March 20, 2021
When the Gazette marked its anniversary on this day last year the first wave of COVID-19 was just starting to hit us. Since then more than 25,000 of our fellow New Yorkers have been taken away by the pandemic. We saw things we never imagined we’d see here: hospitals over capacity, a mass grave on Hart Island, a military hospital ship, darkened theaters, shuttered restaurants, and empty streets. If you’re still around and reading this, take a bow. You made it.
That’s not to say that it’s all behind us, but we’re absolutely in better shape than we were last March. Now, with the vaccine rollout well underway, things seem to be improving daily rather than getting worse by the hour. Virus variants are vying for dominance over the vaccines and only time will tell which one wins. But the sun is shining today. It’s the first day of Spring. People are out and about. Kids are running around in playgounds again. And none of that was the case a year ago. We were wiping doorknobs and trying to find cloth face masks.
For awhile it seemed like there were more pigeons than people up here.
They say ignorance is bliss, and we can be Exhibit A of that sometimes. On the Gazette‘s anniversary last year we thought the big story was the new search box we’d just added. Oooops. In our defense, we had featured the novel coronavirus and global pandemic as early as Valentine’s Day, but still, we did pretty much miss the tsunami that was rolling in on us.
The Gazette‘s very first post ever. March 20, 2016
So, at the risk of doing the same thing and hoping for a different outcome, here we go again. As the Gazette sets forth into its 6th year, we have some new bells and whistles for our readers. In addition to the search box and archive index we added last year, you will soon be treated to a “related posts” feature that a robot feels are relevant. We are also working on some other internal renovations, the results of which should become manifest over the coming weeks as we put the finishing touches on them.
But the big announcement this year is that the Submission Window (actually an email inbox*) is open! If you’re in or around Inwood and the Spirit moves you, we’d love to hear from you. Art, fashion, and politics are the Big Three around here, but your creative writing is welcome too. And naturally, if you have an actual news story, that’d be a good fit as well. So come one and come all. Continue to maintain six feet of distance, wear a mask, get a vaccine…and let your light shine here on the Gazette!
*inwoodgazette(at)gmail.com
