Greetings dear reader:

This is the first of many messages that we’ll share, and so I thought it appropriate to introduce and explain myself as I take the helm here as editor.

It is both a daunting and thrilling prospect. Scary in that I am setting a new course, reassuring in that it is on a dependable vessel that has sailed well on both smooth and stormy seas.

After looking around the country and surveying the newspaper jobs up for grabs, I decided Sacramento had the most to offer: A very livable spot with a good weekly paper tied to a worthy news town. It was also a paper in need of an editor, as it was being run by the “Interims” (the capable team of Melinda Welsh and Robert Speer). But more importantly, I saw there was a connection that had been welded between the paper and the readers here who are opinionated and involved in a political town.

In its relatively short history, the SN&R had established itself as a source of information and direction for an ever-changing city. The journalism I plan to do will continue that tradition and hopefully take it further.

The life of this place needs to be explained, and long-form journalism is the best way to do it. We use language to define the world and give that definition to you (free, I might add). We will reveal, explain, entertain, and at times persuade. It’s not easy. But for myself and the people I work with, few pleasures come close to finding the right word, the perfect phrase, or the clear, compelling story. The stories we choose will show more than I can tell here.

So how will this newspaper change under this new leadership? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading it to see.