Patrick Saunders: Giving voice to the locals

We talk about you constantly.

It’s true, but before you back away slowly from your screen/newspaper and run out of the room to file a restraining order, let me explain.

The Georgia Voice team is always talking about you, our readers, about what you want – what you’re looking for, what you want more of, what you want less of. Those conversations help frame our coverage online, in print and on social media.

That being said, you might notice some changes that took place. We decided to drop a syndicated content service we’ve been using for quite some time now. The service provided big-name celebrity interviews, the Creep of the Week column and (as our print readers know) an editorial cartoon. To any of you who will miss those features, we apologize, but there is a major benefit.

One of the services that Georgia Voice provides to the community is giving exposure to those that need a bigger spotlight. The celebrity interview typically ran as the main feature in our A&E section of the print edition, so with this move, we’ll be able to feature more local people in that spot. That means any of you singers, dancers, artists, actors, authors, filmmakers and others in the A&E world in Georgia, we want to hear from you. Email me at editor@thegavoice.com and tell me what you have going on so we can look into getting you some coverage. We will still occasionally have a celebrity interview, but the opportunities for local A&E coverage have never been greater.

This move will also allow us to use more local writers to create the stories that you read. Plus, we’re considering adding a new editorial columnist at some point. So to all you writers out there, email me and include two or three clips so we can talk about you getting started freelancing for us.

And with that, we’d like to introduce you to Ajmal Millar. He’s the first local A&E figure to grace the cover of that section since we made this change. Read about his debut solo art show and find out what inspires him as an artist.

As for what else to look out for, it’s our annual We Are Family issue! We’ve got the scoop on a new support group for LGBT families, plus LGBT seniors’ blistering response to the Trump administration removing them from an important government survey and a look at the surrogacy process.

Also meet Adam McCabe, the Atlanta semi-pro soccer player who just came out and is embracing his new status as a role model.
Plus we’ve got two juicy news stories on Georgia’s gay Republicans sticking by President Trump 100 days in and on local Lavender Graduations – if you haven’t heard the term, you must find out!

And as always, enjoy our amazing columnists sounding off on politics, their personal lives, food and theater/film.

We hope you like the changes, so let us know!