A Special Announcement

There won’t ever be a particularly wonderful time for me to do what I need to do here. But it’s time for me to move on to other projects and other activities. I’m stepping down as editor-in-chief of Ordinary Times and joining R. Tod Kelly in accepting “Emeritus” status. I’m doing this for reasons truly personal to me: some wounds I’ve taken in my personal life are taking much longer to heal than I thought they would and this is a necessary step for me. ¹

Ordinary Times‘ core function is to publish interesting things to read, multiple times every week. Ten years ago I came here looking for well-written, long-form essays that didn’t sound like sloganeering and reflected actual thought and this became my intellectual home. What an honor it’s been to have held the helm here. What an honor it’s been to have worked with so many bright and talented writers. The blog ten years ago would have been proud to post the kind of material we’re running today.

Sometimes it feels like we’re swimming against a powerful tide to push a message that a forum with multiple viewpoints is desirable, that the long-form essay remains a powerful and viable way to explore intellectual territory, and that people of different perspectives can come together in good faith and fellowship and engage in productive, civil argument. I’ve pressed as hard as I can on that during my editorship, and maybe I’ve made some mistakes along the way, but whatever the impact of those mistakes, please know that’s been the goal all along.

Your new editorial board has actually been holding the reins and steering the ship for quite some time behind the scenes now. This announcement just makes it official. The new editorial board is:

• Will Truman, Editor-in-Chief
• Vikram Bath, Senior Editor
• Maribou, Senior Editor
• Mike Dwyer, Associate Editor
• Tod Kelly, Editor Emeritus
• Burt Likko, Editor Emeritus

These are smart, dedicated people and I’ve complete confidence in them. Nevertheless, I urge you to help them out. Play nice in the comments section. Use the “flag comments” function if you think someone’s getting out of line — it really helps. Promote posts you find interesting on Facebook. Comment on articles, welcome new authors and greet infrequent authors with the same cheer you would old friends. Always keep your rhetorical swords sharp and your senses of humor intact. And when you feel like you’ve got something to say, write an essay and let them see if they can publish it!

It’s been my great pleasure to serve as the editor-in-chief. Whatever mistakes I have made along the way are strictly mine, but whatever successes have occurred under my watch have been the work of many hands and many minds. Thank you all very much for contributing to those successes. May the next and future incarnations of this project’s leadership only improve from here.

In valedictum: Scite verum, colite iustitia, vivere con gaudium.

1. So relax, it wasn’t anything you did.