Eighth Monthly Milestone Message

Walking home in the drenching rain last week, soaked to the bone and feeling a little sorry for myself, I noted that at least I wasn’t cold – it finally felt like spring. And spring marks the third season of the year for The Ann Arbor Chronicle, another milestone as we check in with our eighth monthly update to readers.

This month we have a few things on the horizon, plus a reminder and some thank yous.

Talking the Talk

Ever since I fell into the orchestra pit during my high school’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof,” I’ve had no fear of public speaking – what could possibly be worse than that? (Well, once my leg fell asleep waiting to speak at a ceremony in college, and when I got out of my seat I toppled into the lap of the president of Indiana University – but that’s another story.)

Since launching The Chronicle last year, I’ve had the chance to speak to many community groups about the future of local news. Interest in the topic has heightened since mid-March, when the Ann Arbor News announced its plans to close, while its owners set out to start a new, primarily online business, AnnArbor.com.

In May I’ll participate in some additional public forums where I’ll do my best not to careen unintentionally into the audience. If you’re interested in these topics, I hope you’ll drop by – it’s always great to meet Chronicle readers in person.

On Wednesday, May 13, I’ll be speaking to LA2M (Lunch Ann Arbor Marketing), a group of local marketing professionals who meet each Wednesday from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Conor O’Neill’s. I’ll draw from my experience of 12 years at The Ann Arbor News as well as our entrepreneurial journey with The Ann Arbor Chronicle to talk about the media landscape and what the future might hold for the coverage of local news. The event is open to anyone – there’s no charge, but you’ll need to pay for your own lunch.

Later that week, the Women’s Exchange of Washtenaw is holding a daylong forum on Friday, May 15. At 1:15 p.m. I’ll be moderating a panel discussion of local business leaders: Debi Scroggins, CEO of Bearclaw Coffee; Maria Thompson, president of the Government Solutions Group of A123Systems, Inc. (formerly T/J Technologies, Inc.); and  Kimberly Cumming, executive director of The Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan. These women are sharp and savvy, and I expect we’ll have a provocative exchange about the challenges and bliss of starting and running a business or nonprofit. (The WXW website has details about other sessions, as well as cost.)

And at this month’s annual Ann Arbor Book Festival, I’ll be part of a panel discussion on the future of newspapers. I’m looking forward to hearing other panelists’ perspectives on that issue. The forum will be moderated by my former colleague Jim Knight, managing editor of The Ann Arbor News. Other panelists are John Beckett of OpinionArtillery.org, Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press and Niall Stanage, a reporter and author of Redemption Song: An Irish Reporter Inside the Obama Campaign. That event will be at the Michgian League’s Hussey Stage on Saturday, May 16, starting at noon.

Weekly Chronicle E-mail

If you aren’t able to keep up with a daily dose of The Chronicle, but you want to make sure that you don’t miss anything, you might want to sign up for our weekly e-mail, which provides brief descriptions of articles from the previous week and direct links to those articles. The update includes links to our popular Stopped.Watched section, as well as the week’s New Media Watch and Old Media Watch items and a link to our advertisers.

These e-mails go out each Saturday. If you’d like to sign up, just send an note to me (mary.morgan@annarborchronicle.com) or Dave Askins (dave.askins@annarborchronicle.com) and we’ll add you to our list.

Welcome to New Advertisers, and Thanks to Long-Timers

As always, we want to give a shout out to the local businesses and organizations that support us with their advertising dollars, as well as to readers who contribute their equivalent of a voluntary subscription via our Tip Jar. Since last month’s milestone message, we’ve had several new advertisers sign up – we welcome them, and urge you to consider them as you shop, look for entertainment, seek lodging for visitors, and decide where to allocate your philanthropic giving. New within the past month are:

• Ann Arbor Bed & Breakfast
• Ann Arbor Public Schools Educational Foundation
• Anna Daigle of Salon Vertigo
• Avalon Housing
• Good Scents Gardens
• Main Street Area Association Restaurant Week
• Matthaei Botanical Gardens
• Pioneer Theatre Guild
• Organic Bliss
• University of Michigan Press

As we welcome new advertisers, we also want to recognize and thank advertisers who’ve been with us before – some of them, like the Bank of Ann Arbor, Books by Chance, Ann Arbor Public Schools and Ypsilanti Public Schools, have been with us since nearly the beginning of our venture in September 2008. That’s huge. We could not continue to do what we do without that kind of long-term support. So  if you find value in our work, you have our advertisers to thank for making it possible. Check out our complete list of advertisers here. If  you’ve seen their ads on The Chronicle and it prompts you to patronize their business, please let them know that we played a role in that.

Finally, I’d like to thank every reader who has offered up a word of encouragement, a suggestion, a correction or clarification, a comment, a joke, a poke – either in person, on our site, via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.

It’s springtime at The Chronicle, and you’ve helped us get this far.