The Kid Stays in the Picture

by Brian Howard

This is the part where I say "Hi." Hey, Philadelphia. I'm Brian Howard. City Paper's new editor in chief.

Maybe you know me. Maybe you don't. I've been here for freaking ever. Since 1995 when, as a wide-eyed 22-year-old La Salle grad, I stumbled into this paper's then-13th Street offices to start my professional journalism career ... as an intern ... in the art department.

Back in the day it was hard to get anyone in editorial to return a call. But I wanted really badly to work for the paper you're holding in your hands. So badly that when I got a call from Jennifer Linden, CP's art director, I jumped. There was an opening for a paste-up internship. Foot in the door!

("Paste up" is how we used to make the newspaper. We'd print out our stories, run them through a machine that put a thin layer of hot wax on the back, then stick them as neatly as we could to a piece of cardboard. I know. It's archaic. It was only a couple evolutionary steps beyond typesetting.)

City Paper was the shit. Its mostly black and white pages were stacked with stories on the local hip-hop scene, and gonzo pieces about riding shotgun with tow-truck drivers, and hard-hitting investigative exposés, and features on indie bands, and all this cutting-edge arts coverage ... and ... and ... and ... well, I needed to be part of that. I worked nights at Tower Books on South so I could hang out at CP in the mornings, gradually ingratiating myself to the editorial staff till that day when they offered me a job. No writing, just grunt work. It was heaven.

It's strange for me to be writing the Editor's Letter. I don't feel all that different from the 22-year-old who burned his hands on the waxer all those 13 years ago. Except that I've had the good fortune to have learned from a rogue's gallery of Amazing Philadelphia Editors. There was editor in chief David Warner, who now runs Tampa's Creative Loafing. And news editor Howard Altman, who's currently courts and cops team leader for the Tampa Tribune. Music and style editor Margit Detweiler — now editorial director at realsimple.com. There was Neil Gladstone, currently editor at AOL's Asylum men's portal, covering everything he could get his hands on. Staff writer Frank Lewis, who now heads up the Cleveland Free Times. And so many more, up through Duane Swierczynski (now a full-time novelist/comic book writer whose shoes I've had to fill twice, the first time as editor in chief of La Salle's Collegian back in 1994). It's been one long master class.

The difference between me now, and me then, is them. It's a dream team of teachers.

Speaking of dream teams: Allow me to be honest. I wouldn't have taken this job if it weren't for the staff I find myself heading. Turnover is tough, and we've recently said farewell to two key players. The upshot is that there's a lot of talent ready to step up. This week we're unleashing Doron Taussig, heretofore our senior staff writer, and promoting him to news editor. I expect his razor-sharp analysis and extra-dry wit will make our news coverage an even bigger part of the city's discourse. Drew Lazor, who's helped turn our food coverage into the city's best, will be given the keys to the dot-net. Patrick Rapa, the funniest writer in Philly and long our A&E guru, will take over our front-of-the-book Naked City section and the title of senior editor while ceding his Arts responsibilities to whip-smart copy editor Carolyn Huckabay. I'm excited to see what Tami Fertig, Tom Namako, Michael T. Regan and Monica Weymouth do under my watch. There's a ton of new ideas floating around the office these days; ideas are our lifeblood.

The team we've got in place now reminds me of the team I joined back on 13th Street — voracious for a good story and with a chip on its shoulder. Let's do this.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)