Jolene Nenibah Yazzie, who works in the alt-weekly's production department, has three digital prints on display at the National Museum of the American Indian, as part of the Comic Art Indigene exhibition. Yazzie talks to Smithsonian.com about her work, her skateboard company and how she got started as a comic artist. "I had two older brothers. They were really into skateboarding and comic books, and I think I was trying to impress them," she says. "That's pretty much how I got into it."
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has until midnight to decide whether to sign a bill that would repeal the death penalty, and today the Santa Fe Reporter ran an exclusive interview with accused police killer Michael Astorga, who might face the death penalty if he's convicted. Last Friday, the Reporter teamed up with the New Mexico Independent to live-blog the state Senate as it debated the death penalty repeal.
In the old days, when the media reported on problems in the newspaper industry, alternative newspapers weren't included. But alt-weeklies are immune no longer: In 2008, many AAN papers faced some of the same issues afflicting their mainstream brethren in the print media. However, you can still find alt-weeklies that had a pretty good year in 2008. That's just what AAN's editor Jon Whiten did, and he reports on 10 papers that increased revenue in a story published by Editor & Publisher.
Steve Greenberg, who drew editorial cartoons for the Ventura County Star until a few months ago, will now draw weekly cartoons for the Ventura County Reporter. In December, Brian Duffy made a similar jump in Des Moines, Iowa. "The Reporter is giving me a chance to restart and recharge," Greenberg writes. "Sometimes, when the roller-coaster stops working, you've gotta give the Ferris wheel a spin."
Corey Pein wrote a cover story last week on the College of Santa Fe, its party scene and its financial troubles, and now students have created a Facebook group called "People for a Public Apology from Corey Pein." The group says the story "grossly misrepresented" students and the college, and calls "for a retraction of the story, as well as a public apology by Corey Pein, also to be printed in the Reporter." The group currently has 83 members, including some SFR writers who seem to have joined to defend Pein and round out the conversation.
Reporter staff writer Dave Maass has created a fictional zombie apocalypse in Santa Fe, using real information and scenarios. "To determine whether Santa Fe could prevent a zombie infection from expanding into a full-blown global zombie apocalypse," Maass interviewed scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, emergency responders, a company that maps infectious disease spread, cops and dozens of others. The result: a multimedia cover story and web packages, including maps, videos, and a zombie photo shoot featuring Santa Fe's mayor. Watch the outbreak spread below:
Reporter staff writer Dave Maass dominated the news writing category for Division 1 Weeklies (over 5,000 circulation) in the annual New Mexico Press Association newspaper contest. Maass won both first and second place in the category, making him the only winner in the category for Division 1. Additionally, SFR writer Zane Fischer placed first for column writing. The awards were announced at a banquet on Sunday.
In the seventh installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Santa Fe Reporter columnist Zane Fischer discusses his award-winning column, Zane's World, with Elena Brown. Fischer, who came to the alt-weekly world from the nonprofit sector, talks about the steep learning curve he faced starting out as a SFR columnist, how he comes up with ideas, and what he wishes more columnists would do. "Invoke a dialogue," he says. "One component of a column should be the continuous dialogue with the readers. It's all part of the process of building community."
The production manager of the Santa Fe New Mexican says escalating paper prices are the result of last year's merger between major paper producers Abitibi and Bowater, the weak dollar and the increasing cost of the commodity used to make newsprint. Santa Fe Reporter publisher Andy Dudzik tells the New Mexican his paper is "absorbing" the price increases while "trying to be smarter about papers." (See Dudzik's comment by clicking on "Permalink/Comments" below.) He also says the Reporter recently started distributing in Albuquerque and the decision "has met with a favorable reception."
That's what the New Mexico governor and erstwhile Democratic presidential hopeful said while accepting his "Best of Santa Fe" award for "Best Politician." Richardson said he's been an avid reader of the Reporter for many years, and said, tongue firmly planted in cheek, that he considered the paper the best because "they have excellent taste in politicians."
