Into the Sunset

Now it’s time to say goodbye,
To all our company…

So after 12 spectacular issues, lots of great web-only content, and a new edition of The Contexts Reader on the way, we’re heading into the sunset to make way for the new editors, Rashawn Ray and Fabio Rojas.

We’re grateful to our team for all their phenomenal editing work in the sections: Shehzad Nadeem with Viewpoints, Kristen Barber and Allison Pugh on Culture, Andrew Lindner on Trends, Nate Palmer with Teaching and Learning, and Szonja Ivester who edited the Books section. One of our main goals was to have the non-peer-reviewed pieces in the sections be as compelling, if not more so, than the peer-reviewed features, and they brought out the best in their writers. We can’t thank them enough. Our editorial board members did a lot of reviewing for us, and many of them wrote multiple times for the magazine and website, usually non-peer-reviewed pieces for which they get little professional mileage and no money. Why do they do it? Because they’re committed wholeheartedly to this magazine, and for that we’re truly grateful. Our rolling team of grad students at Maryland kept the In Briefs section well stocked with news from sociology research and offered up their own insightful ideas on the website. Meg Smith, our managing editor, did a great job keeping the ship steady. And our senior managing editor Letta Page (who will be staying on) is largely responsible for the look, feel, and read of the magazine. If you like Contexts (and of course you do), she’s the one to thank. A lot. Which we did constantly over the last three years. And we also thank ThinkDesign for making sure every issue is beautifully designed, and Jon Smajda for our super website. Our friend Scott Matthews is to be thanked for most of the wonderful covers. And of course, Karen Edwards at the American Sociological Association for always having our backs.

We’ve learned a lot editing the magazine and are humbled. We’ve been incredibly privileged that we’ve gotten to publish a ton of wonderful work by sociologists junior and senior, and by many other nonacademic writers, photographers, and film-makers. To say we’ve had a blast is an understatement. We hope you’ve liked it, too. So keep on reading, because Contexts always brings you the good stuff, and it’s the chillest magazine in town.

And maybe we’ll see you around.