The Best Of Queens 2003:
The Ramblings Of A Not-So-Tender Publisher

By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

The following column was written for this week's special edition of the PRESS' sister newspaper, the Queens Tribune.

This one is personal.

If you don’t want to hear the gentle, almost tender ramblings of an otherwise tough, biting opinionated journalist publisher — who would rather be viewed as a crusader than a writer — now is the time to tune me out.

Tuning out is really easy in newspapers — just turn the page. Since my childhood, TV remotes have just about perfected our ability to tune out a TV show we don’t want to see. With television, as with radio, when you tune something out, you more often than not are uncertain of what you’re tuning in.

In the case of this paper, it is clear where you’re going next.

In this book (what I call our weekly product) – the Tribune’s annual Best of Queens edition –  you’ll find a little bit of everything, finished off with a few drops of our unusual steady stream of quality, community journalism.

Ted, our VP of Sales who came to us from the publishers of New York Magazine PrimeMedia, calls our glossy wrapped specials, “magazines,” although they are not.

The sales department frequently refers to them as the “glossys” (it’s really “glossies,” but for that matter, are we talking about the many copies of one edition or the roughly six-times-per-year specials where we wrap our newsprint newspaper in eight glossy pages?).

The art and editorial departments refer to our bimonthly specials as “a lotta work and late nights,” and a “challenge they relish.”

The rest of the Trib team — classifieds, the distributors who lug heavy copies for extra days, the office staff — pitch in to help and gleefully wait for the product to arrive. They are supportive, complementary and when we don’t make a point to mention them, we never mean to detract from their contributions to our weekly book or our specials.

Lil and Allison – my wife and daughter for those of you new to this space – consider them (the “glossies”) an interference with eating dinner out Friday night when I begin the layout process. They also mean a little loss of the time spent with me. Lee, my professional graphic designing son, is often challenged last minute to design our glossy cover. Somehow he believes his own work should take precedence over Trib assignments.

As for my friends, business associates, and extended Trib family, they read with care and call with praise and feedback, making them an important part of our long-term planning. Each seem to have their own way of describing our special efforts and being a part of it.

And then there is the guy who started it all. We’ve been friends for 40 years – 25 of them centered around the Trib. Whether he writes a small piece or calls or emails his gracious reaction to our “specials,” Gary Ackerman is an omnipresent part of the Trib family and my family.

Our advertisers support our “specials;” and they support our journalistic and creative efforts. They support our borough... please support them.

And finally but most importantly, our readers — the folks for whom we do it all — sometimes acknowledge that we indeed do produce “specials,” and at other times just want to know when a stop sign will be installed on their corner.

But the people of Queens themselves are a special lot.

They are diverse, inquisitive and civic minded. They are the embodiment of community and it is our pleasure to cover them and provide coverage to them.

When “the force” in her infinite wisdom created the concept of a global community, Queens was selected as the laboratory. Its people are the pioneers of a new world — a world where cultures blend while still existing on their own. They have built a new civilization of peace where harmony of purpose honors differences of origin and the concept of home and community unites the most ethnically diverse people on earth.

That is our borough; they are our readers; and their lives our mission.

Me, I call our “specials” “a lot of hard work from a lot of talented people that make me very tired and very satisfied.”

And, once a year, this “special book” allows me to ramble about my personal list of “bests of.”

Yes, this one is personal, so if you don’t want to hear it, turn the page and discover a book filled with the unique, the exciting and the quality of Queens through the eyes of our readers and staff. It is a fun-filled romp through our fun-filled borough.

It is neither a contest nor a bible. It is a compilation of things you might want to see, consider, eat, think about and/or enjoy. It is, of all our specials, our most lighthearted attempt at informing and entertaining.

I hope you agree and find it useful.

We also challenge you to become part of the effort. On page 97, you’ll see instructions for submitting your “Best of Queens” suggestions for next year or perhaps an addendum to this year.

We ask you to review this book; consider your own “Best of Queens” thoughts and then email them to: bestofqueens@queenstribune.com or mail them to our office, attention “Best Of Queens.” Our address can be found on page 96.

Whew! I just – in one very long breath – gave you my “best of list.” And, perhaps, I didn’t get all that personal and hokey –  whatever that means.

But the list above represents my Best of Queens – its people.

My people: as committed and talented a community newspaper staff as you’ll find anywhere, my family and our extended Tribune family, our advertisers, and our readers – they are my Best of Queens for 2003.

And, as we look forward for the Tribune, we pledge ourselves to quality journalism, to exercising our First Amendment rights with the utmost responsibility, and we reassert our commitment to providing the news to the people of Queens – “The Best Place on Earth.”

Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.