I grew up in West Springfield reading the Valley Advocate. Ask Isadora, The Grand Band Slam, back door ads, Dexter, the-hard-as-nails Mayor Albano coverage, sassy reviews, Halos and Horns, Best Of — I read the paper every week. For me, it was a font of cool. Flipping through the pages while waiting for my laundry to dry, during down time on a serving shift or just sitting around the house, I’d think about how exciting it would be to be an Advocate writer. Speaking truth to power, exposing corruption and writing about sex, art, and music — it seemed like one of those dream jobs. So, clearly, I’m thrilled to be the new Valley Advocate editor. The Advocate is one of the more important local media outlets in the Pioneer Valley. We are unique in our approach to news and in our ability to reach a diverse audience. As a nimble alternative weekly newspaper with an eager and talented staff, we invest time developing stories about people, places and topics that the mainstream media doesn’t have the time or, in some instances, the desire to pursue. Before the Advocate, I was at the Daily Hampshire Gazette for about 14 years. I started as a freelance reporter covering Southampton politics. I moved on to beat reporting, then higher ed coverage. I was editor of the paper’s general interest weekly, Hampshire Life, and I was an investigative reporter for a couple years — one of the most rewarding, but draining experiences of my life. Most recently I was the paper’s Web editor. What else can I tell you about me … I’ve lived in Western Mass just about my whole life. I play the flute, tuba, and piano. I marched in a drum and bugle corps out of Chicopee for a few years — Go, Knightstorm! I haven’t shopped at Wal-Mart since 2008. I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of The Simpsons seasons 2-12. I believe Toni Morrison is god’s gift to modern literature. I swear far, far too much. I spent five years in college, went to three schools and graduated from Westfield State University with a bachelor’s in literature. I’ve been to Burning Man — twice — and I’ve danced my heart out at more than 100 live shows. Topics I can’t stop reading about include immigration, the spiraling cost of higher education, Pakistani politics, Internet culture, drones, fair wages, domestic violence, police tactics, and the experiences of people of color and women in America. In the coming months, the Advocate staff and I will be making some changes to the paper that we hope readers will like. Do let me know what you think. And do send me news tips. My inbox is always open: editor@valleyadvocate.com. —Kristin Palpini, Editor In college in my native Texas, I read a music review by Robert Wilonsky in the Dallas Observer. Wilonsky’s writing was unhinged, erudite, deadly. By the time he’d called the Eagles’ songs “self-indulgent misogynist fantasies,” I realized that it was possible to exercise one’s best wordsmithing and launch one’s most incendiary and honest conclusions in journalism. If, that is, you work for an alt-weekly. When I first came to the Valley in 1995 to study in the UMass MFA writing program, I happily cracked open the Advocate. The skewering of local politicians was prominent, and the news coverage displayed a particular kind of truth-telling; if the evidence warranted, the Advocate’s writers came to conclusions, embraced causes. Crossword puzzle or no, this was not your grandmother’s newspaper. I told myself that if I became a journalist, I would do it in a publication like this one. I didn’t plan to be a journalist, but adjunct English teaching proved an eloquent argument for embracing a different profession. I couldn’t say no to joining the Advocate staff. I’m an arts guy — I attended a PVPA-esque New Orleans high school, and I studied art and photography. I’ve been a guitarist in a long string of bands. At the Advocate, my bailiwick has long been the arts. Around here, that’s an inexhaustible subject. A few months after I started at the Advocate, the events of 9/11 occurred. The paper took to skewering national politicians with the same fervor they’d brought to bear on locals. With the nation sliding toward endless war, writing for the Advocate offered a way to push back against the gloom. I was proud to work here. With the passing of the editorial torch, the Advocate will inevitably change in some of its specifics, but the mission remains the same: discovering and telling truth, and championing art and artists. Doing those things with wit, irreverence, and graceful writing — even writing that doesn’t flinch from controversy or profanity — is the happy privilege of journalists outside mainstream newspapers. As I take on new responsibilities as managing editor, I look forward to carrying on the paper’s long tradition of serving the particular needs of our brainy, blue, and arts-loving corner of the world. Ages ago, the Pajama Slave Dancers penned a tune called “Valley Advocate”: “Valley Advocate,” it said, “Didn’t know hippies could type!” The bellbottoms may have been abandoned for sleeker togs, but to me, the Valley still feels like the Valley as long as we hippies are still typing.• —James Heflin, Managing editor
