Empirical calls it quits

A little more than a year after hitting the magazine racks of bookstores across the United States and eight other countries, Empirical magazine is going out of business.

Olav Bryant Smith, who with his wife, Tara Grover Smith, founded the local literary-and-current-affairs magazine, made the announcement in a recent letter addressed to the publication’s readers and contributors, which included political economist Gar Alperovitz and local Buddhist Lin Jensen.

“Tara and I personally poured everything we have (emotionally, physically and financially) into this start-up, from scratch, here in the small Northern California city of Chico,” said the letter.

“After more than a year and a half working nearly all day every day toward the success of the magazine, we must turn most of our energies over to regaining control over our personal lives, and our personal financial survival.”