This Special Focus issue is the result of a significant amount of creative effort, much of it from volunteers. Conventional credits cannot adequately reflect what ended up being a true creative collaboration among this project team, but we'll give it a go. The section was written by MacLean Gander, with ample contributions from Guinevere Downey. Shanta Lee Gander was the lead reporter and assembled the roundup of arts perspectives with Downey's help. The whole package was edited and designed by Jeff Potter.
In what we consider an experiment worth refining and repeating, this week we present the first of what we envision as more-or-less-quarterly Special Focus issues. While long-form, magazine-style stories are not unusual for The Commons, this is the first time we have preempted our entire news section to present a collection of news and views on one topic (major disasters in 2011 notwithstanding). We hope that this week's paper will provide readers a change of pace and show our best efforts on different stories that need extra time and attention - all the while giving our staff some long-overdue time off.
This newspaper and its special projects are, as always, made possible by our members, our major donors, our advertisers, and our volunteers. As one of our founders wrote in 2006, without them, this newspaper would exist only in our imaginations. To chip in and support future efforts and our work, visit donate.commonsnews.org.