Editor’s Letter: Well hello.

By Dorothy Guerrero in Editor's Letter, Letters, March | April 2017 on March 1, 2017 at 8:00 am | 8 Comments

You don’t know me, but I know you. I’ve been the managing editor of the Alcalde for the past four years, and now I have come out from behind my cubicle to address you directly. Don’t be alarmed.

I was recently named editor-in-chief after my friend and colleague, Tim Taliaferro, set sail for Texas Monthly. We miss him dearly, but he left a mark on this magazine that is sacred to the journalists and designers who work on it every day. It  was one word, breathlessly squiggled with a black felt-tip pen in the margins of our stories and in the center of our working lives—YES!

That’s how he cheered us along as we labored over a story. He unfailingly pointed to the part where it all began to click. And that’s the philosophy we live by around here, yes let’s try it, yes let’s go big, yes let’s call up that guy and convince him to talk to us. Yes because, really, why not?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this letter and what exactly I have to say to you, dear reader. What do you need to know about the person who is at the helm of your alumni magazine? Does she care about UT as much as you do? I believe I do. This university has always been at the center of my life. My parents met here, my father teaches here, my older sister got two degrees here, and then I felt the pull and became a Longhorn myself. My husband didn’t go here but you’d never know it. He’s the most obsessive Longhorn football fan I’ve ever met. He sits on the board of directors of his tailgate crew. I repeat: His tailgate crew has a board of directors. So yes, I love UT, because it has been very, very good to me.

Most of all, you should know this about me: I love this job. Sofia Sokolove, who we just hired as our new managing editor described it as a “unicorn” job in the publishing industry, and I agree. We never run out of subject matter, because the influence of this institution grows daily. If there’s a story you want to write, start digging and you’ll inevitably find a Longhorn or two at the center of the action. And the Forty Acres is an inspiring place to work. As I write this, Waller Creek is shimmering and flowing behind me and the students are flocking back and forth between classes, texting and talking, excited about the future. Because, really, why shouldn’t they be?

I tell you, if you’re ever in a funk, come on back. In the meantime, we’ll try to make you feel like you never left.

 

Yours,

Dorothy Guerrero

Editor-in-Chief