editor From the
Think?” and having appeared on the very last page of the publication, this civic/social/political opinion piece has been moved far forward to enhance its visibility and impact. Please give contributing writer Gary Jobson’s “Doers and Whiners” column a read and let us know your thoughts. And if you have an idea or issue for the column that you think deserves the light of day, also let us know. You can email me direct at editor@whatsupmag.com.
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ave you settled into 2021 yet? We’ve seen a very interesting start to the year in just the first month. The Baltimore Ravens secured a playoff spot in the final week of the regular season…that’s not much of a surprise. But the Washington Football Team also (!)… now that was a shocker. Dr. Dre faced a life-threatening medical emergency. Could we really lose another music icon just like that? And, of course, we saw the unfortunate stain on American democracy play out on the steps and inside the U.S. Capitol. Wait. This was all within the first week of the new year. I write this letter on the heels of last month’s, when we ushered in 2021 with renewed optimism (see article “The Year We Rise Together”) and I made a simple suggestion that we listen, learn, and empathize with each other: family, friends, neighbors, fellow Americans. Never did I imagine that the first few days of 2021 would be so shocking or tumultuous. I do hope our differences and the changes we’ve experienced can somehow bring us together and make us a stronger community. How gray life would be if we were all the same. Not to minimize that sort of message, which I’m sure by the time you read this has been conveyed in various forms by many officials (see Biden inauguration), but we too—What’s Up? Media that is— have been fervently working from our home offices to shift, shape, and adapt our business and the magazine in your hands for the better. Or for the new normal, so to speak. Big and little tweaks are emerging on the pages of this and future issues. And our events team is diligently planning a new dawn of virtual events and content to engage audiences in dynamic and exciting ways (give us a follow on Facebook and Instagram @whatsupmags for live streaming chats and the like). And we do hope to see a return to the live, in-person events that have been our hallmark by Spring of this year. We love a great party as much as anyone! What you’ll find in this issue…a few swell things. For starters, and you’ll see this within the front-of-the-book Towne section, is the column “Towne Perspective.” Formerly known as “What Do You
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What’s Up? Annapolis | February 2021 | whatsupmag.com
A couple pages later, you’ll see a new feature concept introduced called “One Nation: A Diversity Article Series.” Coming on the heels of our successful “Year of the Woman” campaign last year, which celebrated the centennial of women earning the right to vote in our nation, I’m developing this new article series to explore issues of diversity and culture within our communities, state, and nation. It simply feels right to bring to the forefront the difficult, challenging, and even hopeful issues that minorities are facing. To put it bluntly, our nation has a lot of healing to do and it’s my hope that we can learn from one another through this series, which is planned to run every other issue (six times this year). After all, we’re a nation of many, many cultures, both native and immigrant—I count myself in the latter, having descended from English and German ancestry. Please let me know if we’re on the right track. Further in, you’ll see we subtly retitled our home section “Home & Design”—a tiny tweak that better reflects the direction and quality of the content therein. By the way, we’re always seeking amazing Chesapeake properties to showcase in this section. If you’d like a bit of limelight on your own home and design, give us a heads up and we’ll continue the conversation. (Our amazing contributing home editor, Lisa Gotto, would love the leads.) And I’m pleased to re-introduce Kelsey Casselbury as our restaurant/ culinary columnist covering the local dining scene and all things gourmand—it’s a beat she covered for several years as a full-time editor on the team (almost a decade ago!). You’d probably recognize her byline regardless, as she’s contributed feature and health-related articles for several years. Her addition to our dining beat team, which includes locavore dynamo Rita Calvert, is most welcome. On a final note, I’d like to emphasize the old saying that the only thing constant in life is change. We’ve certainly witnessed quite a lot of change in the past year, month, issue-to-issue, and days between. So please let us know how we are doing in serving you content, stories, and information, both in print and online. I’m here to help. We’re here to deliver what you want, need, and believe are the stories that create a better community.
James Houck, Editorial Director
