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Save the San Diego Reader: Day Two
Howdy, neighbor!
They asked me about the virtues of a free weekly that you can pick up outside of 7-11.
November 6, 2025
Dear San Diego,
Day two of our Save the Reader fundraiser has me thinking about why the Reader is a good thing for San Diego to have.
When the Reader shut down its print edition in February of this year, KPBS came out to our offices to do a piece on the end of an era. (Thanks, KPBS!) They asked me about the virtues of a free weekly that you can pick up outside of 7-11. I remember saying something about the pleasure of discovery: maybe you picked up the Reader for the music section but stumbled across a review for a cool new noodle house. Or maybe you went looking for a theater review and found a reporter’s recollections about covering the PSA crash. But whatever you were looking for, and whatever you found, it was local.
The writer G.K. Chesterton once noted, “We make our friends; we make our enemies, but God makes our next-door neighbor…He is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain… That is why the old religions showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one’s duty toward humanity, but of one’s duty toward one’s neighbor.” He may be nothing like you, but there he is, just over the fence.
It is by now a commonplace that people are increasingly isolated, often by their own choice. They follow like-minded voices on social media, they subscribe to media outlets that reflect their own worldview. They curate their content and take it in via their own private screens. We make our friends, we make our enemies…
A local paper like the Reader runs counter to all that. All manner of people show up in its pages. All sorts of gatherings and goings-on get recognition. The only thing they’re guaranteed to share is place. These are your neighbors, strange as the stars, eager to afford you the pleasure of discovery.
Thinking about that put me in mind of our longtime movie critic, Duncan Shepherd. We once published a book of his five-star reviews; I was honored to write the introduction. (Just for kicks, I've posted the text to our website.) A lot of people loved to hate Shepherd’s reviews, but before Rotten Tomatoes put everybody in a blender and came up with an approval smoothie, he was a major voice in San Diego — because he was here. He was who you had to reckon with. You didn’t have to agree, but it was hard not to engage. And that was a good thing.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed yesterday. Here’s hoping we can keep this going.
Gratefully,
Matthew Lickona
Owner/Editor
San Diego Reader
Here's something you might be interested in.
Save the San Diego Reader: Day Two
Howdy, neighbor!
Save the San Diego Reader: Day Two
Howdy, neighbor!
They asked me about the virtues of a free weekly that you can pick up outside of 7-11.
November 6, 2025
Dear San Diego,
Day two of our Save the Reader fundraiser has me thinking about why the Reader is a good thing for San Diego to have.
When the Reader shut down its print edition in February of this year, KPBS came out to our offices to do a piece on the end of an era. (Thanks, KPBS!) They asked me about the virtues of a free weekly that you can pick up outside of 7-11. I remember saying something about the pleasure of discovery: maybe you picked up the Reader for the music section but stumbled across a review for a cool new noodle house. Or maybe you went looking for a theater review and found a reporter’s recollections about covering the PSA crash. But whatever you were looking for, and whatever you found, it was local.
The writer G.K. Chesterton once noted, “We make our friends; we make our enemies, but God makes our next-door neighbor…He is as strange as the stars, as reckless and indifferent as the rain… That is why the old religions showed so sharp a wisdom when they spoke, not of one’s duty toward humanity, but of one’s duty toward one’s neighbor.” He may be nothing like you, but there he is, just over the fence.
It is by now a commonplace that people are increasingly isolated, often by their own choice. They follow like-minded voices on social media, they subscribe to media outlets that reflect their own worldview. They curate their content and take it in via their own private screens. We make our friends, we make our enemies…
A local paper like the Reader runs counter to all that. All manner of people show up in its pages. All sorts of gatherings and goings-on get recognition. The only thing they’re guaranteed to share is place. These are your neighbors, strange as the stars, eager to afford you the pleasure of discovery.
Thinking about that put me in mind of our longtime movie critic, Duncan Shepherd. We once published a book of his five-star reviews; I was honored to write the introduction. (Just for kicks, I've posted the text to our website.) A lot of people loved to hate Shepherd’s reviews, but before Rotten Tomatoes put everybody in a blender and came up with an approval smoothie, he was a major voice in San Diego — because he was here. He was who you had to reckon with. You didn’t have to agree, but it was hard not to engage. And that was a good thing.
Thanks so much to everyone who contributed yesterday. Here’s hoping we can keep this going.
Gratefully,
Matthew Lickona
Owner/Editor
San Diego Reader
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