Signing Off

Andrea Sachs

I thought about writing some gassy screed for this, the final issue of The Insider, with ruminations about pandemic journalism. Then I read all of these beautiful stories by our contributors, and I decided to keep quiet. Res ipsa loquitur, baby!

Thank you to the many fine writers who made this publication possible. I watched you get better and better, experienced journalists and newbies alike. You wrote with more verve and ingenuity in each succeeding issue. I know from personal experience that it’s not easy. As the old maxim goes, Writing is easy–you just open a vein and bleed.

A special shout-out to The Insider’s gifted film critic, Laurence Lerman, who wrote “Reel Streaming,” our longest-running column: 131 weeks ain’t chopped liver!

Thanks to the hundreds of people who agreed to be interviewed by The Insider over the past 3½ years. I am overwhelmed by the number of folks who participated in frank interviews about having Covid. Your disclosures were truly the first draft of the history of this modern-day plague.

I owe a special debt of gratitude to our technology manager, Matt Nadelson of Computer Camaraderie, who is one of those rare folks with both tech and English-major talents. Matt and I spent thousands of hours piecing together the digital pages you saw every week, all while gossiping and arguing about politics. His work ethic is legendary: It’s 3 a.m. and you need computer help? No problem!

And a collegial toast to those journalists at other publications–The New York Post, The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit Jewish News and The Silurian Press Club News–who gave us a publicity boost by writing colorful stories about The Insider. Your articles helped bring an increasing number of eyeballs to our site (50,000 unique visitors in all), and this sister journo is beholden to you.

Most of all, I would like to offer an enormous thank you to our loyal readers, whose suggestions, comments and enthusiasm have been all-important. Those treasured folks who have been riding with me since Lilly’s Little Libels (my first publication, in law school, in the mid-1970s), please know you’re in my will.

All of you made this veteran print journalist’s vague digital dreams real. Love you dearly! Andrea

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