The Swarthmorean: A Year of Change
Swarthmorean publishers (l to r) Greg Hoy, Todd Strine, and Rob Borgstrom.
The Swarthmorean has finished its first full year under new leadership. Todd Strine, Rob Borgstrom, and Greg Hoy have done a remarkable job renewing a much-loved institution. Subscriptions are up, finances are healthy, and a new beautiful website has been launched. Local sponsorships have entered the publishers’ portfolio, with the paper helping to underwrite Thursday Night Live concerts and inaugurating an annual BBQ Cook-Off. The wry voice and steady hand of Editor Chris Reynolds, who is getting ready to embark on new adventures, has been replaced by this voice, which is a work in progress. Luckily, Diane Madison — art director, ad producer, and living memory bank — is still here, anchoring us newcomers to the history of the paper and the town.
As if to make manifest backstage changes, the newspaper’s offices have moved to the ground floor of the Greylock building at 117 S. Chester Road. We have a grand view here of the gray stone Swarthmore College buildings on the other side of the busy thoroughfare, and we’re only just across the roundabout from the center of town.
We want to thank everyone who contributed this year to the idiosyncratic but buoyant ship that is the Swarthmorean. Extra special thanks to those of you who have written (and drawn and copy-edited and photographed and advised) regularly: Deirdre Abrahamsson, Jeanne Anckaitis, Sheila Bell, Elizabeth Koniers Brown, Louise Coffin, Rich Cresson, Abby Finney, Philip Host, Isabella Hunter, John Hurst, Carol Kennedy, Andrea Knox, Leslie Krowchenko, Alison Manaker, Bill Menke, Linda Pastan, Mira Patel, Pete Prown, Heather Saunders, Robert Scott, Andy Shelter, Lauren Shohet, Kristin Snyder, Linton Stables, Gavin Stief, Ray Stufflet, and Ben Yagoda.
Photo by Andy Shelter.
Look for more changes in the works for 2020: new features and voices, and probably new typefaces.
As always, tell us what you like and what you don’t. Remind us what we’ve left out and clue us in to what we might otherwise miss. We’re in this together. That’s what it means to be a community newspaper.
- Rachel Pastan
