LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Brooklyn Readers,
Welcome to 2016!
You made it through another year, and although I'd like to add to that "unscathed," for many of us, that wouldn't be true. For many of us, 2015 could be described as the intro to Charles Dickens's historic novel "A Tale of Two Cities," It was the best of times and the worst of times.
Sure, the year started off with a bang like previous years: full of promise and resolutions made and then later broken. But by summer's end, you might have noticed the road slowly turning bumpy a rock here two rocks there
At the first rock you stubbed your toe pretty bad. But luckily, by the second rock, you were prepared to circumvent. By rock #3, not only were you learning agility, but also your reflexes were sharpening. But "Oh no!" Here comes a boulder. This one, you ran right into, bruised yourself up a bit. Still, you picked yourself up, dusted yourself off and then learned there was treachery on the other side of that boulder. Whew! What a relief! The boulder actually saved you from something much worse.
And so went the rest of your 2015: building agility, strength and learning the importance of preparedness while growing faith that in those instances where you crash, it is for good reason! Together, we have made it through another year, not unscathed, but all the better nonetheless.
Early 2015, the Brooklyn Reader re-launched with a brand-new look, including over a dozen new features. December 2015 marked the two-year anniversary of the site's launch. In the last year alone, the site grew from 32,000 monthly views in December 2014, to 74,000 views by December 2015!
But this is Brooklyn after all, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country! So there certainly was no shortage of stories! In fact, don't forget to check out this list of the Top-10 Stories of 2015, just in case you missed it. And there are more exciting changes to come spring 2016, all of which will continue to enhance your reader/sharing experiencing.
The Brooklyn Reader would like to thank the community leaders, elected officials, religious and cultural institutions, business owners, local police precincts, the FDNY and pubic relations executives, all of whom play a crucial part in keeping The Brooklyn Reader informed of upcoming news, breaking news or news that just happened They represent the Reader's circulatory system.
To all of my reporters, local bloggers, columnist and resident contributors, you represent the Reader's backbone! As a hyper-local site, your wisdom, observations and community reporting are what give the Reader its true local grounding, grassroots gravity and Brooklyn stature. For this, I cannot thank you enough!
I'd also like to thank our fabulous web developer Mike Levine, who has been a indispensable and insanely patient partner—not to mention a Central Brooklyn resident and faithful patron of the Brooklyn Reader. Mike deserves a shout out because he is largely responsible for the site's 24-hour, on-call maintenance, growth and development! He is the Reader's doctor and surgeon. And if he were to take a paternity test on the show Maury, the results would say, "In the case of The Brooklyn Reader Mike, you are the father!"
And finally, I'd like to thank you, the reader! You are the Brooklyn Reader! You are the Reader's, eyes, ears, arms, legs, hands, fingers and mouth! And without your interest in engaging in the news, sharing the Reader's stories and playing an active part in your neighborhoods and communities, the Reader simply would not exist.
So here's to you, Brooklyn Reader! And here's to growing together!
We made it through the highs and lows of 2015. Let's march into 2016 as one unified body, one community more faithful, nimble, agile, energized and informed! ready to take on whatever challenge comes our way!
God Bless,
C. Zawadi Morris, Publisher and Editor, The Brooklyn Reader
