Dear Friend and Reader,
10 months ago, I was an out-of-work gender studies scholar: hard to believe, I know. And when I answered a Craigslist ad for a research assistant, I had no idea what I was getting involved in. What has developed for me, over the course of a year, is only the most recent advance in a decade-long project. Planet Waves will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Sunday, Dec. 21.
The moment of conception came long before I entered the picture, so I’m not the one to tell the creation narrative. I can tell you about who we are now, though, and through that story you’ll see the shadows of where we came from and the structures in place that we’ve built upon.
It’s hard to pinpoint what Planet Waves is; it’s not something concrete like a picture frame or a tree. It doesn’t focus on one particular theme, though the vein of astrology pulses throughout it. At times it’s a forum for sexual freedom: at others, for the election, the environment, The Onion. And, while initially, these topics came from a singular voice, Eric’s, it’s now a chorus. He’s also written a letter about the anniversary, and you can read it here.
The biggest change I’ve experienced over the year is the broadening of our writing team. Fe was one of the first, emerging out of the financial crisis with a depth of knowledge and quick wit. In an email from this week, she told me that after, “the 657th e-mail exclaiming outrage and ‘what-the-hell-are-we-going-to-do-about-this’ I sent to Eric, around mid-September of 2008 I got a call. It was Eric. Would you be willing to write about what’s happening on Wall Street for Planet Waves? Just a little experiment, you know — do a little riff on the state of the economy, write a few hundred words, make it tie in to the election, and go from there?” Since then, she’s been our go-to person for biting commentary on economic and political headlines.