Last word

WITH

TIM ATSEFF

CNY Magazine founder

BY MJ KRAVEC

In honor of the 15th anniversary of Central New York Magazine, we felt it appropriate to check in with founding editor and creator Tim Atseff on how it all started, what he’s been up to lately and why it’s important to reflect on the good life in CNY.

Tell us a little about you as the founder of Central New York magazine (and CNY Business Exchange and CNY Sports). What went on behind those first issues?

A little context here, so let’s put the horse before the cart. I think I was born with ink in my veins.

After graduating from Fayetteville-Manlius High School in 1965, I walked into the now-defunct Herald-Journal newsroom taking a summer job as a copyboy. A way to earn a couple of bucks for college. It was a summer job that turned into a full-time job for the next 46 years.

I held the positions artist, art and design director, editorial cartoonist, deputy managing editor and managing editor of the Herald-Journal and Sunday Herald American and managing editor of The Post Standard.

In 2005, I transitioned to marketing and new product development director to produce a new revenue stream for the newspaper engaging both advertisers and readers. Enter The Good Life, Central New York Magazine followed by CNY Business Exchange Magazine and Central New York Sports Magazine.

In 1965, I walked into the newsroom with a sense of purpose looking for opportunities to make a difference. In 2011, I walked out with the same sense of purpose — to use my creativity to make a difference. Proud of what I created and edited. And always inspired by my colleagues. Journalists, who understood the importance of truth and the willingness to uncover it.

What time do you get up in the morning and how do you take your coffee?

When our Brittany Spaniel, Lucy, gets up. My coffee? Black with a newspaper.

Favorite season in CNY and why?

No favorites. Ecclesiastes and the Byrds said it best, “For every time there is a season. Turn, turn turn.”

Favorite place to enjoy the outdoors in CNY?

I’m not one for favorites. Central New York is filled with unspoiled natural beauty down every road around every bend. However, I will admit to being partial to a lifetime of meandering around Green Lakes or an occasional golf course.

What have you missed most during COVID?

Smiles, laughter and the touch of family, friends…especially our 12 grandchildren. Zoom, FaceTime and Messenger Kids, while adequate, are a poor substitute for the humanity of living. But for now, give me smiles behind masks and social distancing to the alternative. I can wait.

So, what have you been up to lately? We know you haven’t slowed down…

I have an issue with the word “retirement” — preferring “rewirement.” So, since rewirement, I have kept busy editing and designing several local tabletop books and enjoying the good life with pre-COVID travel. And of course, community work with the Crouse Health Foundation and Onondaga Historical Association.

Then came the pandemic. If there is any advantage to COVID precautions, it’s time. While some time and plans have been lost or deferred, other time was banked. I spent that time in my studio painting. Painting as therapy. Painting to release my astonishment at the deluge of political jujitsu blaring from news reports. Painting to purge myself of pent up anxieties and existential fears. A kenosis of sorts. An emptying of self. Painting can be humiliating to one’s ego. While I’m not fond of humiliating myself, I find it helpful in getting out of my own way…spiritually speaking.

What are you working on now?

I’m always creating… Too many canvases, not enough time.

I have two veins of artwork. One existential and the other political. I choose to paint defiant art. Art that just doesn’t sit on its butt.

For the past two years, I have experimented on merging the two disciplines and have built up a body of work reflecting the Trump and now COVID years. That work has yielded four exhibitions over the past couple of years: The Center for

PHOTO COURTESY TIM ATSEFF

Visit timatseff.com.

Contemporary Political Art in Washington in 2019, The ArtCar Museum in Houston in 2020, followed by a solo show in Syracuse at the ArtRage Gallery. Currently, I have a major solo retrospective show, the Art of Darkness, at the University Museum of Contemporary Art at Southern Illinois University, my alma mater.

So back to Central New York Magazine. Do you have a favorite issue or story about a particular issue?

Hmmm-m. That’s like asking which one is your favorite child. That said, there are actually two issues I’d like to highlight.

The inaugural issue, with Juli Boeheim on the cover. Someone who has enthusiastically embraced Central New York as her home and who exemplified the magazine’s mission; to celebrate the people who are the trendsetters, and the heartbeat of Central New York. As well as, highlighting the places and seasons that makes our region special and unique. Juli was the front door to the magazine. Warm and welcoming. Inviting readers in. She set the tone for the issues to come.

Another issue that stands out was one of my last. Onondaga Nation Faithkeeper Oren Lyons was the cover story.

While Juli Boeheim had set her roots down in Central New York, Oren’s roots on this land precede all of us by several millennia. I had been trying for months to nail him down to tell his story. Photographer Michael Greenlar described finding Oren best, “He’s like catching smoke.” Well, we caught him and our readers were richer for it.

Writer Colleen Burns profiled this extraordinary man dedicating his life to preserving indigenous traditions, ceremonies, values and native sovereignty. Her story began, “Oren Lyons woke in the darkness and eased sideways out of bed. His foot touched moonlit ice, floorboards bleached white by his mother’s determined scrub brush…” The storytelling continued.

Did you ever think the magazine would be around this long?

Let me say this. This community deserves a magazine that is a reflection of itself. Central New York Magazine is just that. True to its mission. For that, I am happy that the magazine is still viewed to have value.