IF it weren’t for the ’80s Village Voice, I probably would not be a journalist. (The world, I expect, would be a better place.)
This weekend I have a story in Al Jazeera America about good times and bad for alternative weeklies. I talk about the crystalline sense of mission these publications had during conservative times, and the troubles they’ve had more recently. And I try to shine a light on the good and important work they still do.
In the piece I get into my youthful infatuation with the alt-press — I interned at the Voice, freelanced for the now-defunct Boston Phoenix soon after leaving college, later worked for New Times Los Angeles. As nasty as that company could be, we had a blast there, some of the time, and I’m still proud of the work my colleagues and I did there. (Even if New Times responded by killing the paper and destroying its online archive.) Where is the alt press now?
And I try to sketch out what various weeklies have meant to the city of Los Angeles, which remains the Misread City.
Happy holidays to all my readers.
Have you had any comment from the so-called Association of Alternative Newsmedia? AAN is meeting in SF next month.