Letter from the Editors

rtolan — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:05:11 +0000

The first decade of the second millennium was precisely what it ought to have been: a time of new beginnings. Although the Western World had reason to act in an earlier era, it at last turned against the fanaticism that certain regimes, in absolute desperation, have used to exploit their peoples in order to obscure the modern inadequacies of their political models. The economy meanwhile chose a more transparent, democratic form of stewardship, reminding even the fattest cats that they and their mice alike are men with varying means to a common end of livelihood. Of course, neither a Black nor a White man but a man somewhere in-between – and a man born at the outermost limits of our nation – almost lost to a woman for the decade’s last claim to the American presidency. And for the first time in history it became men or women, rather than only men and women, who could couple without fear of being jailed for sodomy or being barred from whispering a last goodbye at the beside of a dearest departing.

By all means, this has been a decade of awakening. It has been an era of epiphany on every level of society—the political, the economic, the cultural, and the moral indiscriminately. It also happens to have been the decade in which we founded STOCKYARD, and the prevailing zeitgeist that undoubtedly inspired this event fills us with a great sense of pride. If our magazine must not only illuminate but do so in a new way that is suited to the times, STOCKYARD can hardly have been born in a more appropriate stretch of years.

Since STOCKYARD arose towards the end of this decade, however, the new beginning that the magazine in particular will mark has just barely begun (and we hope it may always remain so fresh). It should not surprise you, then, that the new decade’s first year will push STOCKYARD through a gauntlet of developments.

As we expand our staff and thrill you with the brand-new work of an even larger number of award-winning writers, the weekly output of our content will double as early as March. Meanwhile, a cycle of high-profile interviews will complement an extended series of news-breaking, investigative reports—as well as a string of three-part features on topics like the contemporary states of Chicago jazz, Chicago fashion, and Chicago political corruption.

The website itself will also undergo an overhaul.

First and most important among these developments will be our sy:profiles system. This system will allow you to access your own profile page, where you can tailor-fit your reading experience to your liking. Features will include an article-rating system, a list of suggested articles based on the your ratings, and a “page save” function that will let you store the articles you can’t finish now so that you can read them later. The sy:profiles technology will bring reading on the web to a whole new level.

In addition to sy:profiles, we’ll be introducing a new rich-media section: “From the Bullhorn.” Here, you will discover audio recordings of select articles, narrated pieces of photojournalism, and eventually a host of short art films we’ll be showcasing. Look for most of these to launch in early February.

We are,
wishing you the best in the coming year,
The Editors of STOCKYARD.

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Letter from the Editors