From the Editor: Coverage in a Breakneck News Cycle
Hello, readers! As I write this letter, January is coming to a close. Charlottesville has been digging its way out of snow and ice for days and is hoping to avoid another storm this weekend. Iceberg: arguably good in the context of lettuce, objectively terrible on my driveway.
Here at the magazine, we’re pushing through production to finish our quarterly cycle. Our ad director has been working with clients since October. Our five-person editorial team has been planning, reporting, writing and editing since November. Our creative director has been planning illustrations, coordinating and directing photo shoots, and designing for the past month. Now all these pieces will go through a rigorous proofing process before we go to press in early February.
But editors plan and newsmakers titter quietly to themselves. Because of the time it takes to print, bind and ship more than 170,000 copies, it will be March before this one hits your mailbox. Any number of things might have happened by then. (I certainly hope the weather’s nicer.)
In the year and change since I’ve become editor of this magazine, the pace of the news that interests UVA alumni about their alma mater has accelerated dramatically.
Just in January: UVA’s 10th president has started his tenure; nearly 1,000 pages of text messages between BOV members have been released to the public; and five BOV members have resigned, reportedly at the request of the newly elected governor, who then appointed 10 new members. Not to mention that that new governor is the commonwealth’s historic first female governor and a ’Hoo: Abigail Spanberger (Col class of ’01).
In the past, any of these stories could have occupied an enormous amount of our energy and coverage. But now we’re watching all of them and updating stories and plans constantly. In the magazine you hold in your hands, we work to give readers context behind the news stories, which takes time to report.
But in between these issues, you can find more up-to-date news coverage here at uvamagazine.org and in our monthly emails. Don’t get them? Email uvamag@virginia.edu.
We also know that news stories aren’t the only ones that interest our readers. In this issue you’ll also find articles about Newcomb Hall, UVA research into GLP-1s, alumni memories of student self-governance, and tips from UVA experts on making and keeping friends.
As always, thanks for reading.
Judy Lê
Editor-in-Chief, Virginia Magazine
