podcast at being thought-provoking, and sometimes amusing, about the events of the week. But our podcast fades by comparison with the new star podcast on the block: The Substandard Podcast, featuring Vic Matus, Jonathan Last and Sonny Bunch, in which all manner of topics in and around popular culture are discussed. The Substandard’s only been going a few weeks, and already a contributor to Forbes, David Shaywitz, has written this in his year-end review of his favorite podcasts: