Every week brings a delightful struggle: deciding which stories will be featured in the Advocate.
With only a handful of chances each month to grab readers’ interest, we strive to choose stories that explore long-standing issues and policies in the community. We try to hit on three themes in each issue: News, arts, and “hell yeah.”
In news we like to write about social justice, the business of arts and culture, politics, and police tactics. Past stories have dealt with the Northampton BID collapse, whether MGM is going to hang on in Springfield, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, food deserts, and reparations.
But we don’t want to ignore the lighter side of life, the guffaws, snorts, and hee hee hees that make reading fun. That translates into stories about candy cane flavors, a first-person account from a fire hydrant, festival reviews, taste-offs, guys playing Ultimate at midnight in the rain, staff haikus, and lists galore.
Also, we love the Valley’s vibrant music, arts, and food scenes. Plus it’s loaded with Masshole liberals — my people. So, we like to choose stories that celebrate the area. That’s what we’re attempting to do with our new monthly series “Five Things to Love About …” and what we may have failed to do with our “20 Ways You Know You’re From Springfield.”
Ultimately, we want to produce an alternative weekly newspaper that speaks to this community. I think we’re doing a decent job with this, but I want to know what you all think.
The Advocate has launched an online reader survey poll that seeks to learn more about who our readers are, where they’re from, and what they like to read. We also want to know what you like about the Advocate and what bugs you. The survey is 13 questions and can be completed in under five minutes. Information we gather from the survey will be used to direct future news and arts coverage. It would be great if you all could give us a hand with this.
In the spirit of fairness, as I’m asking readers to answer some questions, I’ll answer some of yours. Here are three of the most common questions readers ask:
“Why doesn’t your story include any : people?” You can fill in the blank with black, women, trans, Hispanic, conservative, asexual, etc.
Representing diverse people and viewpoints is something the Advocate is always trying to do. We wouldn’t be much of an alt-weekly if we didn’t. But there are barriers to equal representation. Sometimes we couldn’t find more diverse people to interview for a story before the deadline, while other times broadening the story didn’t cross our minds. I’m thinking of a Valentine’s Day issue in which we wrote about the local dating scene but didn’t include any information about gay people looking for love and/or hookups. We sent a reporter out to interview people at singles bars and failed to register that not one of the people featured in the story identified as gay. It was a clear misstep, especially in an area with a large LGBTQ community. The best we can do is take the lesson and try to do better next time.
“Don’t you have a heart?”
I get this, or some version thereof, whenever I write about how rip-roaringly pro-abortion I am. The answer is yes.
“Can I write for the Advocate?”
Yes! The Advocate is always looking to feature guest columnists — it’s one way I’m seeking to diversify the voices in the paper. I don’t print all submissions, but well-researched opinion pieces that address life in the Valley — whether it be a chef teeing off on Yelp or a bishop flagging the racial disparity in the war on drugs — are good candidates for print.
We’re also interested in hearing from people who like to write about local music. Can there ever be too much music?
We want the Advocate to be a newspaper that represents the desires, demands, and delights of its community. Take the online survey and give us a hand.
Contact Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com
