As We See It

[Editor's note]

Veteran Vegas journalist Spencer Patterson takes the Weekly’s editor baton

Image
Photo: L.E. Baskow

Two years, three tops. That was my plan when I moved to Las Vegas in January 1998, for a sportswriting gig at the Las Vegas Sun. Compared to the other places I’d lived, in Arizona, New York and Virginia, my new town seemed preposterous, for all the same reasons it felt like such a blast. The latter would surely wear off, but the former, I presumed, might not.

Just as I grew restless covering sports, my Southern Nevada stay extended when I embraced my true passion by becoming music writer for the Sun. My Vegas vision began evolving, too. This city might exist in servitude to its visitors, but its full-time residents were a scrappy bunch, like garage bandmates huddled down the hill from the pop star’s mansion. I wondered if I’d ever fully identify.

And then, the Weekly beckoned, and I carried my files and notes to a new desk across the street—same company, entirely different vibe. My new pub was that scrappy bunch, elbowing not for room at the adult table but to sneak the kids outside, to the unseen scene around them. “Arts, Entertainment, Culture + Everything Else That Matters” went the Weekly’s mission statement in those days, and as I wrote for the magazine, I soaked up its suggestions. Music, art, film, food. We had our readers covered, because we were them. And I thought, could this be the place?

Changing times brought new positions: Music Editor, Arts & Entertainment Editor, Managing Editor. Each delivered new duties, but one thing never changed: the quality of my coworkers. From the Editor leading the way—Stacy J. Willis, Scott Dickensheets or, until last week, the indomitable Sarah Feldberg—to the writers and editors around me, the Weekly has been loaded, with knowledge and conviction.

Most importantly, it’s still jam-packed with commitment, to the product on our racks and our website, to its 16-year-long legacy and to its readers, who rely on our Weekly as their weekly guide to this idiosyncratic yet endlessly endearing place. And as I take up the baton as the Weekly’s latest Editor and prepare to lead our team into its next exciting phase, I’m still discovering ways to love my true hometown.

Sincerely,

Spencer Patterson

Share
Photo of Spencer Patterson

Spencer Patterson

Get more Spencer Patterson
Top of Story